Drugs and testing Flashcards
What are drugs ?
Substances which affect the way the body works
4 Characteristics of good medical drug ?
Side effects - try to avoid serious side effects and weigh them up compared to the benefits
Efficiency - need to know how well the drug works
Cost / price - Try to make the drug affordable
Administration - Easy to take
How much does it cost and how long does it take to develop new therapeutic drugs ?
Can cost Billions of £
10 - 15 years
Why drugs tested on animals ?
To avoid killing / harming humans
Animals are similarly structured to humans
What are the issues with animal testing ?
Animal welfare - the effect of drugs on the animals
Not the same as humans - Might respond different to the drug
3 Reasons to carry out human drug testing ?
Side effects - Clinical tests enable drug companies to identify any side effects and how serious they are
Efficiency - these tests allow drug companies to work out how well a drug works in humans
Working out the dose - Testing allows drug companies to work out how much of a drug is needed
What is a double blind test ?
Neither the patient nor the doctors know if they’re taking the actual drug
What is a placebo ?
A fake pill / medicine which contains no useful substances
Why do drug test need to be double blind ?
This prevents the test to be bias and helps to account for the placebo effect in the patients
What was the serious side effect of Thalidomide ?
A drug used to treat morning side effects in pregnant women
But it also resulted in severe birth defects
What are prescribed drugs ?
Drugs which can only be bought with a doctors recommendation
Why can non prescribed drugs be dangerous ?
Reactions with the drug
People might respond badly to the drug
What is the effectiveness of the John’s wort flower ?
Natural remedy for depression and inflammation
Hard to work out dosages
