M27. New drugs

Question 1

How many different kinds of medicine are available in the UK ?

Answer 1

6,000

Question 2

Why are knew drugs needed?

Answer 2

• as new diseases are emerging
• there are still many diseases that there are no effective treatments for
• some antibiotic treatments are becoming elss effective, as microorganisms that cause disease are always evolving.

Question 3

Give 5 ways in which new drugs are discovered

Answer 3

• by accident
• traditional medicine
• anaesthetics
• observations of wildlife
• modern research

Question 4

Give an example of a drug discovered by accident

Answer 4

penicillin

Question 5

What are most types of antibiotics made by? give some examples.

Answer 5

the bacterium streptomyces, eg neomycin, chloramphenicol and streptomycin

Question 6

Why is streptomyces rarely used anymore though?

Answer 6

as most bacteria are resistant to it

Question 7

What is Nystatin, and what is it derived from

Answer 7

important antifungal drug

derived from Streptomyces noursei

Question 8

what percentage of world medicines relies on old traditions

Answer 8

80%

Question 9

How many different plants are used for medicines in india and china

Answer 9

india- 7000

china- 5000

Question 10

Give an example of Anaesthetic drugs

Answer 10

the sap of unripe poppies was used in Neolothic times in parts of Southern Europe as an anaesthetic in twelth century
in 19th century morphine and opium were used

Question 11

What do anaesthetics do?

Answer 11

reduce nervous action in the central nervous system, so if the nerves cant carry impulses, pain cant be felt.

Question 12

Give 4 examples of animals self medicating

Answer 12

• monkeys, bears and other animals rub citrus oils on their coats as insecticides and antiseptics to prevent insect bites and infection
• chimpanzees swallow leaves folded in a particular way to remove parasites from their digestive tract
• elephants roam for miles to find clay to counteract dietary toxins
• birds line their nests with medicinal leaves to protect their chicks from blood sucking mites

Question 13

How do scientists research drugs ?

Answer 13

They use traditional medicines and animal behaviour as a starting point, such as researching plants used to isolate the active ingredients.

Question 14

Where do most antibiotics developed in the last 50 years come from?

Answer 14

the bacterium Streptomyces

Question 15

How do scientists work out how bacteriums produce antibiotics

Answer 15

by finding out what its genes do. then they can use this information to improve current production methods

Question 16

How does the HIV virus cause disease?

Answer 16

using the receptor called the CD4 receptor which can be isolated and sequenced. Then once the amino acid sequence is known, molecular modelling can be used to determine the shape of the receptor.
Then to find a drug that could block that receptor without causing major side effects

Question 17

How can you identify potential medicinal drugs from DNA, known as genomics?

Answer 17

As you can compare DNA of a person with that of a plant or organism, to see if they are