Why knowledge of chemistry is essential for a pharmacist?

Chemistry is the science of the composition, structure, properties and

reactions of matter, especially of atomic and molecular systems.

Medicines or drugs that we take for the treatment of various ailments

are chemicals, either organic or inorganic. However, most drugs are
organic molecules. Let us take aspirin as an example. It is probably the
most popular and widely used analgesic drug because of its structural
simplicity and low cost. Aspirin is chemically known as acetyl salicylic
acid, an organic molecule. The precursor of aspirin is salicin, which is
found in willow tree bark.

The knowledge of chemistry is very essential for a pharmacist due to

the following reasons:

(a) Chemistry is the base of pharmacy. Without chemistry a pharmacist

is nothing he cannot understand the chemical formulae of the drugs, he
cannot design new drugs and in this way a pharmacist cannot practice
the field of pharmacy without a plentiful knowledge about chemistry.

(b) If a pharmacist doesn’t know about chemistry he would not be able

to prescribe the related drugs or medicine to the patient.

(c) Every drug or medicine has some chemicals in it which can only be
understood by the person who knows chemistry.

(d) With the help of the knowledge of chemistry a pharmacist can

come to know about the good and bad aspects of different types of
drugs so that he can make certain changes in the structure of the
chemicals present in that drug to minimize the bad aspects of the
particular drug which is to be administered by the patient.
(e) Bio chemistry which is a branch of chemistry gives the pharmacist
knowledge about the different metabolic activities of the body so that
the pharmacist can calculate the fate of the drug inside the body.

(f) With the knowledge of chemistry a pharmacist can identify or

determine the unknown compounds/samples by doing different types
of tests.

(g) Knowledge about the different types of vitamins is also provided by

chemistry which are used as supplements for the patient prescribed by
a pharmacist.

(h) Knowledge of organic chemistry helps the pharmacist to synthesize

new compounds or molecules for different medicines.

(i) A pharmacist can make certain changes in the already existing drugs
to increase or enhance the therapeutic effects of that drug.

(J) By the knowledge of organic chemistry a pharmacist can discover

new drugs. Hence he can identify different novel active compounds.

All drugs are chemicals, and pharmacy is a subject that deals with the
study of various aspects of drugs. Therefore, it is needless to say that to
become a good pharmacist the knowledge of the chemistry of drugs is
essential

All of this is just because of the knowledge of chemistry given to a

pharmacist. The above mentioned points illustrate the importance of
chemistry in the field of pharmacy, and this is the reason why the
knowledge of chemistry is very much essential for a pharmacist.
 Dow University of health sciences
Dow College of pharmacy

Pharmaceutical Biochemistry
Assignment

Name: Muhammad Arsalan

Roll no. : 05/2010/011
1st year, 1st semester PHARM-D