FARM5150 – Applied pharmacokinetics and dosing in clinical practice

Changes in the course due to coronavirus

Autumn 2020 and Spring 2021 the exams of most courses at the MN Faculty will be conducted as digital home exams or oral exams, using the normal grading scale. The semester page for your course will be updated with any changes in the form of examination.

Please note that there may be changes in the form of examination for some courses taught Spring 2021. We aim to bring both the course description and the semester page of all courses up to date with correct information by 1 February 2021.

See general guidelines for examination at the MN Faculty autumn 2020.

Course content

The course will provide you with in-depth knowledge on pharmacokinetic principles, including factors that affect absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion (ADME) of drugs. The focus will be on how to integrate these principles when adapting and evaluating therapeutic drug dosing in clinical practice. During the course will you acquire in-depth knowledge on design of drug dosing schemes, and how doses may be adapted to individual patients, with especial focus on patient cohorts like elderly, children and critical ill patients.

Learning outcome

After completing the course

• you will have in-depth knowledge about basic pharmacokinetic principles and how to calculate individual pharmacokinetic parameters and variables
• you will have a broad knowledge base and understanding of individual variability in pharmacokinetic processes; including pharmacogenetics, drug-drug interactions, adherence and disease
• you will be able to design and adapt both intravenous and oral dose regimens and have an in-depth knowledge on how to individualize the dosing to specific patients
• you will have an understanding about the principles behind both pharmacokinetic population modeling and physiology-based modelling (PBPK), and being able to perform simple modeling yourself
• you will know the background for how to perform therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM)
• you will have an overview of how to aplly different dosing tools in the clinic

Admission to the course

The course is primarily open to students who have been admitted to the Department of Pharmacy at the University of Oslo. If there is space available then others may also apply to take the course as long as their academic background is adequate.

Formal prerequisite knowledge

• FARM1100 – Pharmaceutical Chemistry

• FARM1110 – Pharmacology, Physiology and Cell Biology 1

• FARM1120 – Pharmacist, Patient and Society

• FARM1130 – Pharmaceutical Based Organic Chemistry

• FARM1140 – Pharmacology, Physiology and Cell Biology 2

• FARM1150 – Pharmaceutical Based Biochemistry

• FARM2100 – Medicinal Chemistry

• FARM2110 – Pharmacotherapy 1

• FARM2120 – Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics

• FARM2130 – Pharmaceutical Analytical Chemistry

• FARM2140 – Pharmaceutical Microbiology

• FARM2150 – Formulation of Drugs and Quality Assurance in Drug Production

• FARM3100 – Pharmacognosy

• FARM3110 – Pharmacotherapy 2

• FARM3120 – Medicine Use and Public Health

• FARM3130 – Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience (APPE)

• the compulsory parts of FARM4100 – Personalised Drug Therapy

• the compulsory parts of FARM4110 – Comprehensive Biopharmacy and Formulation Technology

• the compulsory parts of FARM4120 – Drug Development

• the compulsory HMS-courses HMS0501 – Safety and Physical Environment, HMS0502 – Positive Learning Environment, HMS0503 – Laboratory Safety, HMS0506 – Patient Clinic Safety and HMS0507 – Fire Safety required for students at the 5-year Master`s Program in Pharmacy.

For students admitted to the 5-year Master`s Program in Pharmacy until and including 2016 and who have been transferred from the old study plan, separate formal prerequisite knowledge apply. These are in professional compliance with the formal prerequisite knowledge that apply to the course, but may be replaced by courses from the old study plan, as well as transitional courses. Students on transitional arrangements may contact the study administration for å complete overview of the formal prerequisite knowledge required.

The course is only available to students who have passed their pharmacy apprenticeship and have passed all previous pharmacy courses or have the equivalent academic background.

Overlapping courses

• 6 credits overlap with FRM5740 – Advanced Pharmacokinetics.
• 6 credits overlap with FRM9740 – Videregående farmakokinetikk.

Teaching

• Lectures: ca. 6 hours

• Seminars: ca. 12 hours

• Colloquium: ca. 8 hours

The course may be cancelled if the number of enrolled students are low.

Examination

Final written digital exam, 4 hours, which counts 100 % towards the finale grade. 

Examination support material

Microsoft Office package.

Language of examination

The examination text is given in Norwegian. You may submit your response in Norwegian, Swedish or Danish. English on request.

Grading scale

Grades are awarded on a scale from A to F, where A is the best grade and F is a fail. Read more about the grading system.

Resit an examination

This course offers both postponed and resit of examination. Read more:

• Illness at exams / postponed exams
• Withdrawal during an examination / Resitting an examination

Special examination arrangements, use of sources, explanations and appeals

See more about examinations at UiO