Editing Pharmacology (section)

== Societies and education ==
{{unreferenced section|date=February 2016}}

=== Societies and administration ===
The [[International Union of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology]], [[Federation of European Pharmacological Societies]] and [[European Association for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics]] are organisations representing standardisation and regulation of clinical and scientific pharmacology.

Systems for [[medical classification]] of drugs with [[pharmaceutical code]]s have been developed. These include the [[National Drug Code]] (NDC), administered by [[Food and Drug Administration]];<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.fda.gov/Drugs/InformationOnDrugs/ucm142438.htm|title=National Drug Code Directory|date=5 May 2017|website=U.S. Food and Drug Administration|access-date=28 May 2019|archive-date=27 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160527135726/http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/InformationOnDrugs/ucm142438.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Drug Identification Number]] (DIN), administered by [[Health Canada]] under the [[Food and Drugs Act]]; [[Department of Health (Hong Kong)#Hong Kong Drug Registration|Hong Kong Drug Registration]], administered by the Pharmaceutical Service of the [[Department of Health (Hong Kong)]] and [[National Pharmaceutical Product Index]] in South Africa. Hierarchical systems have also been developed, including the [[Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical Classification System]] (AT, or ATC/DDD), administered by [[World Health Organization]]; [[Generic Product Identifier]] (GPI), a hierarchical classification number published by MediSpan and [[SNOMED]], C axis. Ingredients of drugs have been categorised by [[Unique Ingredient Identifier|Unique Ingredient Identifiers]].

=== Education ===
{{main|Medical education}}
The study of pharmacology overlaps with [[biomedical sciences]] and is the study of the effects of drugs on living organisms. Pharmacological research can lead to new drug discoveries, and promote a better understanding of human [[physiology]]. Students of pharmacology must have a detailed working knowledge of aspects in physiology, pathology, and chemistry. They may also require knowledge of plants as sources of pharmacologically active compounds.<ref name="int-soc-ethnopharm" />  Modern pharmacology is interdisciplinary and involves biophysical and computational sciences, and analytical chemistry. A pharmacist needs to be well-equipped with knowledge on pharmacology for application in pharmaceutical research or pharmacy practice in hospitals or commercial organisations selling to customers. Pharmacologists, however, usually work in a laboratory undertaking research or development of new products. Pharmacological research is important in academic research (medical and non-medical), private industrial positions, science writing, scientific patents and law, consultation, biotech and pharmaceutical employment, the alcohol industry, food industry, forensics/law enforcement, public health, and environmental/ecological sciences. Pharmacology is often taught to pharmacy and medicine students as part of a [[Medical School]] curriculum.