Medication/ja: Difference between revisions

Historically, drugs were discovered through identifying the active ingredient from traditional remedies or by [[serendipity|serendipitous]] discovery.  Later [[chemical library|chemical libraries]] of synthetic [[small molecule|small molecule]]s, [[natural product|natural product]]s or [[extract|extract]]s were screened in intact cells or whole organisms to identify substances that have a desirable [[therapeutic|therapeutic]] effect in a process known as [[classical pharmacology|classical pharmacology]].  Since [[Human Genome Project|sequencing]] of the [[human genome|human genome]] which allowed rapid cloning and synthesis of large quantities of purified proteins, it has become common practice to use [[high throughput screening|high throughput screening]] of large compounds libraries against isolated [[biological target|biological target]]s which are hypothesized to be [[Disease-modifying treatment|disease-modifying]] in a process known as [[reverse pharmacology|reverse pharmacology]].  Hits from these screens are then tested in cells and then in animals for [[efficacy|efficacy]].  Even more recently, scientists have been able to understand the shape of biological molecules at the atomic level, and to use that knowledge to design (see [[drug design|drug design]]) drug candidates.