FPGEE for National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) Practice Exam 2026 - Free NABP Practice Questions and Study Guide

Intrinsic activity describes the capability of a drug to bind to a receptor and activate it, resulting in a physiological response. This concept is central to pharmacology, as it helps differentiate between drugs that merely bind to receptors without eliciting a response (antagonists) and those that bind and produce a significant effect (agonists).

A drug with high intrinsic activity will produce a strong response when it binds to its target receptor, while one with low intrinsic activity will produce a weaker effect. This characteristic is crucial in understanding how different medications can have varying impacts on bodily functions by either stimulating or inhibiting pathways within the body.

In contrast, the other options relate to different pharmacological concepts. Decreasing side effects pertains to a drug's safety profile rather than its activity at the receptor level. Increasing absorption rate involves pharmacokinetics—how a drug is absorbed, distributed, metabolized, and excreted—but again does not directly connect to intrinsic activity. Finally, causing dependency refers to the potential for a substance to lead to addiction or physical reliance, which is an undesirable outcome but not related to the mechanism of receptor activation.