4.3.1.9 discovery and development of drugs

• What is a drug?

  Something that alters the body
• where do drugs traditionally come from?

  plants and organisms
• what is digitalis and where does it originate from?

  It’s a heart drug that comes from foxgloves
• what is aspirin and where does it come from?

  its a painkiller and it comes from willow
• who discovered penicillin?

  Alexander Fleming
• how did Fleming discover penicillin?

  from Penicillium mould
• How are most new drugs synthesised?

  By chemists in the pharmaceutical industry
• what has to be done with new medical drugs?

  they have to be tested and trialled before being used to check that they are safe and effective
• what are new drugs tested for?

  • Toxicity
  • Efficacy
  • Dose
• what happens in preclinical testing?

  it is done in a laboratory using cells and tissues and then live animals
• what people do clinical trials use?

  healthy volunteers and patients
• what is done at the start of a clinical trial?

  Very low doses of the drug are given
• what happens if the drug tested in a clinical trial is found to he safe?

  further clinical trials are carried out to find the optimum dose for the drug
• what happens in a double blind trial?

  some patients are given a placebo