Preface

The 16th edition of Basic & Clinical Pharmacology will recognize Dr. Bertram Katzung’s legacy of contribution to this book by retitling the book as Katzung’s Basic & Clinical Pharmacology and his mentorship of Dr. Todd W. Vanderah as editor for this edition. This edition continues the extensive use of full-color illustrations and expanded coverage of transporters, pharmacogenomics, and new drugs of all types emphasized in prior editions. The 16th edition also reflects the major expansion of large-molecule drugs in the pharmacopeia, with numerous new monoclonal antibodies and other biologic agents. Case studies accompany most chapters, and answers to questions posed in the case studies appear at the end of each chapter. The book is designed to provide a comprehensive, authoritative, and readable pharmacology textbook for students in the health sciences.

This edition continues the sequence used in many pharmacology courses and in integrated curricula: basic principles of drug discovery, pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacogenomics; autonomic drugs; cardiovascular-renal drugs; drugs with important actions on smooth muscle; central nervous system drugs; drugs used to treat inflammation, gout, and diseases of the blood; endocrine drugs; chemotherapeutic drugs; toxicology; and special topics. This sequence builds new information on a foundation of information already assimilated. For example, early presentation of autonomic nervous system pharmacology allows students to integrate the physiology and neuroscience they have learned elsewhere with the pharmacology they are learning and prepares them to understand the autonomic effects of other drugs. This is especially important for the cardiovascular and central nervous system drug groups. However, chapters can be used equally well in courses and curricula that present these topics in a different sequence. Within each chapter, emphasis is placed on discussion of drug groups and prototypes rather than offering repetitive detail about individual drugs. Selection of the subject matter and the order of its presentation are based on the accumulated experience of teaching this material to thousands of medical, pharmacy, dental, podiatry, nursing, and other health science students.

Health science curricula now place more emphasis on the clinical applications of therapeutic measures. Major features that make this book particularly useful in such curricula include sections that specifically address the clinical choice and use of drugs in patients and the monitoring of their effects—in other words, clinical pharmacology is an integral part of this text. Lists of the trade and generic names of commercial preparations available are provided at the end of each chapter for easy reference by the house officer or practitioner evaluating a patient’s drug list or writing a prescription.

The 16th edition includes the novel medications that were quickly designed to prevent and overcome COVID-19 with emphasis on the importance of vaccines and antiviral drugs in pharmacology and clinical medicine.

Significant revisions in this edition include:

• Major revisions of the chapters on immunopharmacology; antiseizure, antipsychotic, antidepressant, antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, and antiviral drugs; prostaglandins; and central nervous system neurotransmitters. Major additions on the treatment of COVID have been added in Chapter 49.

• Continued expansion of the coverage of general concepts relating to newly discovered receptors, receptor mechanisms, and drug transporters.

• Descriptions of important new drugs, especially biologicals, released through January 2022.

• Revised illustrations in full color that provide significantly more information about drug mechanisms and effects and help to clarify important concepts.

An important related educational resource is Katzung’s Pharmacology: Examination & Board Review, 14th edition (Marieke Kruidering-Hall, Rupa L. Tuan, Todd W. Vanderah, Bertram G. Katzung, eds, McGraw Hill, 2024). This book provides a succinct review of pharmacology with almost 1000 sample examination questions and answers. It is especially helpful to students preparing for board-type examinations. A more highly condensed source of information suitable for review purposes is USMLE Road Map: Pharmacology, 2nd edition (Katzung BG, Trevor AJ: McGraw Hill, 2006). An extremely useful manual of toxicity due to drugs and other products is Poisoning & Drug Overdose, by Olson KR, ed; 8th edition, McGraw Hill, 2022.

The 16th edition marks the 42nd year of publication of Basic & Clinical Pharmacology. The widespread adoption of the first fifteen editions indicates that this book fills an important need. We believe that the 16th edition will satisfy this need even more successfully. Chinese, Croatian, Czech, French, Georgian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Lithuanian, Portuguese, Spanish, Turkish, and Ukrainian translations of various editions are available. The publisher may be contacted for further information.

I wish to acknowledge the prior and continuing efforts of my contributing authors and the major contributions of the staff at Lange Medical Publications, Appleton & Lange, and McGraw Hill, and of our copy editor for this edition, Greg Feldman. I also wish to thank Tasneem Kauser for her contributions.

Suggestions and comments about Katzung’s Basic & Clinical Pharmacology are always welcome. They may be sent to me in care of the publisher.