Developing Drugs
- Created by: India.02
- Created on: 09-05-19 12:45
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- Developing Drugs
- 1. Preclinical Testing
- Drugs tested on human cells and tissues in the lab
- You can't use human cells and tissues to test drugs that affect whole or multiple body systems
- Testing a drug for blood pressure must be done on a whole animal because it has an intact circulatory system
- 2. Preclinical Testing
- Test the drug on live animals
- This is to test efficacy - whether the drug works and is effective - toxicity - how harmful it is - the best dosage - concentration that should be given and how often
- Law in the U.K. states that any new drug must be tested on two different live mammals - some believe that it's cruel to test on animals - others say that it is the safest way to test the danger of the drug before it is given to humans
- 3. Clinical Trial
- Drug tested on healthy volunteers to make sure that it doesn't have any harmful side effects when the body works normally
- At first, a very low dosage is given - gradually increased to avoid reactions to the drug
- If results from healthy volunteers are good, the drugs can then be tested on people with the illness - the optimum dose is found - does of the drug when it is most effective and has few side effects
- Patients put into 2 random groups - one given drug and the other a placebo - like the drug but doesn't do anything - doctor can see the actual difference the drug makes
- Also allows for placebo effect - patient expects the treatment to work and feels better even though the treatment isn't doing anything
- Patients put into 2 random groups - one given drug and the other a placebo - like the drug but doesn't do anything - doctor can see the actual difference the drug makes
- Trials are blind - the patients don't know whether they are getting the drug or the placebo - often double-blind because the doctor doesn't know what form they are giving to the patient
- No one knows until the results are gathered
- So doctors monitoring the patients and analysing the results aren't sub-consciously influenced by their knowledge
- Results of drug testing and trials aren't published until they've undergone a peer review - prevents false claims
- Peer review - when other scientists check that the work is valid and has been carried out rigorously
- Drug tested on healthy volunteers to make sure that it doesn't have any harmful side effects when the body works normally
- 1. Preclinical Testing
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