Medicines

Reference Information
Biological Active Additives
Vitamins
Classification of drugs and dietary supplements
Medicines
Terminology
Pharmaceutical industry

Medicines, drugs or pharmaceuticals are natural or synthetic substances or complex of substances manufactured with the purpose of prevention, diagnostics or treatment of life forms. Dosage form (also called unit doses) is a pharmaceutical drug product in the form which it is marked for use, with a specific mixture of active ingredients and inactive components, in a particular configuration and apportioned into a particular dose. Dosage forms are subdivided into solid, liquid and injection dosage forms (capsules, tablets, ointments, powders, solutions, etc.). Medicines are classified by such characteristics as chemical composition, pharmacological effect, therapeutic use, etc. That is why the consumption of the majority of them is possible only on prescription, others – only after studying a medicine administration carefully.

Antibiotics are included into special group of medicines which save millions of human lives when opened by Alexander Fleming. An antibiotic is a type of antimicrobial substance active against bacteria and is the most important type of antibacterial agent for fighting bacterial infections. The number of bacterial infections is so huge, their influence on human organism is so diverse that there is a huge classification of antibiotics today. Antibiotics are commonly classified on their mechanism of action on bacterial cell: bacterial (bacteria die abd are excreted from organism in natural ways) and bacteriostatic (bacteria lose the ability to breed but live further).