Year 11 - Science
Development of new medicines
Medicines and new treatments for disease
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This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.
Unit Summary
This unit covers vaccines, medicines, and monoclonal antibodies for disease prevention and treatment. It explains aseptic techniques, medicine development, and antibody uses. The focus is on ethical considerations, risk evaluation, and societal impacts of scientific advances.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to describe the process of discovery and development of potential new medicines, including preclinical and clinical trials.
Key Notes
- Plants and microorganisms provide new medicines; many others are synthesised in labs to target pathogens and host cells.
- Preclinical trials: the medicine is tested for safety and effectiveness on cultured human cells and on live animals.
- Clinical trials: the medicine is tested for safety in people without the disease.
- Clinical trials: the medicine is tested for safety and effectiveness in people with the disease.
- Use of placebos in clinical trials, and use of blind and double blind trials prevent to bias in the results.
Vocabulary To Learn
- safety: State of being not likely to be in danger, risk or injury.
- effectiveness: The degree to which something is successful.
- side effect: An undesirable effect of a medicine or treatment.
- placebo: A treatment or substance designed to have no therapeutic value.
- bias: Inclination or prejudice for or against one person or group, especially in a way considered to be unfair.
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- Pupils often do not realise that drugs are tested on healthy individuals first.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain the scientific idea in this lesson using two key points.
Plants and microorganisms provide new medicines; many others are synthesised in labs to target pathogens and host cells. Preclinical trials: the medicine is tested for safety and effectiveness on cultured human cells and on live animals.
2. Define this scientific word and use it in context. 'safety'
State of being not likely to be in danger, risk or injury. Include the word in a full scientific explanation, not as a single label.
3. Correct this common scientific misunderstanding.
Mistake: Pupils often do not realise that drugs are tested on healthy individuals first. Correction: Healthy individuals are used as they will not have symptoms that interfere with the side effects from the drug.
More Lessons In This Unit
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