Transcript What are Drugs? - Noadswood Science

Developing Drugs
L.O:
To understand how and why new
drugs should be tested
What is a drug?
“A substance which alters the way your body
works, it can affect your mind, body or
both.”
A good drug needs to be:
• Effective
• Safe
• Stable (to store in normal
conditions)
• Taken in and removed from
your body after it has done its
work
Drugs Trial
We are going to take part in a drugs trial in todays lesson.
You will take one of 3 drugs:
• Drug A – Hyperthermocillin (a drug which increases the
temperature of your body)
• Drug B – Hypothermocillin (a drug which decreases the
temperature of your body)
• Drug C – A placebo (a tablet which doesn’t contain any
drug)
The drug takes about 30 mins to take effect so we will look
at the results later in the lesson
Drugs have been used by
indigenous people for years
• Remains of plants have been found with stone
age people. The Greeks, Romans and ancient
Middle Eastern all left records of their medical
and social drug discoveries.
• Chloroform was first prepared in 1831 and used
as an anesthetic in 1847.
• Before then, a couple of shots of brandy were
supposed to get you through major surgery.
Ancient drugs
• Ancient Egyptians were
familiar with drug preparation
from plants and herbs such as
cumin, fennel, caraway, castor,
aloe, safflower, glue,
pomegranates botanical,
mineral substances and
linseed oil.
• Other drugs were made of
mineral substances such as
copper salts, plain salt and
lead. Eggs, liver, hairs, milk,
animal horns and fat, honey
and wax were also used.
• Some medicinal plants used
by Pharaohs
What else do you think happens when new
drugs are developed? How are the tested?
What happens if they aren’t
tested properly?
• Lets look at the thalidomide story
• And the elephant man story
http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/clini
cal-trials-regulation-and-ethics/1465.html
The pro-test protesters
•
By Brendan O'Neill, BBC News, 22nd Feb 2006
•
Until now, animal rights protesters have made all the noise in a dispute
over a new research lab in Oxford. But this weekend the city's famed
academics are planning to hit back just as loudly, as pro-testing
campaigners hit the streets.
According to one Oxford academic, a war is looming over "scientific
freedom" and the "future of progress", no less. And this Saturday the
battle for and against testing will shift from the city's dreaming spires
to its historic streets.
Over the past two years there have been regular protests by antivivisection groups against Oxford University's plans to build an £18m
biomedical research laboratory, at which there will be testing on
animals.
The university says the laboratory is essential for scientific inquiry and
for pushing forward medical research and methods.
Animal rights groups claim it is unnecessary, that it will be a "prison"
for animals which will be treated extremely cruelly by men in white
coats.
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Why do drugs need to be
tested?
THALIDOMIDE
THALIDOMIDE – A drug not
properly tested.
• Developed as a sleeping pill so no tests were
performed on pregnant mothers
• Found to be very effective in relieving morning sickness
in pregnant women
• BUT not tested for this use and the babies of mothers
who took the drug were born with severe limb
abnormalities
• Early 1960s – The drug was banned worldwide.
Around 12,000 deformed Thalidomide babies born, 4,000
died in their first year.
• Drug was then banned but now being used successfully
to treat leprosy in 3rd world
Mat Fraser, comedian and
actor
02/04/2016
Tony Melendez, guitarist
To prevent these types of
problems, all medical drugs
are tested extensively on
animals and humans prior to
use
The ‘Elephant man’ drug trials
• You may remember on the news in 2006 the
men who took part in a paid drug trail which
went very wrong
• Unfortunately the drug designed to reduce
the immune response actually increased it,
and the men’s bodies swelled up so much that
one man’s girlfriend said he looked like ‘the
elephant man’
Drug testing
• 15th March 2006. Six taken ill after drug trials
• Six men remain in intensive care after being taken ill
during a clinical drugs trial in north-west London.
• The healthy volunteers were testing an antiinflammatory drug at a research unit based at
Northwick Park Hospital when they suffered a
reaction.
• Relatives are with the patients, who suffered multiple
organ failure. Two men are said to be critically ill.
• The men were being paid to take part in the early
stages of a trial for the drug to treat conditions such
as rheumatoid arthritis and leukaemia until they were
taken ill on Monday within hours of taking it.
• The men were left fighting for their
lives in hospital as their internal organs
started to shut down
• They all survived although the massive
swelling affected the circulation to
their fingers and toes
• The worst affected now face
amputation of their fingers and toes
• Several face a health risk of cancer
When new medical drugs are developed, they have to be
tested and trialled before being used.
They are tested for toxicity, efficacy and dose.
Put the steps in order
1. Researchers target a disease to develop treatment
2. Computer models and chemicals are screened for their
use as possible drugs
3. Possible drugs are made in a lab
4. Drugs are tested on cell cultures in a lab to make sure
they are not toxic
5. Animal testing takes place
6. Trials on humans begin
7. A licence to a drug and so doctors can prescribe them
8. Drugs are monitored
Do you still feel the same
way about testing drugs
on animals?
Should it be allowed?
If so when?
What can you do?
What are the results from our
drug trial?
Should we have used a double blind trial?
This strict type of clinical trial eliminates any
possibility of bias. Neither the participant or
the researcher knows if the treatment or a
placebo has been administered.
Would you take part
in a well paid drug
trial?
Do we need drug trials? Why / why not?