How drugs are discovered

Question 1

What is pharmacology?

Answer 1

The study of how drugs affect the body and how the body affects drugs

Question 2

What’s a key example of a folk remedy still used today?

Answer 2

Cocaine

Question 3

What was/is cocaine used for? (2)

Answer 3

Anesthetic and endurance extender

Question 4

What 2 safer drugs were synthesized to replace cocaine?

Answer 4

Procaine and Lidocaine

Question 5

What’s different about procaine compared to cocaine?

Answer 5

It doesn’t affect the CNS like cocaine does

Question 6

Give an example of how drugs can be developed by design?

Answer 6

Paul Ehrlich tested hundreds of arsenic derivatives until he synthesised Salvarson, an effective treatment of syphilis

Question 7

What is Pharmadynamics?

Answer 7

studying the mechanism of drug action

Question 8

What is Pharmakinetics?

Answer 8

studying the handling of a drug by the body

Question 9

Why has procaine been replaced by lidocaine?

Answer 9

Procaine has a shorter duration of action, poorer tissue penetration and produces worse side effects.
It can provoke allergy and has worse CNS side effects than lidocaine