Drug Discovery and Development in the Middle Ages

The Middle Ages, from around ad 400 to 1500, witnessed the decline of the Roman influence. This was also the time when plagues scourged many parts of Europe. Diseases such as bubonic plague, leprosy, smallpox, tuberculosis, and scabies were rampant. Many millions of people succumbed to these diseases. 

There are some references to herbs in the Bible. However, the Church s main contribution to medicines is the preservation and transcription of Greek medical manuscripts and treatises. This enabled the knowledge developed in the ancient times to be continued and later used in the Renaissance period. 

Through trade with many regions, the Arabians learned and extended medical knowledge. Their major contribution is perhaps the knowledge of medical preparations and distillation methods, although the techniques were probably derived from the practices of alchemists. Avicenna, around ad 900-1000, recorded a vast encyclopedia of medical description and treatment. Another noted physician was Rhazes, who accurately described measles and smallpox. 

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A1.2 Drug Discovery and Development in the Middle Ages A1.3 Foundation of Current Drug Discovery and Development A1.4 Beginnings of Modern Pharmaceuticai industry A1.5 Evoiution of Drug Products A1.6 Further Reading... 

Pharmacognosy is the study of natural product drug discovery and development, and pharmacognosy includes in its scope the investigation of ethno-botanical claims—in other words, folk medicine. These researchers look at practices of modem cultures, such as the inhabitants of the rainforest, and they also look at historical practioners, such as the monks and mendicants of the European Middle Ages—and the old wives, the wizards, and the witches. 

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