Side of drugs

Schulteis G and Koob G (1994). Neuropharmacology Dark side of drug dependence. Nature, 371, 108-109. 

A Swiss-German physician and alchemist named Philippus Aureoius Theophrastus Bombastus Von Hohenheim, better known as Paraceisus, wrote about the two sides of drug action in an eloquent and memorable way All substances are poisons there is none which is not a poison. The right dose differentiates a poison and a remedy. ... 

We will find that the psychiatric establishment continues to minimize the FDA findings. Even the FDA recently described the finding as modest (see subsequent discussion). Thomas Insel, director of NIMH, weighed in on the side of drugs, describing them as medications of known benefit and of questionable risks (Vedantam, 2005), when the scientific research actually shows them to be medications of no benefit and grave risk. 

Holstein, W. L., The other side of drug testing, Chemtech, 523, September 1992. 

Since there was some evidence that these compounds owe their action to interference with the action of histamine, this class has earned the soubriquet "antihistamines." This class of drugs is further characterized by a spectrum of side effects which occur to a greater or lesser degree in various members. These include antispasmodic action, sedative action, analgesia, and antiemetic effects. The side effects of some of these agents are sufficiently pronounced so that the compounds are prescribed for that effect proper. Antihistamines, for example, are used as the sedative-hypnotic component in some over-the-counter sleeping pills. 

Inclusion of fluorine on the pendant aromatic ring and the basic side chain seems to emphasize the anticonvulsant and hypnotic effects of this class of drugs. Thus alkylation of the benzodiazepinone, 24 (prepared from the corresponding substituted aminobenzophenone), with 2-chlorotriethylamine via its sodium salt affords fluazepam. ... 

The total syntheses of penicillin and cephalosporin represent elegant tours de force that demonstrated once again the power of synthetic organic chemistry. These syntheses, however, had little effect on the course of drug development in the respective fields, since they failed to provide access to analogs that could not be prepared by modification of either the side chains or, as in the case of more recent work, modification of 6-APA and 7-ACA themselves. In order to have an impact on drug development, a total synthesis must provide means for preparing... 

Some of the side effects due to beta blockers such as the slowing of heart rate can be counteracted by administration of drugs which antagonize the alpha adrenergic receptors. The... 

Major adverse side effects associated with clinical use of drugs. 

In some cases the unwanted enantiomer can perturb other biological processes and cause catastrophic side effects. The use of enantiomerically pure compounds thus permits more specific drug action and the reduction in the amount of drug administered. Even in the cases where the other enantiomer is inactive, the work involved in its metabolism before secretion can be avoided. 

The glucan synthase inhibitor caspofungin (intravenous formulation) is new on the market for the treatment of invasive aspergillosis in patients whose disease is refractory to, or who are intolerant of, other therapies. During the clinical trials fever, infused vein complications, nausea, vomiting and in combination with cyclosporin mild transient hepatic side effects were observed. Interaction with tacrolismius and with potential inducer or mixed inducer/inhibitors of drug clearance was also seen. 

Ototoxicity describes a harmful effect on the inner ear, especially the sensory cells in the cochlea and the vestibular organ. Aminoglycosides are an example of drugs with ototoxic side effects. 

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