Biological activity

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Pharmacological or biological activity is an expression describing the beneficial or adverse effects of a drug on living matter. When the drug is a complex chemical mixture, this activity is exerted by the substance's active ingredient or pharmacophore but can be modified by the other constituents. The main kind of biological activity is a substance's toxicity. Activity is generally dosage-dependent and it is not uncommon to have effects ranging from beneficial to adverse for one substance when going from low to high doses. Activity depends critically on fulfillment of the ADME criteria.

Whereas a material is considered bioactive if it has interaction with or effect on any cell tissue in the human body, pharmacological activity is usually taken to describe beneficial effects, i.e. the effects of drug candidates.