David J. Johnson

TL;DR: Cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, antiviral, anxiolytic sedatives hypnotics and antipsychotics, corticosteroid, and thyroid pharmaceuticals were the predicted most hazardous therapeutic classes.

TL;DR: (Q)SAR's can be important prioritization tools for subsequent experimental risk assessment of pharmaceuticals in surface waters, due to the prevalent lack of ecotoxicological data.

TL;DR: Injury symptoms were comparatively uniform and consistent among chemical classes while degree of phytotoxicity varied considerably; both of these criteria varied markedly between classes.

TL;DR: No significant differences were observed between measured half‐lives of the pharmaceuticals in sunlight‐exposed pond water and autoclaved pond water, which suggests photode degradation was important in limiting their persistence, and biodegradation was not an important loss process in surface water over the duration of the study.

TL;DR: Q)SARs and pharmacodynamic information should be used to prioritize and steer experimental risk assessments of pharmaceuticals, and potentially, also be used in new drug discovery optimizing efficacy and in minimising environmental hazards of new products.