The peroral application (
swallowing) of a medicine means that the body must first resorb the active substance before it can begin to take effect. The efficacy of drug uptake depends on the one hand on the chemical characteristics of the active substance, above all on its solubility and membrane permeability. On the other hand, it is determined by the organism's ability to absorb pharmaceuticals by way of specific
transport proteins or to excrete them. Since many pharmacologically active substances are poorly suited for oral intake, a decisive criterion for the efficacy of a medicine is its so-called
bioavailability. Written by an international team from academia and the pharmaceutical…
