Revised and updated, this second edition retains its essential character. It aims to provide medical students and clinicians with an insight into why drugs have their therapeutic effects, by presenting the basic principles of pharmacology as they affect the human body - the patient. An understanding of these clinical pharmacological principles is essential for rational, safe, effective and economical prescribing. The text shows how knowledge of the scientific basis of drug action is applied in a clinical context to devise the most effective treatments for disease and to maximize the therapeutic effect of the drugs being used. Divided into four sections, this text provides details of adverse drug effects and interactions, pharmacogenetics, clinical trials, the discovery, development and marketing of drugs, drug treatment in the old and the young and the use of drugs in relation to reproduction and pregnancy. It also provides advice on practical matters of drug prescribing. Detailed descriptions of the practical management of diseases with drugs are given, emphasizing the integration of principles with practice. Lastly, a reference pharmacopoeia of over 300 commonly used drugs is presented, which includes details of their uses, modes of actions, pharmacokinetic properties, adverse efects and interacions, doses and regimens. For this edition the format of the original has been retained, but the basic science has been updated and edited to remove any theoretical discussion which is not essential to understanding the therapeutic process. The sections on pregnancy, reproduction and labour have been expanded and updated. The involvement of clinical specialists in the revision of the therapeutic chapters aims to ensure that the book reflects the best clinical practice in these disciplines. This text is aimed at medical students, students of pharmacy and applied pharmacology, nurses in training, newly qualified physicians and those in specialist post-graduate training.