Drugs

• What do antibiotics do?

  Kill bacteria
• How do specific antibiotics function?

  They kill specific types of bacteria
• What are examples of drugs mentioned?

  • Digitalis (heart drug)
  • Aspirin (painkiller)
  • Penicillin (antibiotic)
• Why is it hard to develop drugs that destroy viruses?

  Viruses live and reproduce inside cells
• Where are drugs often synthesized nowadays?

  In a lab
• What might the drug synthesis process start with?

  A chemical extracted from a plant
• Who discovered Penicillin?

  Alexander Fleming
• What do painkillers do?

  Treat symptoms but don't kill pathogens
• What are the three things new drugs are tested for?

  1. Toxicity - how harmful the drug is
  2. Efficacy - whether the drug works
  3. Dosage - concentration and frequency of administration
• What is toxicity in drug testing?

  How harmful the drug is
• What does efficacy refer to in drug testing?

  Whether the drug works
• What does dosage indicate in drug testing?

  The concentration and frequency of administration
• What is preclinical testing?

  • Tests on live animals
  • Tests on human cells and tissues
• What is a double-blind clinical trial?


  Neither participants nor researchers know who gets the drug
• What is a placebo?

  A substance that does nothing
• What are the steps in clinical trials?

  1. Tests on healthy volunteers
  2. Gradual increase of dosage
  3. Tests on ill patients
  4. Finding optimum dose
  5. Peer review
• What happens during the initial phase of clinical trials?

  Tests on healthy volunteers
• What is done after finding the optimum dose?

  Peer review