Immunopharmacology is a very important field of work within drug discovery and development. The rapid development in immunology in recent years have expanded our knowledge of host defense mechanisms and what goes wrong during disease. As our knowledge of human disease increases, it is becoming evident that inflammation in other words deficits in our immune system plays a significant part in many pathologies. The diseases in which the immune system has a major role, not only includes the classical inflammatory diseases, such as asthma, arthritis, allergies and the autoimmune pathologies, but also atherosclerosis, ischemic-reperfusion injury, sepsis/multiply organ failure and COPD. Inflammation is also an important component of metabolic diseases, many cancers, neurodegenerative diseases and transplantation rejection.

The aim of immunopharmacology is to provide up-to-date information on the pharmacology of the mediators and cells, which drive inflammation, how they interact to provide a robust response, and how dysfunctions in these pathways lead to pathology. The course will also describe currently used drugs and medical food concepts targeting the immune system and investigate future trends in this area of pharmacological research.