The term designer drugs has at least two meanings. First, it is used to describe new kinds of medications being developed for the treatment of a variety of diseases and disorders. The field of study out of which such drugs develop is called pharmacogenomics, a combination of two terms referring to the study of drugs (pharmacy) and the study of genetics (genomics). Second, the term designer drugs is used to refer to a number of synthetic chemicals that are derivatives of legal drugs developed for use in recreational settings.
Amazing progress has been made over the past century in developing a host of synthetic chemicals that can be used for the treatment of disease. In one respect, however, that progress has been based on a somewhat crude model of drug development and use. In the vast majority of cases, any given drug is known to have some general effect on a particular disease for most individuals. For example, physicians tend to prescribe aspirin for patients who have moderate levels of pain, fever, or other medical problems. Physicians also know that aspirin can have varying levels of success in treating pain, fever, and other conditions, such that low dosages are very effective in some individuals and not at all effective in others. Also, some patients may experience undesirable or dangerous side effects when they use aspirin.
This is true of nearly all drugs available to the medical profession today. In many cases, a doctor may have to experiment with a variety of medications (aspirin versus ibuprofen versus acetaminophen, for example) at various dosages before finding exactly the right treatment for any one individual. “Getting it right” in prescribing a drug, then, is often a matter of trial and error that wastes time and money and may have harmful effects on a patient.
Researchers are now learning a great deal more about the specific details of particular diseases as well as the way that individual patients respond to drug therapy. One new approach to drug development involves acquiring a vastly improved understanding of how a disease originally develops.
Designer drugs of this kind might be called disease-directed designer drugs, or DDDD, because they are invented to attack highly specific medical conditions. A second type of designer drug might be called patient-directed designer drugs, or PDDD. Such drugs have become possible largely as a result of new information obtained as the result of the Human Genome Project and similar research on human molecular genetics.
One of the important discoveries resulting from human genome research is an understanding of the extent to which genetic structure varies from person to person, between genders, among ethnic and racial groups, and throughout other groups of humans.
One great contribution that genetic information can make to drug design is to reduce adverse drug reactions. Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are instances in which a person has negative, generally unexpected, effects after taking some prescribed medication.
At least one factor leading to ADRs is the mismatch between a prescribed medication and the specifi c genetic make up of the patient who takes the drug. The patient may lack the gene that properly metabolizes the drug or may metabolize it incorrectly, converting it into a toxic chemical. If medical workers have access to a patient’s genetic composition, however, they will be able to prescribe drugs that more closely match not only his or her medical needs but also his or her body’s ability to utilize them properly.
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Ref: chemistry of drug by David E. Newton, 2007.
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