Which term describes the concentration of a drug required to produce 50% of its maximum effect?
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: Drug potency
Potency describes the amount of drug needed to produce a given intensity of effect; the concentration producing half the maximal effect (EC50) is the standard measure used to compare drugs acting on the same receptor. Efficacy, by contrast, describes the size of the maximal effect a drug can produce.
Keep practicing
More Pharmacodynamics questions
- A drug that binds to a receptor and produces a submaximal response, even at high concentrations, is known as a:
- In the presence of a competitive antagonist, how does the log dose-response curve of an agonist change?
- Which of the following describes an 'Inverse Agonist'?
- The 'Therapeutic Index' (TI) of a drug is calculated as the ratio of:
- Which receptor type typically mediates the fastest physiologic responses (millisecond timescale)?
- Which signaling molecule is primarily associated with the activation of the Gq protein pathway?