The discovery of new drugs

• Vaccinations allow protection against specific diseases, but the level of protection depends on the amount of people vaccinated.
• Some diseases can be treated with antibiotics.
• Antibiotics and painkillers are two different types of drugs.
• Antibiotic resistance is a problem in some bacteria.
• Bacterial growth in cultures is a process used to study bacteria.
• Bacterial calculations are a type of math used in studying bacteria.
• The effect of antibiotics and antiseptics on bacteria is studied in a required practical activity.
• The discovery of new drugs is an ongoing process, with new drugs being developed all the time.
• Historically, drugs have come from nature, as parts of plants and microorganisms have been extracted.
• One of the most famous discoveries in the history of drugs was made by Sir Alexander Fleming, who discovered penicillin from the Penicillium mould.
• Penicillin is still very important in the fight against disease.
• Certain drugs can be extracted from natural sources, and have been known about for a long time.
• Willow bark was used by the ancient Greeks to help cure fevers and pains.
• The active ingredient in willow bark was later discovered to be salicylic acid.
• Thalidomide was developed as a sleeping pill, but it was also thought to be useful for easing morning sickness in pregnant women.
• These companies have synthetic versions of the plant extracts, and use these as the starting point to develop new drugs.
• Thalidomide is a medical drug that caused unexpected and serious damage to unborn babies in the 1950s and 1960s.
• Thalidomide is now used as a treatment for leprosy and bone cancer.
• More than 10,000 babies were affected around the world.
• New medical drugs have to be tested to ensure that they work, and are safe, before they can be prescribed.
• Drug testing was also made more rigorous than before.
• Unfortunately, it had not been tested for use in this way.
• As a result of this disaster, thalidomide was banned.
• Salicylic acid was modified by chemists into the substance we call aspirin, which is less irritating to the stomach than salicylic acid.
• Its use is heavily regulated, however, to prevent a repeat of the problems it caused in the last century.
• Plants are still important today, but most plant drugs are now created in a laboratory by scientists at pharmaceutical companies.
• The drug led to the arms or legs of the babies being very short or incompletely formed.
• By 1960, thalidomide was found to damage the development of unborn babies, especially if it had been taken in the first four to eight weeks of pregnancy.
• Another example of a drug extracted from natural sources is the heart drug, digitalis, which is extracted from foxgloves.