20/11

Medicine and Drugs

Developing new medicines

Good medicine
-Effective(prevent/cure/make you feel better)
-Safe(x toxic/unacceptable side effects)
-Stable(able to use the medicine under normal conditions)
-successfully taken into and removed from ur body
Developing and testing new drug
-takes up to 12 years
-cost a lot of money (350 million pound)
-tested in laboraty
-lots of possible new drugs
1.tested on cells, tissues and even whole organs(many fail)
2.passed chemicals are tested on animals(info about
possible doses and side effects)
3.tested on healthy volunteers in low doses(side effects)
4.tried on small number of patients(see if treat disease)
5.clinical trials(optimum dose of drug)

Human trials
Double-blind trials
-either given placebo(does not contain new drug but
contains other drug-not deprived of treatment)
-or given new medicine
-no one knows who has recieved real or fake
-see effectiveness

Why test medicine so throughly

Thalidomide story
-sleeping pill originally
-discovered stopped morning sickness during pregnancy
-assumed to be safe for unborned children
-affected fetus with severe deformed limbs
-treat leprosy
-but children born with abdormalties

How effective are medicines?

-blood cholesterol high, risk of heart disease high
-statins lower amount of cholesterol
-loww fat diet for best result

Prescribed drugs vs Non-prescribed

-measured in proper double-blind trials

Drugs
-often made by plants
-legal some illegal
-used by indigeous people for many years

Legal
-coffee,tea, alcopop,wine,beer
-contain caffeine, nicotine and alcohol
Illegal
-cocaine, heroine, cannabis
Addiction
-change chemical processes in body
-dependent on them
-cant manage properly without it-need more to feel normal
-Withdrawal symptoms(aches,sweating shaking, craving for)

Problems
-feel very good about urself
-happy, problems no longer matter
-hard drugs led to severe health problems
-turning to crime to pay for drug
-hepatitis, STDs, HV/Aids

Legal and illegal drugs

caffeine is drug-alert and energetic
recreational drug affects nervous system(brain)
alcohol and cannabis(produce vivid dreams and hallucination)
slows down responses-calm
heroine stops impulses travelling to nervous system

impact on health
more people take legal drugs than illegal ones

Does cannabis lead to hard drugs

-cannabis may lead to mental health problems(high risk)
-heroin users are origanally cannabis users
-cannabis users are originally smokers
-puts them in touch with drug dealers, x because people
want stronger drug
-'gateway' drug opens door to use hard drugs

Drugs in sport
performance-enhancing drugs-cheat

Anabolic steroids
-build muscles mass(weightlifters, sprinters)
-grow muscle where you want it

Strong painkillings drugs

-train and compete with injuries
-cause further and permanent damage