Medicinal chemistry combines chemistry and pharmacology to develop drugs suitable for human use. Chemists draw on various interdisciplinary topics to create new drugs, which undergo extensive research and testing before being regulated and marketed. A general chemistry degree is often sufficient for a position in the pharmaceutical industry. The release of new drugs involves political, environmental, and ethical concerns, and drugs that fall short of expectations are sent back to medicinal chemistry for further development.
Medicinal chemistry combines the disciplines of chemistry and pharmacology to form a science that exists to develop medicines suitable for human use. Medicinal chemists work to design, study, and develop drugs. To create new drugs, medicinal chemists must be able to draw on various interdisciplinary topics such as organic chemistry, biochemistry, molecular biology, physical chemistry, and computational chemistry.
Developing a new drug requires a long process of development and research. Pharmaceutical chemists must first discover the chemical compound they are looking for by drawing on extensive chemical and biological knowledge. In addition to desired chemical compounds, chemists can also investigate certain plants, animals, and fungi to find the properties they are looking for.
Once the ideal chemical compound has been discovered, the next step in developing a drug is to further research the compound. By modifying certain agents within a compound, drugs suitable for humans are created. At this point, the drugs are further tested for possible side effects and many drugs are regulated by governments before they are available to consumers.
Many lab-developed drugs are never offered to the public. If government officials find that one type of drug poses too much risk, the drug must be modified by chemists. Once a drug is released, government officials take extra care to make sure the drug is marketed fairly. Pharmaceutical chemists often don’t have a hand in marketing a drug, even though they will be called upon to make necessary changes to a drug that is not deemed safe by government officials.
While medicinal chemistry requires a solid background in chemistry, many of these professionals do not have a specific undergraduate degree in medicinal chemistry. In fact, most medicinal chemists only get a general chemistry degree at the university level. This form of certification is often sufficient to secure a position within a pharmaceutical company.
Medicinal chemistry is a vital part of the pharmaceutical industry, although it is a science closely monitored by government officials. There are numerous political, environmental and ethical concerns involved in the release of any new pharmaceutical drug. In order to produce drugs that are safe for human use, every new drug must be tested, tried, and sent back to the drawing board of medicinal chemistry if a drug falls short of the government’s high expectations.
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