An effective dose (ED) in pharmacology is the dose or amount of drug that produces a therapeutic response or desired effect in some fraction of the subjects taking it.
The "median effective dose" is the dose that prodcues a quantal effect (all or nothing) in 50% of the population that takes it (median referring to the 50% population base). It is also sometimes abbreviated as the ED50, meaning "effective dose, for 50% of people given it". The ED50 is commonly used as a measure of reasonable expectance of a drug effect, but not necessarily the dose that a clinician might use. This depends on the need for the effect, and also the toxicity.
The ED95 is the dose required for desired effect in 95% of the population exposed to it. ED95 is more important in (for example) general anesthesia.
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