Preclinical Toxicity Studies-Tool of Drug Discovery

Abstract

As per WHO “Drug is any substance or product that is used or is intended to be used to modify or explore physiological systems or pathological states for the benefit of the recipient”. Hence the prime objective of using any substance as a drug is that it must be beneficial for the humans. A large number of compounds are synthesized every year but they cannot be directly used in humans as drugs because no one knows or can predict the possible harmful effects of these compounds in humans. That is why to explore the complete pharmacological profile of these compounds and to ensure complete human safety they are first tested on animals before clinical use. Preclinical Studies thus can be defined as “Testing the newly discovered compound in animals with the objective of gaining information regarding the various aspects of the compound with respect to the biological systems so that the same can be extrapolated for the use of that compound in humans”. As the evaluation progresses undesirable compounds gets rejected at each step, so that only a few out of thousands reach the stage when administration to the humans is considered. (Figure 1) Affiliation