Download Where do medicines come from activity cards (MS Word

Where do medicines come from?
Activity cards
One copy of these cards is need for each group. They should be cut up and shuffled randomly. The correct
sequence of the cards is as they are presented here.
The drug discovery process is complex and the precise sequence of activities will vary in practice so
students are likely to find the task challenging at first.
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Basic research
Researchers build up knowledge of our bodies and illnesses and search
for ‘targets’ for new medicines.
A ‘target’ might be a molecule in the body that causes disease and which a
new a medicine can attach itself to and neutralise.
Some basic research involves animals.
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Computer modelling
Once researchers have found a ‘target’ for a new medicine, they look for a
treatment.
Thousands of chemicals are ‘modelled’ using computers. Only a few
hundred are chosen as good ‘candidates’.
© Understanding Animal Research 2011
This teaching resource may be reproduced in whole or in part for any not-for-profit educational use
www.UnderstandingAnimalResearch.org.uk
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In vitro
Possible new treatments are tested on cell or tissue sample in vitro which
means in glass because it is done in test tubes and petri dishes instead of
living creatures like mice.
Most are rejected.
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Animal research
The most promising candidate treatments are tested using live animals,
but only if there is no alternative.
Animal research is often needed because things that work in vitro, in a
tissue sample, often don’t work in a living body.
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Safety testing
Before a new medicine can be tested on people, it has to be tested for
safety on two species of animal by law.
The safety testing helps to work out the right dose and to look out for side
effects.
© Understanding Animal Research 2011
This teaching resource may be reproduced in whole or in part for any not-for-profit educational use
www.UnderstandingAnimalResearch.org.uk
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Testing on healthy people
The first people to take a new medicine are healthy volunteers. A few of
them take small doses to check that it is safe. Most of the volunteers are
men, because they can’t get pregnant.
This is the first stage ‘clinical trial’.
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Testing on patients
New medicines are tested on groups of between 20 and 200 people who
suffer from the illness, to see how they respond.
This is a ‘clinical trial’.
© Understanding Animal Research 2011
This teaching resource may be reproduced in whole or in part for any not-for-profit educational use
www.UnderstandingAnimalResearch.org.uk
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Randomised clinical trials
The final stage of testing on people is the randomised clinical trial. This is
large scale and involves lots of people.
‘Randomised’ means the patients are divided into two groups randomly,
like in a lottery. One group gets the medicine, the other gets a ‘placebo’
that doesn’t do anything.
The trial is ‘double blind’. That means nobody involved knows who is
getting the placebo and who is getting the medicine. This is to make sure
that nobody is getting or feeling better just because they think they are
getting a treatment. New medicines must work better than placebos!
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Licensing
If a medicine passes all the clinical trials, a special committee looks at all
the evidence and decides if it can get a licence.
The licence means that it is considered safe and effective.
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Prescription
When a medicine has a licence a doctor can prescribe it.
But the testing doesn’t stop here. Scientists continue to monitor the drug to
look out for problems like unexpected side effects.
© Understanding Animal Research 2011
This teaching resource may be reproduced in whole or in part for any not-for-profit educational use
www.UnderstandingAnimalResearch.org.uk