Hey all, Eric Christensen, pharmacist back here with the Real Life Pharmacology podcast.

Today I'm going to cover Clipidogrel.

Brand name of that medication is Plavix.

And this is classified as an anti-platelet agent.

In practice, this medication is definitely used on a relatively frequent basis.

One really important thing that comes to mind within the drug's mechanism of action,

and I'll talk a little bit more about this too as we get into drug interactions,

but clopidigril is what's called a pro-drug.

And that means that the drug is given, and the active ingredient, the active component

within that medication is not actually active right away.

So what happens is the drug is absorbed and the drug is converted into

by the body into the active form that actually has the physiological anti-platelet type effects.

So that's what a pro drug is, basically a drug that needs to be converted by the body into its

active form.

So again, I'll talk a little bit more about this in some of the warnings and adverse effects

as well as potentially touch on drug interactions as well.

So when we think about classifications and anti-platlet agents,

you've got to remember what we're trying to do with these medications,

and it's virtually always trying to prevent platelets from aggregating together and ultimately prevent

blood clots and things of that nature, where we stop the blood flow.

And two of the most important situations are in the heart where we can have a myocardial infarction where

basically blood flow is at least limited and potentially even totally blocked. We've also got the

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