Classification of Drugs

Multiple, Independent Ways to Classify a Drug

Because a single drug molecule can be described from several different chemical and biological angles, there is no single "correct" classification scheme - each scheme highlights a different aspect useful to a different reader (a physician, a chemist, or a pharmacologist). Four classification schemes are commonly used, developed in the sub-parts that follow:

1. On the basis of pharmacological effect - grouping by the overall effect the drug produces in the body.
2. On the basis of drug action - grouping by the specific biochemical process the drug interferes with.
3. On the basis of chemical structure - grouping by a shared structural skeleton.
4. On the basis of molecular targets - grouping by the biomolecule the drug binds to. …