EdX class in medicinal chemistry

From the inbox, Professor Erland Stevens of Davidson College is once again teaching his class on medicinal chemistry:

A free, seven-week course on medicinal chemistry starts on Monday, October 2nd on the edX platform. The course is offered as a collaboration between Davidson College and the Novartis Institutes of BioMedical Research. Nearly 50,000 students have enrolled for the past five instances of the course. 

The course covers the major topics of medicinal chemistry, including drug approval, common drug targets (enzymes and receptors), pharmacokinetics (half-life, clearance, volume of distribution), metabolism, lead discovery, and lead optimization.  The course also includes both weekly interviews with pharmaceutical professionals (many from Novartis) and lab exercises highlighting online tools for drug discovery. 

Any student who can read organic structures and identify functional groups should fine in terms of prerequisites (bio/chem/math).  Students who complete the course will be well equipped to listen to and follow a drug discovery talk presented at a conference or university.

Best wishes to those interested.