Novel drugs: Infection and response: Biology: GCSE (9:1)

• Penicillin


  An antibiotic discovered by Alexander Fleming that is made from Penicillium mould

  
• Digitalis


  A heart drug that originates from foxglove plants

  
• Aspirin


  A painkiller that originated from willow trees

  
• Pharmaceutical industry


  Businesses that develop and produce drugs for use in medicine and health care
• Toxicity

  The harmful effects of a drug
• Efficacy


  The effectiveness of a drug
• Dose


  The recommended quantity of a drug
• Side effect


  A secondary effect of a drug that is undesirable
• Preclinical testing


  Drug tests carried out in a laboratory on cells, tissues and live animals

  
• First stage of clinical trials

  A trial to measure the safety of a drug by testing on a sample of healthy individuals
• Second stage of clinical trials

  A trial to measure the efficacy of a drug by testing on individuals that are unwell and in need of the drug treatment
• Third stage of clinical trials


  A trial with many individuals to evaluate the overall safety and efficacy of a drug in comparison to existing drugs
• Blind trial


  A trial in which participants are unaware of whether they have received a treatment or a placebo
• Double blind trial


  A trial in which neither the experimenter nor the patient knows who is getting the research treatment to prevent bias

  
• Placebo


  A fake drug used in the testing of medication to determine the efficacy of a real drug

  
• Peer review


  The evaluation of work by several peers that are experts in a specific field