Developing Drugs

• Developing Drugs


  1. Preclinical testing on human cells and tissues

  2. Preclinical testing on live animals

  3. Clinical trials on healthy volunteers

  4. Clinical trials on patients

  5. Peer review
• Preclinical testing on live animals

  • Test efficacy (whether the drug works)
  • Test toxicity (how harmful it is)
  • Find the best dosage
• The law in Britain states that any new drug must be tested on two different live mammals
• Some people think that animals are so different from humans

  Testing on animals is pointless
• Clinical trials


  1. Test on healthy volunteers (to check for side effects)

  2. Test on patients (to find optimum dose)

  3. Randomly put patients into two groups (one gets drug, one gets placebo)

  4. Trials are blind/double-blind
• The placebo effect doesn't work with revision
• The results of drug testing and drug trials aren't published until they've been through peer review
• Peer review


  Other scientists check that the work is valid and has been carried out rigorously