3.1.19

Drug Testing in Laboratories

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Drug Testing in Laboratories

There are 2 stages to drug testing in laboratories:

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Preclinical testing

  • Scientists carry out early stage testing on human cells and tissues grown in the laboratory.
  • Scientists also carry out early stage testing on live animals.
  • Testing on animals is useful for working out how toxic (harmful) a drug is to cells.
  • In the UK, new medicines have to undergo tests on two different live mammals.
  • Many drugs fail at this stage if they damage cells or do not work.
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Clinical testing

  • Clinical trials test drugs on healthy volunteers and patients to check that they are safe. They usually use low doses of the drug.
  • If a drug is found to be safe at low doses, there are more clinical trials to work out the optimum (best) dose for the drug.

Jump to other topics

1Cell Biology

1.1What's in Cells?

1.2Cell Division

1.3Transport in Cells

2Organisation

2.1Principles of Organisation

2.2Enzymes

2.3Circulatory System

2.4Non-Communicable Diseases

2.5Plant Tissues, Organs & Systems

3Infection & Response

4Bioenergetics

5Homeostasis & Response

5.1Homeostasis

5.2The Human Nervous System

5.3Hormonal Coordination in Humans

5.4Plant Hormones

6Inheritance, Variation & Evolution

7Ecology

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