Making Medicines

Students explore the twelve-year journey to discover, develop and test a new medicine using this online resource. New medicines are needed to treat disease, to prevent people getting a disease, to improve people's health and wellbeing and to save lives. Most new medicines are developed and manufactured by the pharmaceutical industry. Researching, developing and manufacturing medicines contributes to the health of the economy through exports and providing a wide range of interesting, well paid, jobs. This online resource explores why it is not a straightforward process and why many projects fail for one reason or another - the medicine may not work as well as expected, or the side effects are too great - it is a high-risk business.