Clinical pharmacology is the study of drugs and their prescription and use in clinical settings. The field has a broad scope because it includes research into new molecules that may be used in the creation of new medications and extends to how the drugs are eventually used in large populations. In a sense, clinical pharmacology lies between the practice of medicine by physicians and the abstract research into chemical compound formation that occurs in the scientist’s laboratory, bridging the gap that separates theory and practice.

Clinical pharmacology originated in the developed world, particularly in Europe, the United States, and Scandinavia, because of the considerable amount of industrial [Page 371]infrastructure and economic resources required to make it a viable discipline in a given area. Before the practice ...