I think is kinda too broad for my doodoo brain, I really need your help guys. Thanks
In: Chemistry
There is nothing specifically different about them, chemically. It is just prescription drugs are deemed too strong, too rare/expensive, or too ripe for abuse to simply be sitting out on counters available for anyone to buy and take in whatever quantities they want.
This distinction is a partially arbitrary one, determined by lawmakers, not doctors.
Chemically there is not much more difference then there usually are between different drugs. The distinction is a legal one. There are a lot of politics involved in deciding which drugs requires a prescription and which don’t. The concept is that drugs which might be abused and damage ones health should be harder to get requireing a prescription from a doctor. So adictive drugs or drugs that are easy to overdose on will usually not be sold over the counter. A few drugs might be sold over the counter in low concentrations as it is hard to take too many of them but might require a prescription for higher concentrations. In these cases the chemical is the same but in different concentrations. But most drugs are completely different chemicals.
Usually it’s not the specific chemical composition that makes it prescription vs OTC, but how dangerous something is.
Take ibuprofen for example. You can buy it at any store with otc medication, but you can also get it as a prescription. The only difference is the pills that they give you for prescription ibuprofen are 4 times bigger. That makes it more dangerous, because it would take far less pills to hurt you.
Prescriptions are drugs that need to be given out by a trained professional and explained to the patient before they take them, because taking them wrong can hurt or kill you. OTC medications are generally much, much safer by comparison.
Nothing. The difference is only a legal one- most drugs that wind up OTC started as prescription drugs, and the manufacturer applied for them to be permitted to be legally sold without a prescription. Presumably this involves generating additional safety data showing it’s somewhat unlikely the customers will kill themselves by misusing the stuff.
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