Drugs:
Drug is any substance presented for treating, curing or preventing diseases in human beings or animals. It may also be used for making a medical diagnosis or for restoring, correcting or modifying physiological functions.
A drug is a substance which may have medicinal, intoxicating, performance enhancing or other effects when taken to the body.
Example; penicillin, Paracetamol etc.
Classification of Drug:
Drugs may be classified according to
-the origin of drugs
-medicinal uses of drugs
-different types of diseases.
According to the origin of Drugs:
According to the origin, Drugs may be classified into three groups.
They are-
- Natural Compounds
- Synthetic Compounds
- Semi-Synthetic Compounds
Natural Compounds:
Materials obtained from both plant and animal fall in this category.
Synthetic Compounds:
They are either pure synthetic or synthesized naturally occurring compounds to reduce cost.
Example: Morphine, Atropine, Steroids, Cocaine.
Semi-Synthetic Compounds:
Some compounds either can’t ce purely synthesized or can’t be isolated from natural sources in low cost. Therefore, the natural intermediate of such drugs could be used for the synthesis of a desired product.
Example: Semi-Synthetic Penicillins.
According to the Medicinal Uses of Drugs:
According to the medicinal uses, drugs are divided into two divisions-
- Pharmacodynamic agent
- Chemotherapeutic agent
Pharmacodynamic agent:
Chemotherapeutic agent:
According to the different types of disease:
- Infectious Diseases
- Non-infectious diseases
- Non-diseases
Infectious diseases:
