UKPCS Science Chemistry: Medicine and classification #67

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Oracle IAS, the best coaching institute for UPSC/IAS/PCS preparation in Dehradun brings to you UKPCS Science Chemistry (paper 6). 

MEDICINE AND ITS CLASSIFICATION

A pharmaceutical drug (also referred to as medicine, medication, or simply as drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and relies on the science of pharmacology for continual advancement and on pharmacy for appropriate management.

Medicine and its classification

Drugs are classified in various ways.

One of the key divisions is by level of control, which distinguishes prescription drugs (those that a pharmacist dispenses only on the order of a physician, physician assistant, or qualified nurse) from over-the-counter drugs (those that consumers can order for themselves).

Another key distinction is between traditional small-molecule drugs, usually derived from chemical synthesis, and biopharmaceuticals, which include recombinant proteins, vaccines, blood products used therapeutically (such as IVIG), gene therapy, monoclonal antibodies and cell therapy (for instance, stem-cell therapies).

Other ways to classify medicines are by mode of action, route of administration, biological system affected, or therapeutic effects. An elaborate and widely used classification system is the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical Classification System (ATC system). The World Health Organization keeps a list of essential medicines.

Pharmaceutical or a drug is classified on the basis of their origin.

  1. Drug from natural origin: Herbal or plant or mineral origin, some drug substances are of marine origin.
  2. Drug from chemical as well as natural origin: Derived from partial herbal and partial chemical synthesis Chemical, example steroidal drugs
  3. Drug derived from chemical synthesis.
  4. Drug derived from animal origin: For example, hormones, and enzymes.
  5. Drug derived from microbial origin: Antibiotics
  6. Drug derived by biotechnology genetic-engineering, hybridoma technique for example
  7. Drug derived from radioactive substances.

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Hemant Bhatt
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