Good Brain, Bad Brain: Drug Origins (FutureLearn)

Where do drugs come from?
We’ll start by reflecting on the nature of medicines and look at the history of some everyday drugs that have been taken by humans for centuries.
This will show us that many commonly used drugs were found somewhat accidentally - and often without any understanding of the science behind how they worked.
Over time, this apparently random process has been refined and improved, so we’ll go on to consider recent advances in identifying potential drugs.

What topics will you cover?

• What is meant by the term “drug”
• What do we need drugs for
• How drugs are discovered: from natural substances to rational drug design
• What factors have to be considered when developing the chemical molecule with therapeutic potential into a drug that patients can take
• How is the safety of the drug tested and monitored

What will you achieve?

• Identify a definition for the term drug
• Discuss how the purpose of drugs can be for symptom relief, to cure a disease or to prevent a disease
• Compare estimates for the length of time it takes to produce a drug and the cost of the process

Identify the different mechanisms by which drugs have been discovered and how these have changed over time

• Explain how an understanding of the molecular structure of a drug target molecule can lead to the development of new drugs
• Describe the journey that a drug has to take through the body to its target and the factors that influence how much drug arrives at the target
• Compare the different routes by which drugs can be administered
• Explain how drug formulation impacts on how the drug works in the body
• Discuss the purpose of the various phases of clinical trials of drug development