As soon as human civilizations invented some form of written language and began documenting their

activities, early examples of applied medicine began to materialize. The first known civilization emerged
in what is now Iraq. These were the Sumerians who developed urban civilization around 4000 BC in
ancient Mesopotamia. Their documents show that they studied astronomy, metallurgy, geology,
mathematics, and also pharmacy. That typical pharmacy Compendia around 2000 BC involved plant
appointments, infusions, and concoctions from poppies, peppermint, Mandra Gora, thyme and many
other herbs. The Sumerians were already aware of the medicinal properties of cannabis and morphine.
They also used animal organs for their alleged medical properties, and even animal excrements to repel
evil spirits. A similar sort of traditional medicine emerged in practically every other organized civilization,
and a common thread linked them all. They were all based on the systematic trial and error of all possible
natural sources of chemicals available, mostly from the world of plants. The Egyptians left copious logs
of their discoveries by way of a Pharmacopoeia, which refers to books and other documents containing
lists of medicinal drugs, along with their effects and instructions for their usage. For example, the
famous papyrus Ebers dates from 1500 BC and contains over 700 treatments described in 100 pages of
hieroglyphics. This body of knowledge was probably acquired over many centuries. The physicians in
ancient Egypt belonged to the middle class, much like modern Western societies and they were highly
respected. They embraced magic and sorcery, but they incorporated pharmacy more and more as time
passed. The ancient Egyptian deity Thoth was credited with the foundation of all scientific knowledge,
including the act of giving Egyptian physicians their knowledge of medicine and drugs.

In essentially every culture, the knowledge of medicine is represented as a gift from the gods. One might
wonder if these gods were a creation of collective fantasy, or if they described real historical figures,
endowed with advanced knowledge and were therefore deified. Western medicine, like most of Western
culture, draws its origins from Greek thought. In ancient Greece, the God who gave mankind the gift of
medicine is Asclepius, he is usually represented with a serpent entwined rod which may look familiar.
Its meaning is the object of speculation, but it is still used to represent the disciplines of medicine and
pharmacy today. The symbol is unfortunately often confused with the Caduceus, a symbol of the god
Hermes, and therefore not a symbol of medicine. And healthcare, but rather of commerce and trade.
However, because of the similarity, the two images are often used interchangeably. A temple in Asclepius
honor was founded in Epidaurus, which could be considered the first hospital in history. Patients
traveled from all over Greece to be treated their patients would receive what was called pharmacology,
which in Greek means both poison and drug.

This lack of distinction alludes to one of the most important underlying principles of modern
pharmacology, which is that the dose makes the poison, this means that a drug can save your life or kill
you, depending on the dose of fact, which can be applied to any other type of substance, even those
that we depend on for life, such as water and oxygen. One of the most famous doctors of all time, the
legendary Hippocrates of Coase practice there. Hippocrates lived from 460 to 370 BC, during the Golden
Age of Athens. This was an enlightened era. Characterized by democracy and freedom of expression.
Hippocrates has been seen over the ages as the founder of modern medicine, distinguishing it as a
discipline finally free of theology and philosophy. Some of his precepts are used even today, among his
professional principles, PRIMUM NON NOCERE which means first do not harm the patient is still
recognized as a pillar of experimental medicine. Hippocrates was probably the first medical practitioner
who believed that diseases are of natural origin and not caused by astrological connections or evil
spirits. He supported humanism, which was the theory of the four humors those being blood, phlegm,
yellow bile and black bile.

At the time, disease was thought to be due to an imbalance of these four humors. Although the theory
had no true scientific basis, it must be credited as the first attempt to create a foundation upon which to
build fact based medicinal practices. His theory and his practice of medicine are collected in an impressive
body of work called the corpus Hippocratic, which remained an important reference through the Middle
Ages. It was a collection of about 70 medical treatises, originally written in ionic Greek, probably by his
disciples and followers, and later translated into Latin, the official language of science in Europe until
the 18th century. In particular, the section called Hippocratic Oath, documents the ethics of medical
practice and constitutes the most influential section of the corpus, Hippocratic Oath. In fact, the current
laws and guidelines defining good medical practice are derived from the original work of Hippocrates.
After his death, the practice of medicine suffered a serious setback, mainly due to political strife in
ancient Greece, Hippocrates, his work was eventually taken up by the Romans, who adopted the Greek
mythological origin of medicine and renamed the god asleep. iOS as Aesculapius. During the Roman
imperial age. The most famous physician was Galen, also of Greek origin, who lived during the second
century AD. Born in Pergamon, a Greek colony which is in present day Turkey, he spent most of his life
in Rome, where thanks to his exceptional knowledge and abilities, he became the personal physician to
several emperors, including Marcus Aurelius.

Medicine in ancient Rome had regressed, reintroducing elements of divination and mysticism, Galen
fought an uphill battle to apply and perfect the Hippocratic theory of disease based on the four humors.
In addition to surgery, Galen strongly promoted venesection and bloodletting as an approach to disease
as opposed to divination. GALEN is famous for his approach to complex formulations of remedies and
elixirs. And to date, the field of drug formulation is often referred to as galena ax in his honor. GALEN ZZ
work the Galena corpus is truly immense. It was written in Greek which was the elite language in ancient
Rome, and it was believed to amount to over 500 treatises, equivalent to almost a million pages. As the
Western Roman Empire collapsed, the political center of the Western world migrated to Byzantium, the
eastern capital of the Roman Empire, and to the Arab world surrounding it. The Materia Medica a
medical Compendium widely employed in the West, and based on Caitlin's work was the Bible of the
medical profession until the 17th century, when elements of modern science were finally introduced.
His work was translated into Latin and Arabic, and his tradition was slowly embraced by the Arabs who
took his work a step further in the centuries that followed. As the Arab world became the center of
excellence in medical treatment during this era, let's move forward and learn all about that time period.

The mission for Novartis is to help the patient overcome a disease and improve their quality of life. The
drug development process is designed to ensure that innovative new medicines are effective, safe and
available for patients in the shortest possible time. The first step in drug development is to discover the
best targets for treating or preventing disease. Targets are usually proteins in the patient's body, which
are associated with a disease or proteins and microorganisms causing a disease. That challenge is to
identify which proteins are relevant, and more importantly, confirm their role in a disease. Increasingly
Novartis focuses on understanding cellular networks of proteins or pathways. A single protein may
transmit messages to several other proteins, sometimes in multiple pathways affecting their function.
Knowing how these pathways work and interact, helps to identify the most appropriate target for a drug.
But bathroom pathway approach allows Novartis to better understand the mechanisms of a disease. This
knowledge together with the desire to address unmet medical needs, determines the priorities in target
discovery.

In drug discovery, several methods like high throughput screening and computer based design are used
to find chemical compounds or biologics that bind to the identified target. If a compound modulates
the target in a way that is expected to alter the disease, this so called hid will be refined to improve its
safety and effectiveness, eventually becoming a drug candidate. Discovering and bringing one new drug
to the market typically takes an average of 14 years of research and clinical development efforts and
costs around 2 billion US dollars 10,000 or more hits tested in early drug discovery, only one may
eventually lead to a drug that reaches the market. In the late preclinical stage, further experiments are
conducted on the drug candidate to ensure it is safe for patients and has the required pharmacokinetic
properties, like appropriate absorption and metabolism by the human body. These experiments are
executed with extraordinary diligence to minimize any risks to human test subjects. Animals play a
critical role in the drug discovery process as well. Although much research and development can be done
using various experiments, or using computers, complex disease mechanisms can often only be
understood through the use of animal studies. Also, governments and regulatory authorities require that
medicines be tested in animals before they are tested in humans. Novartis keeps this research as limited
as possible and always ensures that animal research is scientifically acceptable, according to current
standards and regulations. But these reasons, Novartis continues to use animals in its quest to find
innovative, safe and life-saving medicines for patients.

At the same time, Novartis is committed to refining, reducing and replacing the use of animals in
research and upholding the highest standards in animal welfare. Clinical Trial programs consist of
several phases, each of which is focused on evaluating drug safety and effectiveness or efficacy.
Information on ongoing clinical trials can be found at ww.clinicaltrials.gov. In phase one of clinical trials,
the drug is usually tested in healthy volunteers to determine its safety and pharmacokinetics. In phase
two, the drug is given to a group of about 100 to 250 patients with the disease graduated efficacy and
to determine the optimal dose. In addition, the safety of the drug and its side effects are evaluated as
these may be different in patients compared to the healthy volunteers tested in phase one. Novartis also
conducts trials called proof of concept or POC trials, which are often a mix of phase one and phase two
studies. A group of well-defined patients is treated with the drug candidate to provide an early indication
whether it actually affects the target in the intended way or has a beneficial impact on the disease. These
studies allow Novartis to rapidly invest resources on drug compounds which are effective and safe. This
way the appropriate medicines can reach the patients faster. That data from phase one and phase two
studies provide the scientific confidence necessary to continue the development of the compound in
larger clinical trials. In phase three clinical trials 1000 to 3000, or even more patients are recruited for
research with the investigational drug. Phase three clinical trials are undertaken to confirm the
effectiveness of the new drug, monitor side effects, compare it to established treatments and gather
additional information to allow the drug to be used safely.

To bring a new medicine on the market, every new drug needs to be registered by the Health Authority.
Data from all clinical trials are collected and compiled into a document called registration dossier. The
registration dossier will include efficacy and safety data to support the final intended use of the drug.
The dossier is then customized for different regions and countries around the world to meet the
requirements of health authorities. This is a crucial step to ensure that patients all over the globe can
access the innovative medicines that have made it through the complex drug discovery and development
process. Once the registration dossier is approved, and the product is launched, several activities will
continue like drug safety monitoring, which is mandatory. Post authorizations, safety updates, annual
reports and any additional information required by the Health Authority must be provided at defined
intervals as long as the drug remains on the market. Often, Phase four clinical trials are initiated to
gather additional data not collected in the phase three program. This may include efficacy, safety,
additional benefit and risk information as well as pharmaco economic data. Our mission is to provide
safe and effective treatments that benefit patients and improve the quality of their lives.