Detoxication



 It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into detoxification. (Discuss)

The major metabolites formed from most drug metabolism are detoxication products. There are two common patterns observed:

  1. A drug with potent pharmacological activity is converted to a major metabolite with markedly reduced or no pharmacological activity (e.g., Pentobarbital and Hydroxypentobarbital)
  2. A drug is converted to a metabolite with roughly equivalent or slightly lower pharmacological activity.