How do pharma companies know all of the possible side effects that could happen from taking their meds? What is done to minimize the number of side effects a medicine can cause? How are they passed by the FDA with all of those side effects?
In: Chemistry
They do it in may steps
Step 1 is just use common sense and cell studies to figure if it’s dangerous
Step 2 try it on animals and get an idea if it works and/or has side effects
Step 3 try it on a couple people, see if it harms them, don’t care if it works, capture the HUGE side effects here
Step 4 try it on a few more people, see if it works, also captures BIG side effects
Step 5 try it on LOTS of people, see if it works better than what’s out there – hopefully here we have so many people that it captures LOTS of the side effects, and if there are too many it doesn’t go to market. If it passes, it goes to market
Step 6 it’s sold on the market, millions of people use the drug, there’s still reporting back to the pharma company about side effects. If there are too many, take it off the market.
Basically they look for side effects in a step wise manner and step back if they find a problem. If there is a bad side effect, they can look into why that is, and try to design a drug that doesn’t cause problems
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