Principles of Airway Pharmacology and Therapeutics

I. Introduction Airway pharmacology is concerned with the action of drugs on target cells of the airways and improving our understanding of the mechanism of action of drugs used to treat airway diseases. This should lead to advances in drug development, so that treatment may be more specific and maximizes the beneficial effects. Drugs may also be used as specific probes to analyze pathophysiological processes in airway disease. This chapter concerns the general pharmacological principles of drug action in the airways, with particular emphasis on the application of pharmacology to understanding obstructive airway diseases and their therapy.