Module 1 - Introduction Flashcards
What is the difference between a drug and a medicine?
A drug refers to the active ingredient, a medicine refers to the product that contains the active ingredient
What is the difference between a drug and a poison?
How it is being used and how much is being used
What are the 5 stages of drug discovery?
- Idea and hypothesis
- Identification and purification of active ingredients
- Testing of hypothesis
- Clinical trial
- Post marketing surveillance
What are the 4 phases of a clinical trial?
- Trial on healthy humans to determine safety
- Trial on small number of individuals with targeted disease
- Randomised control trial on individuals with disease
- Post marketing surveillance
What does the Greek word ‘pharmakon’ mean?
Drug or medicine
The Greek word for ‘drug’ is also the word for?
Poison
What is drug potency?
The amount of drug required to produce an effect
What is drug selectivity?
Narrowness of drug’s range of actions on on particular receptors/cells/tissues
What is drug specificity?
Relationship between chemical structure and pharmacological effect
What is an assay?
Technique (chemical or biological) by which strength and purity of a drug are measured
What is a bioassay?
Biological methods used to determine potency of substance by its effects on living plants, animals, cells or tissues
What is the importance of using active ingredient names when writing prescriptions?
To improve safe, quality use of medications, improve consumer education and reduce errors in prescribing
