Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics Questions and Answers

Answer: C

The comparison is called bioequivalence.

Two products containing the same drug in the same dose are bioequivalent when their rate and extent of absorption, measured by the peak concentration (Cmax) and the area under the plasma concentration-time curve (AUC), fall within accepted limits of each other. Bioequivalence studies are how generic medicines are approved.

Bioavailability is the fraction of a dose that reaches the circulation for one product, not the comparison of two. Biopharmaceutics is the science of how formulation affects absorption. 'Biological' is not a term for this comparison.

Answer: B

The prodrug is aspirin.

A prodrug is given in an inactive or less active form and converted in the body into the active drug. Aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) is rapidly hydrolysed by esterases in the gut wall, blood and liver to salicylic acid, which carries much of its anti-inflammatory and analgesic effect, and it is the textbook example of a prodrug in this sense.

Vancomycin, amphotericin B and penicillin G are all active as administered: they act directly on bacterial cell walls or fungal membranes without needing metabolic activation.