Every now and then I’ll read that drug X was originally created searching for a cure to disease A, but then they find out its a cure for B instead. How do scientists set out to design a chemical that does specific things? And is it just by chance they discover that it helps with, say, erectile dysfunction and market it that way? Especially when the addition of one atom can seemingly vastly change molecule properties.
In: Chemistry
Medicine still proceedly largely through trial and error. Obviously we use the scientific method to make the process more rigorous, but it boils down to trying some things, seeing what works, and building on them.
To seek a treatment for a condition, you don’t just randomly start testing things. You’re usually building on some prior knowledge, which may have been acquired by accident, experiment, or tradition. For example, you notice that a native tribe that eats a certain plant doesn’t get cancer, or that a particular mushroom makes people with infections feel better, or whatever. You start testing the substances in those things in your lab, on bacteria, or individual cells. They don’t harm the cells and they weaken bacteria, so maybe you get some lab mice (praise to the lab mouse) and infect them, and treat them. And they all die immediately. Ok, try again with a different substance from the plant or mushroom. This one works on the mice! Let’s try some other animal…oh, that works too! But the monkeys are also getting very sweaty. Let’s tweak the dosage. Now they don’t sweat but still get better. Great. Let’s start a clinical trial. Hm, people get better but their blood pressure also drops. Interesting. Maybe some part of this could be a blood pressure medication. Let’s go back to the mice with a different combination and dosage and see how they do.
And yes, sometimes it’s not a substance from a plant, but maybe you combine existing ones with known or expected functions and test the combination. For example, you combine a substance that fights cancer but also harms your heart with a drug that helps your heart to offset the side effect. Or you combine a toxic drug with a substance that makes it less toxic. And then it turns out that gives you erections.
Science is fun.
Latest Answers