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New pharmaceutical preparations are constantly being developed for every branch of medicine. Why? Isn,t it time to stop?
Under no circumstances, say the specialists, it is essential to fill the gaps that still remain, and develop drugs for the branches that still do not have enough of them. We must also find ways of combatting drug resistance. This may take a long, a very long time to achieve. The end, in fact, is not in sight, not in the foreseeable future at any rate, for when viruses become immune to one type of drug, new ones must be developed. The treatment of tuberculosis, for example, which even now takes many months, involves the use of a whole series of related drugs, which are partly interchangeable.
A great aid in modern medicine is new, highly effective prostaglandin preparations, all the possible uses of which have not yet been fully investigated; they do not actually possess curative properties, but they stimulate the organism to produse the necessary substances with which to fight a disease. The greatest concern of pharmacists is to improve drugs and make them more active and easier to use, and to reduce their side effects. This is where biopharmacology, a new branch of medicine, comes in.
Biopharmacists found the ways greatly to increase the effectiveness of some drugs which have been in use for a long time. Micronisation, i.e. reducing the size of the grains of a drug to one-fiftieth of their original size by crushing, makes some of our most widely used drugs twice and even four times more effective. This means that a patient can take one, instead of two or four tablets, to achieve the same result.
By observing the movement of a drug through the body with sensitive instruments, biopharmacists are able to tackle several problems at once. How, for example, does the drug react with the digestive juices and bile as it is absorbed in the digestive tract? What relationship will it develop with the gastric juices, and with the bile acid produced by the liver? How do two, three or four drugs interact when taken at the same time? Slowly but surely, the biopharmacists are working out the best combinations in which ally drugs can be taken and compiling lists of medicines suitable for children and old people.
Vocabulary extension:
branch of medicine- отрасль медицины
to fill the gaps- заполнять пробелы
ways of combatting- пути преодоления
resistance- сопротивление
to achieve- достигать
not in sight- не виден
foreseeable future- обозримое будущее
at any rate- в любом случае
related- родственные, сходные
curative properties- лечебные свойства
concern- забота
effective- эффективные
reduce- понижать
grain- гранула, зерно
original size- первоначальный размер
crushing- дробление
instead of- вместо
to achieve- достичь
to tackle a problem-решить проблему
digestive juice- пищеварительный сок
bile- желчь
interact- взаимодействовать
ally drugs- составные препараты
compile- составлять, соединять
reducing-уменьшение, снижение
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