Drug Industries
- Statista.(2016). Statistics and facts about the pharmaceutical industry worldwide. Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/topics/1764/global-pharmaceutical-industry/The pharmaceutical industry is responsible for the development, production and marketing of medications. Thus, its immense importance as a global sector is inarguable. Total pharmaceutical revenues worldwide had reached over one trillion U.S. dollars in 2014, with North America responsible for the largest portion of these revenues, due to the leading role of the U.S. pharmaceutical industry. However, as in many other industries, the Chinese pharmaceutical sector has shown the highest growth rates over previous years.
- Department of Industry, Innovation and Science.(n.d.). Pharmaceuticals Industry Profile. Retrieved from https://www.industry.gov.au/industry/IndustrySectors/ Pharmaceuticals andHealthTechnologies/Pharmaceuticals/Pages/RegulationandPricingInthePharmaceuticThe Australian pharmaceuticals industry comprises bio medical research, biotechnology firms, originator and generic medicines companies and service related segments including wholesaling and distribution. With exports of $3.9 billion in 2012‑13, pharmaceuticals were one of Australia’s major manufactured exports. The industry employed approximately 16,500 people and spent around $404 million on pharmaceutical manufacturing R&D in 2011‑12. Sales of complementary medicines are worth around $2 billion a year.
Drug Effectiveness and Safety
- Hussar, D. (2016) Drug effectiveness and safety. Retrieved from http://www.merckmanuals.com/home/drugs/overview-of-drugs/drug-effectiveness-and-safetyThe main goals of drug development are effectiveness and safety. Because all drugs can harm as well as help, safety is relative. The difference between the usual effective dose and the dose that causes severe or life-threatening side effects is called the margin of safety. A wide margin of safety is desirable, but when treating a dangerous condition or when there are no other options, a narrow margin of safety often must be accepted. If a drug's usual effective dose is also toxic, doctors do not use the drug unless the situation is serious and there is no safer alternative.
Types of Medicinal Drugs
- Influenza Specialist Group. (2014, January). Antiviral Medication. Retrieved from http://www.isg.org.au/index.php/antiviral-medications/Antiviral medications to treat seasonal influenza are prescription medicines that decrease the ability of influenza viruses to reproduce. They are a second line of defence - annual influenza vaccination is the best form of protection.
- Smith, S. (2016). Stimulants. Retrieved from http://www.chemistryexplained.com/St-Te/Stimulants.htmlThe substances referred to as stimulants are a variety of compounds that excite the central nervous system or alter the body's metabolic activity. Some stimulants enhance alertness and increase energy whereas others affect emotions and oppose psychological depression.
- Goldberg, J. (2015, August 15). How different antidepressants work. Retrieved from http://www.webmd.com/depression/how-different-antidepressants-work#1If you have treatment-resistant depression, you might have already picked up some of the antidepressant drug lingo -- you know your SSRIs, your SNRIs and your MAOIs. But do you really know how these drugs help?
- Chemistry Explained. (2016). Aspirin (Acetylsalicylic-Acid). Retrieved from http://www.chemistryexplained.com/A-Ar/Acetylsalicylic-Acid.html#ixzz4S6y8hq9lAspirin (acetylsalicylic acid, see Figure 1) was introduced as an analgesic (pain-relieving agent) in the late nineteenth century by chemists at Bayer, a German pharmaceutical company. Acetylsalicylic acid is a prodrug and is transformed in the body to salicylate, the active form of the drug.
- Watcher, N. (2016). Antibiotics. Retrieved from http://www.chemistryexplained.com/A-Ar/Antibiotics.htmlThe serendipitous discovery of penicillin is, without a doubt, the most celebrated breakthrough in the history of antibiotics. In the late 1920s, while working in a London hospital, Alexander Fleming observed a mold overtaking a culture of staphylococcus bacteria he was growing in his laboratory. He extracted juices from the mold and, in 1929, reported that the extract, which he called penicillin, had antiseptic (anti-infectious) activity. The fungus was subsequently identified as Penicillium notatum (now called Penicillium chrysogenum ). It was not until the 1940s that penicillin was put into clinical use.
- International Foundation for Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders. (2015, September 4). Antacids. Retrieved from https://www.iffgd.org/diet-treatments/antacids.htmlHeartburn that occurs now and then is common. It's brought on by backflow (reflux) of often acidic stomach contents into the food pipe (esophagus) and is usually felt as a burning sensation behind the breastbone.Antacids are the oldest effective medications for heartburn. Chalk (calcium carbonate) has been chewed for centuries to provide some relief and is still popular. This website lists the chemical components of antacids.
Drug Detection
- Planet Science. (2012). Catching the drug cheats: Chemistry at the Olympics. Retrieved from http://www.planet-science.com/categories/over-11s/chemistry-chaos/2012/07/catching-the-drug-cheats---chemistry-at-the-olympics.aspxHow do scientists check that athletes aren't cheating?
At GlaxoSmithKline's site in Harlow, UK, the equipment is being polished and prepared. The site is home to the anti-doping labs for this summer's Olympic and Paralympic games. - What do performance enhancing drugs do? (2013 February 7). PM ABCRhonda Orr is a senior lecturer in exercise and sports science at the University of Sydney. She says an extract made from calf's blood has been used by some sports teams in recent seasons.
It's manufactured from a natural source. The calf's blood, hemodialysate, is supposed to enhance aerobic oxidation in mammals. It improves absorption of glucose, oxygen uptake into the tissues and cells of the body. It's been also thought that it can be useful for enhancing performance in athletes. - Gammon, K. (2014, March 19). Helping identify performance-enhancing drugs, through chemistry. Retrieved from https://www.insidescience.org/news/helping-identify-performance-enhancing-drugs-through-chemistryWhen people take performance-enhancing drugs, the drugs leave a chemical signature known as a metabolite in the urine as the body breaks them down. It turns out the new method is up to 10,000 times better at detecting the metabolites than existing mass spectrometry methods for some drugs (10 times better for others).
- Bryner, J. (2013, January 3). The science of blood doping. Retrieved from http://www.livescience.com/32388-what-is-blood-doping.htmlBlood doping refers to a handful of techniques used to increase an individual's oxygen-carrying red blood cells, and in turn, improve athletic performance. The most commonly used types of blood doping include injections of erythropoietin (EPO), injections with synthetic chemicals that can carry oxygen, and blood transfusions, all of which are prohibited under the World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) List of Prohibited Substances and Methods.
- Freudenrich, C. (2000, October 20). How Breathalyzers Work. Retrieved from http://www.breathalyzers.com/how-breathalyzers-workThere are three major types of breath alcohol testing devices, and they're based on different principles:
Breathalyzer - Uses a chemical reaction involving alcohol that produces a color change
Intoxilyzer - Detects alcohol by infrared (IR) spectroscopy
Alcosensor III or IV - Detects a chemical reaction of alcohol in a fuel cell
Regardless of the type, each device has a mouthpiece, a tube through which the suspect blows air, and a sample chamber where the air goes. The rest of the device varies with the type.
Introduction
"The modern era of the pharmaceutical industry—of isolation and purification of compounds, chemical synthesis, and computer-aided drug design—is considered to have begun in the 19th century, thousands of years after intuition and trial and error led humans to believe that plants, animals, and minerals contained medicinal properties. The unification of research in the 20th century in fields such as chemistry and physiology increased the understanding of basic drug-discovery processes. Identifying new drug targets, attaining regulatory approval from government agencies, and refining techniques in drug discovery and development are among the challenges that face the pharmaceutical industry today. The continual evolution and advancement of the pharmaceutical industry is fundamental in the control and elimination of disease around the world." (Britannica, 2016)
Advertising 1885
History of Pharmaceuticals
- History of pharmaceuticals. (2016). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from http://school.eb.com.au.db.plcscotch.wa.edu.au/levels /high/article/108560#260283.tocThe oldest records of medicinal preparations made from plants, animals, or minerals are those of the early Chinese, Hindu, and Mediterranean civilizations. Workers at the school of alchemy that flourished in Alexandria, Egypt, in the 2nd century bc prepared several relatively purified inorganic chemicals, including lead carbonate, arsenic, and mercury. While attempts were made to use many of the mineral preparations as drugs, most proved to be too toxic to be used in this manner.
- American Chemical Society. (2005). Emergence of pharmaceutical science and industry:1870 -1930. Retrieved from http://pubs.acs.org/cen/coverstory/83/8325/8325emergence.htmlThe modern pharmaceutical industry traces its origin to two sources: apothecaries that moved into wholesale production of drugs such as morphine, quinine, and strychnine in the middle of the 19th century and dye and chemical companies that established research labs and discovered medical applications for their products starting in the 1880s.
- Watcher, N. (2016). Pharmaceutical chemistry. Retrieved from http://www.chemistryexplained.com/Ny-Pi/Pharmaceutical-Chemistry.htmlPharmaceutical chemists are involved in the development and assessment of therapeutic compounds. Pharmaceutical chemistry encompasses drug design, drug synthesis , and the evaluation of drug efficacy (how effective it is in treating a condition) and drug safety. Prior to the nineteenth century, schools of pharmacy trained pharmacists and physicians how to prepare medicinal remedies from natural organic products or inorganic materials. Herbal medications and folk remedies dating back to ancient Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and Asian societies were administered without any knowledge of their biological mechanism of action.
Jenner and Smallpox
Zompi, S. (2013, October 28). How we conquered the deadly smallpox virus [Video File]. Ted Ed.