Evaluation and Development of Medicines

FIGURE 1.1 The process of new drug development in the United States. (PK indicates pharmacokinetic studies PD indicates studies of drug effect or pharmacodynamics). Further explanation is provided in the text. (Modified from Peck CC et al. Clin Pharmacol Ther 1992 51 465-73.) 

These investigators subsequently demonstrated the clinical utility of intravenous dopamine infusions in treating patients with hypotension or shock unresponsive to plasma volume expansion. This provided the basis for a small pharmaceutical firm to bring dopamine to market in the early 1970s. 

---