Developing drugs

Question 1

What 3 main criteria are drugs tested for?

Answer 1

Toxicity - if the dug is safe or not.
Efficacy - if the drug works.
Dosage - how much of the drug is needed.

Question 2

What are the steps in preclinical testing?

Answer 2

1. Drugs are tested on human cells and tissues.
2. Drug tested on animals to test the efficacy, toxicity and dosage. Must be tested on 2 different live mammals.

Question 3

What are the steps in clinical testing?

Answer 3

1. Drugs are tested on volunteers and patients with a low dosage given.
2. If the drug is safe, more tests are done to find the optimum dosage.

Question 4

What is a double-blind trial?

Answer 4

Where neither the patient nor doctor know who has been given the drug or placebo.

Question 5

What is the purpose of a double-blind trial?

Answer 5

It makes the results unbiased.

Question 6

What is the placebo effect?

Answer 6

When the patient expects the treatment to work and so feels better even though the treatment isn’t doing anything.