Antipyretic therapy: clinical pharmacology.

Fever depends on a complex physiologic response to infectious agents and other conditions. To alleviate fever, many medicinal agents have been developed over a century of trying to improve upon aspirin, which was determined to work by inhibiting prostaglandin synthesis. We present the process of fever induction through prostaglandin synthesis and discuss the development of pharmaceuticals that target enzymes and receptors involved in prostaglandin-mediated signal transduction, including prostaglandin H2 synthase (also known as cyclooxygenase), phospholipase A2, microsomal prostaglandin E2 synthase-1, EP receptors, and transient potential cation channel subfamily V member 1. Clinical use of established antipyretics will be discussed as well as medicinal agents under clinical trials and future research.