Treating, curing and preventing disease - AQAThe discovery of new drugs

New drugs are being developed all the time. Historically drugs have come from nature, as parts of plants and microorganisms have been extracted. One of the most famous discoveries was made by Sir Alexander Fleming, who discovered penicillin from the Penicillium mould.

This antibiotic is still very important in the fight against disease.

Plant extracts

Plants are still important today, but most plant drugs are now created in a laboratory by scientists at pharmaceutical companies. These companies now have synthetic versions of the plant extracts, and use these as the starting point to develop new drugs.

New medical drugs have to be tested to ensure that they work, and are safe, before they can be prescribed.

Thalidomide

Thalidomide is a medical drug that caused unexpected and serious damage to unborn babies in the 1950s and 1960s. Thalidomide was developed as a sleeping pill, but it was also thought to be useful for easing morning sickness in pregnant women. Unfortunately, it had not been tested for use in this way.

Birth defects

By 1960 thalidomide was found to damage the development of unborn babies, especially if it had been taken in the first four to eight weeks of pregnancy. The drug led to the arms or legs of the babies being very short or incompletely formed. More than 10,000 babies were affected around the world. As a result of this disaster, thalidomide was banned. Drug testing was also made more rigorous than before.

Thalidomide today

Thalidomide is now used as a treatment for leprosy and bone cancer. Its use is heavily regulated, however, to prevent a repeat of the problems it caused in the last century.