New Medicine

• Antibiotic-resistant bacteria strains


  Worrying increase
• Developing a new drug

  1. Several trials that a drug must pass before being approved by a national regulatory authority

  2. A lot of time and money is required to successfully develop a drug
• Ways in which new drugs are discovered and developed

  • Analysis of an organism's genome to find candidate genes that may code for potential drugs
  • Identifying molecules that fit into drug targets e.g. receptors and hormones or neurotransmitters and synapses
  • Modifying drugs that already exist (this is done by using computer programmes that model the molecular structures of drugs and target molecules)
  • Identification of useful compounds produced by organisms (e.g. fungi, plants, animals and actinobacteria)
• Microorganisms and plants as a source of medicine


  A large majority of the drugs we currently use have been obtained by studying other organisms
• Drugs obtained from organisms

  • Antibiotics from bacteria and fungi
  • Rifamycins from marine actinobacteria
  • Artemisinin from Sweet wormwood
  • Quinidine from the Quinine tree
• Continued access to these drugs and the discovery of new drugs is a strong argument for maintaining biodiversity at a global level
• Microorganism and plant species may go extinct before we have the chance to discover what drugs they can provide
• Personalised medicine


  Development of more targeted and personalised drugs to treat a variety of human diseases as well as the development of synthetic tissues
• Example of personalised medicine

  • Isoniazid drug for TB - some individuals metabolize it slowly (effective) while others metabolize it much faster (ineffective)
• Genomic medicine


  Uses information about an individual's genes to influence their clinical care
• Differences in DNA base sequences between individuals can affect the tertiary structure of the proteins which are targeted by drugs
• The information gained from genetic testing could be used to divide the population into subgroups according to how they are likely to respond to specific drugs
• Examples of personalised cancer medicine

  • Herceptin - an antibody drug used to treat some breast cancers, it affects a specific cell surface receptor
• Genetic screening


  Allows for individuals with a high chance of developing specific diseases to be identified and for preventative measures or precautions to be taken
• Synthetic biology


  Recent area of research that aims to create new biological parts, devices, and systems, or to redesign systems that already exist in nature
• Synthetic biology is much more complex than genetic engineering as it involves assembling an entire genome
• The assembly of the genome can be done using known existing DNA sequences or by using entirely new sequences
• These new sequences can be written (using special computer programmes) so that they produce specific proteins or transcription factors
• Artemisinin


  An antimalarial drug that is difficult to produce in other ways
• Producing artemisinin


  E.coli and yeast are completely genetically reprogrammed so that they produce the precursor of the drug on a large scale