Understanding Medications

Drugs: Historical Beginnings; Early Records of Natural Drugs; Inorganic Drugs; Some Medieval Medicines; Early Modern Medicines; Digitalis; Opiates; Side Effects and Standardization of Drugs; Naming Drugs; How Drugs Are Named; Some Alternative Drug Names; Biomedical Research; The Role of the Pharmaceutical Industry in Drug Development; Why Drugs Are Expensive; Modern Drug Discovery and Development; Clinical Trials; Over-the-Counter Drugs; How Drugs Are Made; Biotechnology in Drug Preparation; Getting Drugs Ready for Use; Chiral Drugs; Molecular Modification of Prototype Drugs; Drug Use and Abuse; Drug Interactions; Physicians and Drugs; Quackery; Neurohormones and Drugs That Affect the Central Nervous System; Neurohormones; Antipsychotic Agents; Antidepressants; Antianxiety Agents; Sedative-Hypnotics; Ethyl Alcohol; Brain Stimulants; Lithium; Drugs That Evoke Psychoses; Anticonvulsants; Drugs for Parkinson's and Alzheimer's Diseases; Drugs for the Relief from Pain; Opiates; Antiinflammatory Agents; Anticholinergics; Local Anesthetics, Antispasmodics, and Antihistamines; Local Anesthetics; Antispasmodics and Antihistamines; Drugs That Act on the Blood Pressure and the Heart; Drugs for Heart Diseases; Diuretics; Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors; Coagulants and Anticoagulants; Intestinal Tract Medications; Antacids; Cathartics; Constipating Drugs; Hormones and Vitamins; Sex Hormones; Insulin; Other Hormones; Vitamins; Drugs for the Treatment of Cancer; Drugs Affecting the Immune Response; Research into the Immune Response; Biotechnology; Drugs for Infectious Diseases; Classification of Pathogenic Parasites; Chemotherapy of Bacterials Infections; Antibiotics; Malaria and Antimalarials; Drugs for Amebiasis; Other Protozoan Diseases; Anthelmintics; Antifungal Agents; Antiviral Drugs; Computer Assistance in Medicinal Research; Antiseptics and Disinfectants; What's Next; Glossary: Some Chemical and Medical Terms