Primary Sources of Drugs

Question 1

1. Plants

Answer 1

– berries, leaves, roots, resin and bark from trees
Examples:
1.1 digitalis from purple foxglove plant – for heart failure
1.2 atropine from belladonna plant – for slow heart rate

Question 2

2. Animal

Answer 2

Animal glands, organs and tissues
Bovine drugs – from cattle
Porcine – from swine
Example: bovine and porcine insulin to treat diabetes

Question 3

3. Minerals

Answer 3

– potassium, iron, zinc, calcium, magnesium, sulfur, silver, gold

Question 4

4. Laboratory Synthesis (synthetic) –

Answer 4

produced from artificial substances rather than natural substances
Examples: antibiotics – penicillin, streptomycin

Question 5

5. Biotechnology

Answer 5

– genetic engineering (recombinant DNA technology) to synthetically mass produce previously rare and expensive drugs
Examples: Human insulin and human growth hormone