People and medicine. Home page.

people and medicine

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Introduction

Your body has a natural defence system, so when you are healthy you don’t usually need to use medicines. When was the last time you took a medicine? If you’re lucky, you may not be able to remember.

Picture 1. There is a wide range of medicines available from a pharmacy.

Medicines

People use medicines they buy from a pharmacy or supermarket, or which are prescribed by their doctor, for a wide range of conditions. If you’ve had an ear or chest infection, your doctor probably prescribed an antibiotic such as penicillin. You may have treated an insect sting with an antihistamine cream.

An important step forward for better health is that most children are immunised. This prevents serious illnesses like diphtheria, TB (tuberculosis), polio (poliomyelitis) and whooping cough. Because we have anaesthetics, we can prevent pain during an operation, or even when a tooth is filled.

Pharmaceutical industry

Despite these medical advances, there are still many diseases which cause considerable distress, loss of quality or length of life. They include multiple sclerosis, many types of cancer, HIV/AIDS, arthritis and Alzheimer’s disease. Cures have not yet been found for these diseases, although medical treatments may slow their progress or relieve symptoms. Research goes on to look for cures for these diseases.

Discovering new medicines is the result of extensive research - to make sure that a medicine works well and is as safe as possible. It is a lengthy and expensive process. These pages tell you more about the different aspects of finding new medicines and about the pharmaceutical industry.

Contents

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