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Drug Development
1) Determination of the need for a drug
- Is there are a market, are there already treatments?
2) Finding the structure
- Spectroscopy, analysis and robotics can be used to test compounds
3) Drug Synthesis
- Time consumption, length, yield
- Chemists looks for ways to increase yield and reduce stages
4) Extraction of final product
- The drug must be extracted from the mixture, and purified
Antiviral Medications
Ways in which viruses differ from bacteria in IB chemistry curriculum:
- Posess no classic cell structure (organelles, cell wall etc)
- Much smaller than bacteria
- Need a living host cell to reproduce
- Exhibit no metabolic functions
- Contain only simple genetic information
- Viruses multiply and mutate rapidly
- Viruses are always parasitic
Challenges with creating antiviral drugs:
- Lack of structure means fewer targets for the drug
- Difficult to kill virus without damaging host cell
- Rapid mutation causes durgs to become obsolete
Ways to combat Viruses
1) An alteration of the host cell's genetic information so the virus can't multiply
- Aciclovir used to treat herpes, used as a building block to inhibit replication
2) Inhibition of enzyme activity preventing reproduction
- AZT used to treat HIV, inhibits RNA to DNA enzyme.
- Oseltamivir and Zanamivir used to treat flu in IB chemistry
Issues with tackling AIDS
- HIV mutates very rapidly meaning it develops resistance quickly
- HIV cannot be targeted without harming the host cell
- HIV destroys helper T-cells which are part of the immune system
- Social and Economic barriers
- Lifestyle choices
- Poor countries
- Education is minimal in certain areas
End of this topic!
