This is a real-world medical entrance exam question, please give the true answer based on the question and selection. Topic name: General Pharmacology, Subject name: Pharmacology
The ratio of the dose that produces toxicity to the dose that produces a clinically desired or effective response in a population of individual is Known as 
Select and explain. 
A. Efficacy, B. Potency, C. Therapeutic index, D. Partial agonist
C: Therapeutic index
Answer: C: Therapeutic index 
Explanation: (Therapeutic Index) (55- KDT6th) (32-33-LP3rd)Therapeutic Index - The therapeutic index of a drug is ratio of the dose that produces toxicity to the dose that produces a clinically desired or effective response in a population of individuals* A drug may be capable of inducing a higher therapeutic response (have higher efficacy) but development of intolerable adverse effects may preclude use of higher doses eg prednisolone in bronchial asthma* The therapeutic index is thus measure of a drug's safety*Therapeutic Index =LD50(Median lethal dose)----------------ED50(Median effective dose)* Warfarin - anticoagulant with a small therapeutic index* Penicilline - antimicrobial with a large therapeutic indexPotency - a measure of the amount of drug necessary to produce an effect of a given magnitude.* For a number of reasons, the concentration producing an effect that is 50% of the maximum is used to determine potency i.e. (EC50)* EC50 is the concentration of the dnig that produces a response equal to fifty percent of the maximal responseEfficacy - is dependent on the number of drug- receptor complexes formed and the efficiency of coupling of receptor activation to cellular responses (Emax)* Efficacy is more important than potency* A drug with greater efficacy is more therapeutically beneficial than one that is more potent* Small the EC50 the more potent the drug