Drugs Drugs & Medicine Emma Mackenzie December 19 th 2012 IB 12

DRUGS A chemical that affects how the body works, for better or works. The word is associates with illegal substances in many countries

Effects on the Body  Alteration of physiological state  Alteration of mood, emotions.  Alteration of incoming sensory Examples…

Placebo Effect

Side Effects

Tolerance

Therapeutic Window

Oral Taken by mouth Tablets, pills, liquids, capusules.

Inhalation Vapor breathed in, smoking Medication of respiratory conditions such as asthma; some drugs of abuse such as nicotine and cocaine

Stages involved in the research, development and testing of the pharmaceutical products

RESEARCH The research and development of drugs and medicine is a costly process and makes the industry selective in its focus. Usually a new product is isolated and put through clinical pharmacological and laboratory studies to demonstrate its effectiveness. The goal is to develop drugs which are more effective and have fewer toxic side effects than the previously created. Many researchers focus on obesity, depression, cancer, cardiovascular disease, things which are of much importance.

DEVELOPMENT The first stage in drug development is the identifying and extracting lead compounds. They have low levels of acidity, are often derived from plants, as well as microorganisms. The second stage is testing the effectiveness with chemically related compounds known as analogues; this process is sped up by combinatorial chemistry and high- throughput screening. Then, potential medicine is then tested on animals, which help determine the amount administered to humans.

TESTING There are three stages in human trials. The effectiveness of a drug is determined by the improvement from those patients who received a real medication compared to those who had the placebo effect. I n phase one healthy volunteers are given the drug. In stage two patients are given the drug. And in stage three patients, half of the patients are given the drug and the other half a placebo, neither patient nor doctor knows who has which.