Drug Discovery For The Treatment Of Addiction: Medicinal Chemistry Strategies

This book presents the neurochemical and -biological information on drug addiction in a format for medicinal chemists. For the most part, such information is primarily written by and for neuropharmacologists with a low level of medicinal chemistry included. In his book, Fulton discusses the basic drug-reward system, with an emphasis on neurotransimtters and neurochemical mechanisms of addictive drugs. Following chapters describe testing methods for behavioral pharmacology and the general process of drug development for addiction that stress unique problems in medicinal chemistry. Subsequent chapters focus on specific areas of drug addiction (opioids, stimulants, depressants, nicotine, marijuana), with the bulk of each covering strategies in medicinal chemistry to develop drugs to treat addiction; the rest of the chapters present mechanisms of action, approved drugs treating these areas, and the approved pharmacotherapies.

Brian S. Fulton is a Visiting Lecturer in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Northeastern University and has taught courses in organic chemistry, spectroscopy, and pharmaceutical sciences and has taught a one-semester course, Medicinal Chemistry of Psychiatric Drugs, at Harvard University Extension School. From 1987 – 2005, Dr. Fulton worked as an industrial organic chemist in the US and Europe. He obtained his B.S. in Chemistry at Missouri State University and his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry at Iowa State University. He has written 17 peer-reviewed publications and given 8 presentations at scientific meetings.