A medicinal product is a product used to treat\ndiseases and medical problems in humans or animals. It can cure (curative\nmedicine), relieve (palliative medicine) or prevent (preventive medicine)\ndiseases. A medicinal product can replace substances or fluids produced by the\nbody. It can also render harmless microbes, parasites and other foreign matter\ncapable of causing a disease. Medicinal products consist of active substances\nthat cause an effect or reaction in the body, and excipients that enable the\nproduct to be formed into tablets or drops, for example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In its search for new active substances, the\npharmaceutical industry draws on findings from basic research performed\nprimarily at universities and other institutions of tertiary education.\nNumerous substances are tested in the pharmaceutical industry\u2019s research\nlaboratories in various phases \u2013 in preclinical studies and clinical trials \u2013\nand in a specific, predefined context for efficacy and safety in animals and\nhumans. Genuine breakthroughs are relatively rare in medicine, despite the\nmajor effort that goes into research. Smaller advances resulting from the continuing\ndevelopment of known active substances are more common. But for patients, these\nsmall steps forward are just as important. This is particularly evident if we\nthink of examples such as insulin therapy for people with diabetes, therapy for\nasthma sufferers, transplantation medicine and cancer therapy. If no\ntherapeutic alternatives were available, many patients would have to make the\nbest of treatment that was less than ideal for them. These small improvements\ninclude greater efficacy or improved safety as a result of fewer side effects.\nThey can be achieved by optimising active substances or developing new dosage\nforms tailored to patients\u2019 specific needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is a high risk that development of a medicinal product will be stopped because of adverse effects or insufficient efficacy discovered in the course of clinical trials. Just 10 out of every 10,000 substances that are investigated and tested in the research laboratories make it as far as clinical trials. And just one of these substances passes all the clinical tests and subsequently comes onto the market as a medicine. On average, it takes 12 years and costs around 2.6 billion dollars to bring a new drug to market. Research companies must be assured that their developments will not be exploited commercially by third parties without them contributing to the high costs of research.The state protects companies by granting a limited period of patent protection for a new active substance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The manufacture of a medicinal product begins\nwith the isolation of the active substance, which is then processed into a\nspecific delivery form, such as tablets or ointment, with the aid of\nexcipients. Finally, the medicinal product is filled by machine into specially\ndesigned packaging. Medicinal products are manufactured in batches. Quality\ncontrol and quality assurance measures ensure that only medicinal products of\nflawless quality come onto the market. If a batch is found to be faulty, the\nproduct can be recalled using the batch number. It is vital for the consumer\nthat medicinal products are safe to use. The manufacture of these products is\ntherefore subject to strict regulatory controls. In Switzerland this is the\nresponsibility of Swissmedic, with the involvement of the cantons. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The manufacture of medicinal products is\ngoverned by the international standards of Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP)\nspecified in Annex 1 of the Medicinal Products Licensing Ordinance (MPLO)\nadopted by the Federal Council. The GMP-compliant manufacture of medicinal products\nis also important for the recognition abroad of products manufactured in\nSwitzerland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A medicinal product is a product used to treat diseases and medical problems in humans or animals. It can cure (curative medicine), relieve (palliative medicine) or prevent (preventive medicine) diseases. A medicinal product can replace substances or fluids produced by the body. It can also render harmless microbes, parasites and other foreign matter capable of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14757,"parent":4208,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-templates\/unterthema.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4202","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n