subject: The things one must know about drugs or medicines [print this page] The things one must know about drugs or medicines
What is a drug or a medicine
Drug is a substance which can be taken internally or applied externally to treat a disease or disease conditions or its symptoms or to get relief from disease symptoms, may be due to a microbial infection, or to get relief from a unwanted condition arisen out of a physiological imbalance in human body.
In a legal definition diagnostic kits and chemicals and implants and stents, artificial body parts are also classifiedunder drug, and they too are required to follow the regulations required for a drugstaken internally or orally or administred as injection.
How drugs act on human body
Drugs are intended and designed to provide relief from disease and its conditions and symptoms developed by a disease.
Drugs bring about the desired and favorable effect on our body by interfering or changing one or more physiological process in our body , or it interfere or bring about a change in a biochemical pathways of a physiological process.
Drugs are also intended to act against infections of a microorganisms including viruses , bacteria's , yeasts and molds, or unwanted tissue cells , act on them by interfering their growth by hampering the biochemical path way's necessary for their growth.
These pathways are general pathways for many biochemical reactions, that means one drug affect several physiological activities, but intended activity is predominant or overweighs other effect.
Here these other effect can be called as side effect of a particular drug ,
One should avoid self medication, avoid medication without physician's advice.
Almost all drugs have there side effect , be it a OTC or an prescription drugs , in OTC drugs side effects many be milder or tolerated to the level the drug is used.
But the side effects are bound to be there with any drug hence, one should always be very cautious while taking a drug, read guidance provided with drug properly and one should not try self medication, as that may affect critical functions in human body.
How drugs are approved by regulatory agency in USA
There are many pharmaceutical companies applying for getting their drug approved for sale in USA, It is considered an achievement in pharmaceutical industry for that company, as it opens a great and big market for their product, in other European and Asian countries too USFDA approval is considered as a good reputation of that product and company.
The United states food and drugs administration FDA is the authority which approves a particular drug for sale in USA. While approving a drug it looks in to safety and efficacy aspects of a drug. Drug applied for approval is required to prove its safety in various clinical trials, starting from animal trials to trials in humans. Even after approval of a drug manufacturers are require to keep follow up of all adverse events and adverse reactions arising out of use of a drug, these are required to be reported to US FDA , if US FDA finds that a particular drug is not safe or a particular drug is not having a efficacy and advantages than the drugs already available to treat a particular disease, may disqualify the approval or may not approve a drug for sale in USA.
US FDA is one of the best regulatory agency in world they have a great set up for monitoring and carrying out all activities to take care of health of peoples of United States of America.
