medicines

• What is digitalis and where does it come from?

  • Drug used to treat heart conditions.
  • Found in foxgloves.
• What is aspirin and where does it come from?

  • Pain killer
  • Found in willow
• What is penicillin and where does it come from?

  • Antibiotic
  • Found in penicillium mould
• What are new medical drugs tested for?

  • Toxicity - checking for safety and side effects.
  • Efficacy - how well it works.
  • Dosage - amount needed to be effective but not toxic.
• What is the process of trialling new medical drugs?

  • Pre-clinical trials - with cells, tissues and live animals.
  • Clinical trials - first with healthy volunteers with low doses to test for safety - then with sick volunteers to test for efficacy and find optimum doses.
• What are double blind trials?

  A way of testing the efficacy of the drug.

  • Some patients are given a placebo.
  • This accounts for the psychological effect of taking drugs.
  • The doctors don't know which patients are taking placebos which increases the validity as it avoids doctor bias.