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| By: Sha - at June 17, 2013 |
Medicines That Have Changed the World
Overview of Advances in Medicine
 It is impossible to imagine the world without diseases and tailored made
medications used to combat them effectively. In today’s modern world, many
medicines are able to prevent and cure serious illnesses. Hundreds of thousands
of medicines are available in the market today to cure and prevent various types
of illnesses. Unlike the period of patent medicines, where marketing zeal and
gimmicks coupled with the hope of the placebo effect acting as cure-all, modern
medicine actually cures conditions and saves lives. The discoveries of these
medicines have saved hundreds of millions of people and paved the way for
further research and innovation of other drugs that continue to change the
world.
Medicines That Have Changed the World
There are hundreds of thousands of medicines available in the market nowadays
but only a few of them have left lasting impact on us by saving us from serious
bacterial infections, communicative diseases and hormonal diseases. We will
discuss some of the greatest medicines discovered ever that have left a lasting
impact on our lives, changed the world, and continue to change the world we live
in today.
Insulin
 Insulin is a protein hormone in human bodies that balances blood sugar levels by
lowering the blood sugar in the human body. Dysfunctional insulin production
leads to diabetes, and patients suffering from advanced diabetes do not have
enough of this hormone to regulate their blood sugar levels. Diabetes was a
feared illness before the discovery and development of the insulin hormone that
led to the effective treatment of a once life-threatening condition. Today,
diabetes patients can live relatively normal lives with the help of insulin
regulation therapy. Insulin continues to save lives and has opened the door to
developments of other hormonal therapies based on the research used in the
innovation of diabetes treatments.
Smallpox Vaccine
It is one of the most prominent discoveries in the history of the drug industry.
Smallpox has been claiming the lives of humans for more than 12,000 years. This
preventive vaccine not only paved the way for encouragements and further
innovations but also wiped out small pox from our planet. Smallpox claimed
between 300 and 500 million souls during the 20th century alone. In 1976, Edward
Jenner developed this vaccine using cowpox material and helped to eradicate this
extremely dangerous infectious disease from the planet. Polio vaccine is another
wonder that helped keep this debilitating killer from crippling any more people.
Aspirin
 Ever since it was discovered, aspirin has had huge impact on the general health
of humanity. It was mainly used to treat headaches and minor pains as a minor
pain reliever. But it can be used to counteract the effects of other diseases
such as heart diseases, stroke, infertility, and Alzheimer’s. Today, aspirin is
one of the main ingredients in many pain relief remedies and some cold/cough
medicines. Aspirin is also used to prevent certain types of cancer, lower blood
pressure and as a first response treatment for heart attacks.
Penicillin
It is widely regarded as the biggest discovery in the health care and
pharmaceutical industry. Before penicillin was discovered many soldiers died on
the battle field not because they were shot or injured, but because that wound
before the early 1900s most likely led to an infectious, painful death many days
later. Alexander Fleming made this ground-breaking breakthrough in the
pharmaceutical field in 1928, making the first antibiotic drug somewhat as the
result of a mistake. To read more about penicillin and other inventions that
were discovered accidentally, click here. Penicillin is called the grandfather
of all medicines and helps to save lives by combating bacterial infections in
the body. It led to the further developments and innovations of more antibiotics
and other drugs that saved millions of people. Today, penicillin and other
antibiotics are used to treat plethora and bacterial illnesses ranging from
strep throat to cellulitis.
Morphine
It was first discovered in Germany and used to relieve pain during and after
surgery, treating alcoholism, and for opiate dependence. However, doctors
discovered that this strong drug was more addictive than traditional opiates
like heroin. Patients were finding themselves hooked to the morphine and in most
cases finding themselves more addicted than they were to their drug of choice.
Patients were essentially trading one addiction for another. Today, it is used
as a pain management drug as a synthetically derived opiate and its cousins
include percocet and oxycontin; two of the most popular pain killers of all
time.
Radiation and Chemotherapy
Cancer remains one of the deadliest diseases today, but the discoveries of
medicines like radiation and chemotherapy to
treat various types of cancers have
prolonged lives and given many suffering patients some hope of recovery.
In fact, hundreds of millions of people alive today would have died if these
medicines or drugs were available. Some other medicines that have changed the
world include:
Final Words
The impact of these modern medicines on global health has been very powerful.
The medicines discussed above opened the door to further discoveries of
thousands of other essential drugs. Improvements in diet, lifestyle, health care
and medicine have extended our life expectancy dramatically over the last 100
years. Thanks to innovation and drug formulation, many disease and infection
related deaths are now a thing of the past.
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