Drug Interactions

Pharmacodynamic

A competitive inhibitor "competes" with the primary drug at effect receptors.

Therefore a higher dose of the primary drug is needed to obtain the desired effect. Emax can theoretically still be achieved.

Non-competitive inhibitors decrease the Emax by reducing the number of functional receptors. This cannot be overcome by increasing the concentration of the primary drug.

Toggle the buttons and see the differences between competitive and non-competitive inhibition.