Drug Testing(I&R)

• Placebo: a fake drug that looks like the real drug but does nothing
• Volunteers who take the placebo might claim to be suffering from side effects due to anxiety during testing and noticing changes in their body
• Human trials: testing for the drug is done on healthy patients to check for any side effects
• Blind trials: patients do not know who is receiving the drug or the placebo
• Double-blind trials: doctors and patients do not know who is getting the real drug or the placebo
• It is beneficial to conduct double-blind trials to prevent bias from doctors and to avoid patients subconsciously influencing the results
• When testing for a drug, scientists look for 4 major points:

  • Efficiency: do they work
  • Toxicity: are they poisonous/toxic
  • Dosage: how much is safe
  • Side effects: what are they and how severe are they
• Stages of drug testing:

  • Drugs are tested using computer models and human cells in a lab
  • Animal testing: animals are given a known dosage of the drug to monitor for side effects
  • Volunteers and people: the drug is tested on healthy volunteers first to check safety at a low dosage and find any side effects. Then tested on people with the illness to see if they are safe and effective
  • Licensing: after passing all tests, drug companies get approval to produce more of the drug. This process can take 10-15 years as scientists need to look for any severe side effects