https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medication
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Medication is a medicine or a chemical compound used to treat or cure illness. According to the Pharmaceutical dictionary, "any drug or preparation that is used to treat and cure disease," "a substance used in treating a disease or relieving pain" as defined by Britannica.
As defined by National Cancer institute, a dosage form includes tablets, capsules, liquids, creams, and patches that contain one or more active or inactive ingredients. Medications can be given in different ways, such as by mouth, by infusion into a vein, or by drops put into the ear or eye. A medication that does not contain an active ingredient and is used in research studies is called a placebo. Also called drug product.
According to BDS Medication Administration Curriculum, Section II, Medication is a substance taken into or placed on the body to treat, cure, or relieve symptoms of illness. Vaccinations are used to prevent a specific disease.
In Europe, the term is "medicinal product", and it is defined by EU law as:
- "Any substance or combination of substances presented as having properties for treating or preventing disease in human beings; or"
- "Any substance or combination of substances which may be used in or administered to human beings either with a view to restoring, correcting or modifying physiological functions by exerting a pharmacological, immunological or metabolic action, or to making a medical diagnosis."
In the US, a "drug" is:
- A substance recognized by an official pharmacopeia or formulary.
- A substance intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease.
- A substance (other than food) intended to affect the structure or any function of the body.
- A substance intended for use as a component of a medicine but not a device or a component, part or accessory of a device.
- Biological products are included within this definition and are generally covered by the same laws and regulations, but differences exist regarding their manufacturing processes (chemical process versus biological process).
Classification
One of the key classifications is between traditional small molecule drugs; usually derived from chemical synthesis, and biologic medical products; which include recombinant proteins, vaccines, blood products used therapeutically (such as IVIG), gene therapy, and cell therapy (for instance, stem cell therapies).
Pharmaceuticals or drugs or medicines are classified in various other groups besides their origin on the basis of pharmacological properties like mode of action and their pharmacological action or activity, such as by chemical properties, mode or route of administration, biological system affected, or therapeutic effects. An elaborate and widely used classification system is the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical Classification System (ATC system). The World Health Organization keeps a list of essential medicines.
A sampling of classes of medicine includes:
- Antipyretics: reducing fever (pyrexia/pyresis)
- Analgesics: reducing pain (painkillers)
- Antimalarial drugs: treating malaria
- Antibiotics: inhibiting germ growth
- Antiseptics: prevention of germ growth near burns, cuts and wounds
- Mood stabilizers: lithium and valpromide
- Hormone replacements: Premarin
- Oral contraceptives: Enovid, "biphasic" pill, and "triphasic" pill
- Stimulants: methylphenidate, amphetamine
- Tranquilizers: meprobamate, chlorpromazine, reserpine, chlordiazepoxide, diazepam, and alprazolam
- Statins: lovastatin, pravastatin, and simvastatin
Pharmaceuticals may also be described as "specialty", independent of other classifications, which is an ill-defined class of drugs that might be difficult to administer, require special handling during administration, require patient monitoring during and immediately after administration, have particular regulatory requirements restricting their use, and are generally expensive relative to other drugs.
