Medicines Pathway: from discovery to patients

Question 1

what treats heart failure?

Answer 1

digoxin from foxglove

Question 2

what is a pain killer?

Answer 2

morphine from opium poppy

Question 3

what is anti malaria

Answer 3

quinine from chinchona bark

Question 4

what was the first antibiotic?

Answer 4

salvarsan- Arsenic compound derived from dyes, first effective drug against syphilis. Concept of chemotherapy and chemoreceptors introduced

Question 5

Describe the problem with thalidomide

Answer 5

-Licensed for OTC sales (1956)
-Marketed to pregnant women
-Reduced morning sickness
-Caused birth defects (small limbs)
->10,000 babies affected; half died within 1 year
-Was ‘TERATOGENIC’ (harmful to foetuses)
-tougher testing and drug approval procedures for new drugs created

Question 6

What challenges are faced by pharmaceutical industry?

Answer 6

-tight controls on development, testing, approval, marketing
-huge research and development costs
-very long and high risk development process
-short patent life (intellectual property)
-generic drug (copies after patent expired): less expensive and preferred by governments
-success depend on constant innovation (competition with other companies and is getting more difficult to find new drugs)

Question 7

what is intellectual property?

Answer 7

gives exclusive rights of sales in one country- typically lasts 20 years