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GCSE Biology · key term
The measured quantity of a medicine given at one time or over a stated period.
Used by AQA, Edexcel and OCR
Specification 4.3.1.9 · Paper 1
The quantity of a drug given at one time or at stated intervals.
Revise: Drug DevelopmentA natural origin does not automatically make a substance safe, effective or suitable at every dose. A useful chemical must be identified, purified and investigated. Most new drugs are now synthesised by chemists in the pharmaceutical industry, although the starting point may still be a chemical first extracted from a plant.
Specification 5.20 · Paper 1
Link each test to its purpose: toxicity means harm or side effects, efficacy means whether the drug works, and dose means how much should be given.
Do not say that a placebo contains a smaller dose of the drug. It has no active drug and provides a comparison with the treatment group.
State that clinical trials usually begin with very low doses in healthy volunteers before testing patients with the condition.
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Scientists must find a promising substance, develop it into a possible treatment, and then collect evidence that it is sufficiently safe and effective at a suitable dose. This involves a sequence of discovery, development, preclinical testing and clinical testing. Antibiotics pass through this overall process just as other new medicines do.
Specification B6.3q · Paper 2 (Foundation), Paper 4 (Higher)
Revise: New medicinesBefore it can be used routinely, scientists must gather evidence that it is acceptably safe, that it produces the intended effect and that an appropriate dose can be given. These three questions concern toxicity, efficacy and dose.