1. The Use and Abuse of Drugs
Learning Objectives:
Describe how new drugs are developed.
Explain what went wrong with the use of thalidomide.
Evaluate the effect of statins on cardiovascular disease.
Evaluate the impact of prescription drugs, recreational drugs, and performance enhancing drugs (sports).

2. Thalidomide
Read the article about thalidomide and answer the questions.

3. Development of New Drugs
Drug = a chemical substance that changes how the body functions
Drugs can be developed from a chemical in a natural substance (such as a plant) or can by synthesised (artificial made).
Examples:
Aspirin was originally derived from a chemical found in willow bark

4. Testing New Drugs
Scientist target a disease and develop a wide variety of drugs that could be used to treat the disease.
These need to be tested for:
Toxicity – is it poisonous?
Efficacy – does it work?
Dose – how much should be used?

5. Testing New Drugs
Drugs have to pass a variety of different stages of testing
Stage 1 – testing on cells, tissues, and organs
Stage 2 – animal testing
Stage 3 – human testing (volunteers)
Stage 4 – larger clinical trials

6. Clinical Trials
After animal testing demonstrates that the drug should be safe for humans, extensive clinical trials test the toxicity, efficacy, and dose in that order.
Step 1 – small group of healthy volunteers are given very low doses of the drug to test for side effects (toxicity testing)
Step 2 – then it is tested on patients with the disease to see if it treats the disease (efficacy testing)
Step 3 – if it seems safe and effective larger clinical trials are used to determine the optimal dose of the drug to use

7. Carrying Out Clinical Trials: Double Blind Trials
In order to make it a fair test some patients are given a placebo to rule out the psychological effect of taking a new drug.
Placebo = a substance that has no therapeutic effect, used as a control in testing new drugs
The placebo may contain no drugs at all or the treatment that the patient was already receiving. Patient given the placebo are considered the control group, the group used as a comparison.
It is called a double blind trial because both the doctors and the patients DO NOT know who is given the placebo and who is given the new drug. Only the scientists carrying out the study know.

8. Drug Success Story: Statins
Statins = a group of drugs that lower the amount of cholesterol in your blood by preventing your liver from making too much
High cholesterol levels are linked to higher risks of cardiovascular disease.
High blood cholesterol can cause plaques to build up in blood vessels and can lead to heart attacks or strokes.
Statins are successfully used to lower blood cholesterol levels.

9. Recreational Drugs
Recreational drugs = a drug used for non-medical reasons
Draw a table of all the legal vs. illegal recreational drugs you can think of.

10. Recreational Drugs Legal Illegal Alcohol Tobacco (Nicotine) Caffeine
Prescription drugs
Illegal
Cannabis/Marijuana
Cocaine
Heroine
Ecstasy
Mushrooms
Methamphetamines

11. Problems with drugs
Addiction = physical dependence on a chemical substance
Drug addiction makes it difficult for addicts to go through their normal lives without the drug.
Withdrawal = symptoms that occur when an addict stops taking the drug they are addicted to
Examples of withdrawal symptoms include headaches, pains, sweating, shaking, and cravings.

12. Legal drugs can be harmful as well
What is are the drugs that cause the most deaths every year in the UK?
Alcohol
Cigarettes
People can also suffer addiction and withdrawal from caffeine.

13. A study in 2010 asked drug-harm experts to rank various illegal and legal drugs. Alcohol was found to be the most dangerous by far.

14. Performance Enhancing Drugs in Sports
There are a variety of drugs that are used by athletes to enhance their performance.
Types of performance enhancing drugs
Stimulants – speeds up reactions in the body including heart rate
Anabolic steroids – boosts muscle growth
Both types are banned by sporting regulations.