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Pharmaceutical Medicine
Pharmaceutical Medicine
The term "pharmaceutical medicine" is still not familiar in Japan, and its Japanese translation of "seiyaku igaku" is not yet widely accepted here. Pharmaceutical medicine, or seiyaku igaku in Japanese, is an area where research is performed to make drugs safer and more effective by integrating medical knowledge related to drugs. In other words, it is a discipline of medicine that integrates clinical pharmacology, clinical immunology, toxicology, biostatistics, pharmaceutical administration and regulations, etc. Pharmaceutical medicine is already being accepted as a medical discipline in Europe and the U.S.A. In Britain, for instance, the British Association of Pharmaceutical Physicians (BrAPP), which is equivalent to JAPhMed in Japan, is already established as a subordinate organization of the Royal Academy of Physicians. Pharmaceutical physicians, who comprise this Association, are accredited as specialists in pharmaceutical medicine by another independent organization. Similar accreditation systems have been adopted in other countries. The American Academy of Pharmaceutical Physicians (AAPP), which has a larger membership than any similar association elsewhere, has not adopted an accreditation system, and includes as its members medical doctors working for the Food and Drug Administration. Thus, as an organization of pharmaceutical physicians at both private and government levels, the AAPP is contributing toward the progress and advancement of pharmaceutical medicine. The associations of pharmaceutical physicians in various countries may differ in the details of their activities, but their basic purpose is to work together for the progress and advancement of pharmaceutical medicine as a discipline through interactions of their members. As mentioned previously in the "History of JAPhMed," the IFAPP also makes it one of their principal activities to establish the role of pharmaceutical medicine and pharmaceutical physicians on a global basis.
