Medicinal substance

Benzoic acid [65-85-0] C H COOH, the simplest member of the aromatic carboxyHc acid family, was first described in 1618 by a French physician, but it was not until 1832 that its stmcture was deterrnined by Wn b1er and Liebig. In the nineteenth century benzoic acid was used extensively as a medicinal substance and was prepared from gum benzoin. Benzoic acid was first produced synthetically by the hydrolysis of benzotrichloride. Various other processes such as the nitric acid oxidation of toluene were used until the 1930s when the decarboxylation of phthaUc acid became the dominant commercial process. During World War II in Germany the batchwise Hquid-phase air oxidation of toluene became an important process. 

This chapter considers ionizable drug-Uke molecules and the effect of such ionization on pharmaceutic properties. Most medicinal substances are ionizable [1]. The biological medium into which these substances distribute embraces a range of pH values. The ionization constant, pK, can teU the pharmaceutical scientist to what degree the molecule is charged in solution at a particular pH. This is important to know, since the charge state of the molecule strongly influences its other physicochemical properties. 

In a specific instance where the organic medicinal substance is basic in nature e.g., papaverine in papaverine hydrochloride, it is primarily treated with an aqueous solution of a base and subsequently the liberated organic base is extracted with either chloroform or ether. 

The Convention Number 50 of the European Treaty Series of the Council of Europe gives the European Pharmacopoeia legal recognition to provide harmonized specifications for medicinal substances or pharmaceutical preparations within the member states. Within the signatory countries, existing national requirements may be superceded as the EP standards are implemented (2). 

Medical devices may be assisted in their function by pharmacological, immunological or metabolic means, but as soon as these means are not any more ancillary with respect to the principal purpose of a product, the product becomes a medicinal product. The claims made for a product, in accordance with its method of action may, in this context, represent an important factor for its classification as MD or medicinal product. Examples of MDs incorporating a medicinal substance with ancillary action include catheters coated with heparin or an antibiotic, bone cements containing antibiotic and blood bags containing anticoagulant. ... 

Where a device incorporates, as an integral part, a substance which, if used separately, may be considered to be a medicinal product and which is liable to act upon the body with action ancillary to that of the device (e.g. a heparin-coated catheter), the product is classed as a medical device. However, the medicinal product is to be assessed in accordance with the requirements of Directive 75/318/EEC (replaced by 2001/83/EC and updated by 2003/63/EC). A notified body undertaking conformity assessment on a medical device which incorporates a medicinal substance having ancillary action has a responsibility to consult a national medicines agency about the medicinal substance, to verify its safety, quality and usefulness by analogy with the appropriate methods specified in Directive 75/318/EEC. 

Special rules 13-18 govern several hazardous characteristics that may be found in certain devices and require a certain level of control and conformity assessment. Rule 13 deals with devices incorporating a medicinal substance whose action is ancillary to that of the device -Class 111, for example, antibiotic bone cements, condoms with spermicides, heparin-coated catheters. 

While some medicinal substances continue to be directly extracted from plant material, in many instances plant-derived drugs can now be manufactured, at least in part, by direct chemical synthesis. In addition, chemical modification of many of these plant lead drugs have yielded a range of additional therapeutic substances. 

Homeopathic medicine is built upon the belief that iike cures iike, meaning that small, highly diluted quantities of medicinal substances can be given to cure symptoms and, conversely, the same substances given at higher or more concentrated doses cause those symptoms. Examples include traditional Chinese medicine. 

Hawthorn has long been used as a medicinal substance, and an extract such as WS 1442, a formulation of hawthorn leaves with flowers, has been evaluated in different studies for treatment of heart failure (40 2). Patients with New York Heart Association class II heart failure participated in a placebo-controlled, randomized, multicenter trial. They received 30 drops of the extract three times daily for eight weeks. At the end of the study, heart failure condition was improved (41). A meta-analysis of available clinical trials suggests that the extract is useful as an adjunct treatment for patients with mild to moderate heart failure (42). Therefore, it is likely that hawthorn products would be administered together with digoxin in clinical management of patients (Fig. 4). 

The word pepper comes from the Indian Sanskrit word pippali, which became the Greek peperi and Latin piper. Piper nigrum is native to southwest India and Sri Lanka, where it has a long history of traditional use. Pepper was traded as a spice and used as a medicinal substance for at least 4,000 years. It was first cultivated in the present Indian state of Kerala, which is located at the southern tip of India along its southwest coast. Pepper was freely traded between... 

Ointment bases vehicles to permit topical application of active medicinal substances. 

A. It is confusing because the term is often used to refer to various preparations derived from Salvia. Technically, in pharmacy and medicine the dictionary definition of an extract is a solid preparation obtained by evaporating a solution of a drug. There is also such a thing as a fluid extract (or tincture), which is a concentrated liquid preparation containing a definite proportion of the active principles of a medicinal substance. The solvent usually used is ethyl alcohol or a mixture of ethyl alcohol and water. However various Salvia preparations are often referred to (loosely) as extracts. Q. What are the advantages of using extracts . 

L. N. Yakhontov and R. G. Glushkov, Synthetic Medicinal Substances [in Russian], Meditsina, Moscow... 

Results of the above-outlined research into physico-chemical and medico-biological properties of BAS, conducted at the Institute of Surface Chemistry of the NAS of Ukraine in collaboration with Vinnitsa State Medical University, named after N.I. Pirogov, and other medical institutions of Ukraine and Russia give reasons to infer that Silics is an active medicinal substance which on its own can function as a therapeutic agent. Sorptive detoxication with the aid of the bioactive silica brings about a profound effect in the case of acute intestinal infections, diarrheas of various origins, viral hepatitis, as well as for local treatment for pyoinflammatory diseases and purulent wounds. 

Lithium became a popular medicinal substance under the influence of the uric acid hypothesis. Proprietary medicines, tonics and fashionable mineral spas were advertised as containing lithium and other recommended antidotes to uric acid. Lithium was even put into beer and the drink 7 UP started life as a lithium drink (Healy 2002) (see Illustration 11.1). 

Since prehistoric times, ethanol-containing beverages have enjoyed widespread use as a recreational luxury. What applies to any medicinal substance also holds for alcohol the dose alone makes the poison (see p. 2). Excessive, long-term consumption of alcoholic drinks, or alcohol abuse, is harmful to the affected individual. Alcoholism must be considered a grave disorder that plays a major role in terms of numbers alone for instance, in Germany 1 000 000 people are affected by this self-inflicted illness. 

Pharmacopoeial monographs on medicinal substances describe basic requirements that need to be met to assure appropriate quality of the product. Most of the monographs indicate purity at the 98-99 % level, which means that a content of 1-2 % impurities is allowed. In cases of medications used in high doses, such as vitamins or antibiotics, which have daily doses from few hundred milligrams up to a few grams, a 1-2 % level of impurities can have serious consequences for patients. 

Q3A This document describes impurities in pharmaceutical materials. Based on this regulation, the following levels of impurities must be evaluated for each new medicinal substance ... 

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