A drug class is a set of medications that have similar chemical structures, the same mechanism of action (i.e., bind to the same biological target), a related mode of action, and/or are used to treat the same disease.
In several dominant drug classification systems, these four types of classifications form a hierarchy. For example, the fibrates are a chemical class of drugs (amphipathic carboxylic acids) that share the same mechanism of action (PPAR agonist), mode of action (reducing blood triglycerides), and are used to prevent and to treat the same disease (atherosclerosis). Conversely not all PPAR agonists are fibrates, not all triglyceride lowering agents are PPAR agonists, and not all drugs that are used to treat atherosclerosis are triglyceride lowering agents.
The most widely used drug classification system is the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical Classification System (ATC). The Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine (SNOMED) also includes a section devoted to drug classification.
Examples of drug classes that are based on chemical structures include:
Mechanism of action
Drug classes that share a common molecular mechanism of action by modulating the activity of a specific biological target. The definition of a mechanism of action also includes the type of activity at that biological target. For receptors, these activities include agonist, antagonist, inverse agonist, or modulator. Enzyme target mechanisms include activator or inhibitor. Ion channel modulators include opener or blocker. The following are specific examples of drug classes whose definition is based on a specific mechanism of action:
- 5-Alpha-reductase inhibitor
- Angiotensin II receptor antagonist
- ACE inhibitor
- Alpha-adrenergic agonist
- Beta blocker
- Dopamine agonist
- Dopamine antagonist
- Incretin mimetic
- Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug − cyclooxygenase inhibitor
- Proton-pump inhibitor
- Renin inhibitor
- Selective glucocorticoid receptor modulator
- Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor
- Statin – HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor
Mode of action
Drug classes that are defined by common cellular mode of action include:
Drug classes that are defined by their therapeutic use include:
Some drug classes have been amalgamated from these three principles to meet practical needs. The class of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) is one such example. Strictly speaking, and also historically, the wider class of anti-inflammatory drugs also comprises steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. These drugs were in fact the predominant anti-inflammatories during the decade leading up to the introduction of the term "non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs". Because of the disastrous reputation that the corticosteroids had got in the 1950s, the new term, which offered to signal that an anti-inflammatory drug was not a steroid, rapidly gained currency. The drug class of "non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs" (NSAIDs) is thus composed by one element ("anti-inflammatory") that designates the mechanism of action, and one element ("non-steroidal") that separates it from other drugs with that same mechanism of action. Similarly, one might argue that the class of disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARD) is composed by one element ("disease-modifying") that albeit vaguely designates a mechanism of action, and one element ("anti-rheumatic drug") that indicates its therapeutic use.
- For the UK legal classification, see Drugs controlled by the UK Misuse of Drugs Act i
- For the US legal classification, see USA drug schedules
- Mahoney A, Evans J (2008). "Comparing drug classification systems". AMIA Annual Symposium Proceedings: 1039. PMID 18999016.
- World Health Organization (2003). Introduction to drug utilization research (PDF). Geneva: World Health Organization. p. 33. ISBN 924156234X.
- Imming P, Sinning C, Meyer A (Oct 2006). "Drugs, their targets and the nature and number of drug targets". Nature Reviews. Drug Discovery. 5 (10): 821–34. doi:10.1038/nrd2132. PMID 17016423.
- Buer JK (Oct 2014). "Origins and impact of the term 'NSAID'". Inflammopharmacology. 22 (5): 263–7. doi:10.1007/s10787-014-0211-2. PMID 25064056.
- Buer JK (Aug 2015). "A history of the term "DMARD"". Inflammopharmacology. 23 (4): 163–71. doi:10.1007/s10787-015-0232-5. PMC 4508364. PMID 26002695.
- "Drug names and classes". PubMed Health. United States National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 2015-11-07.
- "Information by Drug Class". Drug Safety and Availability. United States Food and Drug Administration. Retrieved 2015-11-07.