1. Developing new medicines
1.1. scientists developing new medicine all the time
1.1.1. must test properly
1.2. what is a good medicine
1.2.1. effective - prevent or cure a disease or at least make you feel better
1.2.2. be safe ie not toxic or have unacceptable side affects
1.2.3. be stable - use it in normal conditions and store it for a period of time
1.2.4. successfully taken into and removed from your body so reaching its target, doing its work and then clearing your system
1.3. developing and testing a new drug
1.3.1. meet 4 conditions above
1.3.2. problems include cost and timeframe
1.3.3. test and trial extensively before we can use
1.3.4. testing thorougly is critical eg thalidomide was developed in 1950s as a sleeping pill BUT NOT PROPERLY TESTED and caused birth defects
1.4. Testing process
1.4.1. target a disease
1.4.2. make lots of possible new drugs
1.4.3. test in laboratory on cells, tissues and even whole organs
1.4.4. the small number who pass the first testing are tested on animals - see how effectively they work on a whole organism incl side affects and doses required
1.4.5. those that pass are tested on human volunteers in clinical trials
1.4.5.1. 1. v low doses on healthy people
1.4.5.2. 2. given to small no of patients with disease
1.4.5.3. 3. then on larger group in a bigger clinical trial
1.4.5.4. 4. if passes all legal tests medicine can be licensed and then available to prescribe
1.4.6. Sometimes a double blind trial is used. Patients are given either the new drug or a placebo (often an exiting drug) and both sets tested to see affects. Dont know who has been given what until end of trial.
2. Prescribed vs non-prescribed drugs
2.1. prescribed
2.1.1. fully tested and trialled
2.1.2. Employee
2.2. non-prescribed
2.2.1. may not hurt you but may not make you better
2.2.2. may be dangerous
2.2.3. but some can work as well eg natural/herbal remedies eg St Johns Wort is used as an antidepressant and scientific studies compare it favourably to prescribed drugs such as prozac
2.2.4. often have fewer side effects than prescribed medicine eg prozac is addictive
2.3. double blind trials
2.3.1. essential to properly test any drug (whether presribed on non-prescribed) to see how effective it is
3. How effective are medicines
3.1. Statins
3.1.1. lower the amount of cholesterol in your blood
3.1.2. as they stop the liver producing too much cholesterol
3.1.3. can reduce risk of heart disease by up to 40%
3.2. Good feedback about new drugs eg statins
3.2.1. drugs act fast to quickly reduce Cholsterol to safe levels
3.2.2. people feel better
3.2.3. can lead a normal life
3.3. Bad feedback
3.3.1. may not encourage correct behaviour eg should still follow a low fat diet
3.3.2. side affects eg possibly cause liver damage