What do pharmaceutical chemists do?

Scientists in pharmaceutical chemistry are principally industrial scientists, working as part of an interdisciplinary team that uses their chemistry abilities, especially their synthetic abilities, to use chemical principles to design effective therapeutic agents. Their work involves chemical aspects of identification, and then systematic thorough synthetic alteration of new chemical entities to make them suitable for therapeutic use. It includes synthetic and computational aspects of the study of existing drugs and agents in development in relation to their bioactivities (biological activities and properties), i.e., understanding their structure-activity relationships (SAR). Pharmaceutical chemists are focused on quality aspects of medicines and aim to assure fitness for purpose of medicinal products.

Graduate level programs in pharmaceutical chemistry can be found in traditional medicinal chemistry or pharmaceutical sciences departments, both of which are traditionally associated with schools of pharmacy, and in some chemistry departments. Most entry-level workers in pharmaceutical chemistry do not have formal training but receive the necessary pharmaceutical and pharmacologic background after employment – at entry into their work in a pharmaceutical company, where the company provides its particular understanding or model of training through active involvement in practical synthesis on therapeutic projects.

 

Comprehension Aspect

Ex.1. Match the following words on the left with the appropriate synonyms on the right:

remedy	illness or disease
to administer	unfavorable consequences
to purport	intensified power
enhanced potency	to imply or claim to be
adverse effects	to apply or dispense
pathway	medication or cure
condition	a route or a course

 

Ex. 2. Some of the following sentences can be incorrect. Find the mistakes and correct them.

1. In early times schools of pharmacy trained people how to prepare medicinal remedies only from natural organic products.

2. Knowing structural characteristics of compounds with medicinal activity, chemists are able to design new drugs with better properties and fewer adverse side effects.

3. To develop a drug to target a specific disease, researchers try to understand the possible adverse effects of this drug that can be responsible for that condition.

4. Every chemical that is synthesized must be tested in vitro and in vivo.

5. Most entry-level workers in pharmaceutical chemistry shouldn’t have any training and have no necessary pharmaceutical and pharmacologic background after employment.

 

Ex. 3. Complete the following passage using the words from the box.

 

preparations, adverse, compounds, side effects, potent, biological activity, combating, therapeutic agents, lead, remedy

 

How do chemists "discover" drugs? Often there is an existing (1) … for a condition, and scientists will evaluate how that drug exerts its actions. Once the drug's structure is known, the drug can serve as a prototype or "lead compound" for designing more effective (2) … of similar chemical structure. (3) … compounds are molecules that have some (4) … with respect to the condition under investigation. However, the lead compound may not be effective in (5) … the disease, or it may produce undesirable (6) …. Lead optimization involves chemical modifications to the lead compound to produce a more (7) … drug, or one with fewer or decreased (8) … effects. Compounds used as medicines are most often organic (9) …, which are often divided into the broad classes of small organic molecules (e.g., atorvastatin, clopidogrel) and "biologics” (erythropoietin, insulin, glargine), the latter of which are most often medicinal (10) … of proteins (natural and recombinant antibodies, hormones, etc.). Inorganic and organometallic compounds are also useful as drugs (e.g., lithium and platinum-based agents such as lithium carbonate).

 

Ex. 4. Speak on the history of pharmaceutical chemistry.

Dwell on the main stages of drug design and testing.

Specify the main areas of activity for pharmaceutical chemists.

 

TEST C

ECOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY

Pre-Reading Task

What in your opinion caused the emergence of a totally new and separate speciality as environmental chemistry?