Lecture 6 - Navigating the Pharmacy Flashcards
How are drugs defined in Canada?
a drug includes any substance or mixture of substances for use in:
- the diagnosis, treatment, mitigation or prevention of a disease, disorder, abnormal physical state, or its symptoms, in human being or animals
- restoring, correcting, or modifying organic functions in human beings or animals
- disinfection in premises in which food is manufactured, prepared, or kept
How are drugs regulated in Canada?
they review safety and efficacy data from clinical studies (only approved if the benefits outweigh the risks, will not be approved if evidence is deemed insufficient)
Health Canada also has laboratories that may perform additional testing
will have a Drug Identification Number (DIN)
What should you keep in mind in assessing research?
evidence vs. anecdote
humans vs. animals vs. cells in a dish
clinical trials vs. case studies
reviews vs. systematic reviews vs. meta-analysis
What should you look for in clinical trials?
look out for: blinding, controls/placebo, bias, participants/power
are there clinical trials for natural products?: funding/potential gain, product variability
What should you look for in systematic reviews?
qualitative summary of all the studies on a topic
look out for: time frame, search criteria, basis for inclusion/exclusion of studies, bias/conflicts of interest
What should you look for in meta-analyses?
quantitative combination of data from separate studies: employs statistics, can even quantify publication bias
BUT harder to evaluate without some base knowledge: PRISMA guidelines, Cochrane collaboration
What is Belladonna 30C?
contains an active ingredient (Atropine - parasympathetic inhibitor)
30C corresponds to a dilution of 10^-60: chemically, classified as not containing any molecules of the original substance
What is Advil?
active ingredient is ibuprofen
inhibitor of cyclooxygenase (COX) enzymes
reduces the production of pain-causing molecules called Prostaglandins
