A knowledge of pharmacological and therapeutic principles is vital if drugs/medicines are to be used safely and effectively for increasingly informed and critical patients.Those who understand how drugs get into the body, how they produce their effects, what happens to them in the body, and how evidence of their therapeutic effect is assessed, will choose drugs more skilfully, and use them more successfully than those who do not.Essential reading for anyone concerned with evidence-based drug therapy! Introductory first three sections cover general principle of clinical pharmacology; five subsequent sections cover drug treatment of disease organised by body system. Retains approachable style set by the original author, Professor Laurence. Emphasis throughout is on evidence-based and safe drug prescribing. New colour design Increased use of graphics Slightly shorter by removal of out of date material