Medicinal chemistry and therapeutic relevance of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors.

Chemical Basis of Drug Action (PHA337 and PHA447) is a required 2-semester course sequence taught to second-professional year pharmacy students at Creighton University in both the campus and distance-education pathways. The course emphasizes integration of previous content, critical thinking, and therapeutic relevance. The content and learning experiences are organized to transition the students' thinking through a constructive process that provides ample opportunities to recall and integrate previous knowledge, learn and apply new knowledge, establish a logical connection between the science and its therapeutic relevance, and finally to apply the science knowledge to predict clinical activity and clinical outcomes as can be expected in a patient. This manuscript is based on the angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors as an illustration of how our course objectives are accomplished.