Drugs and drug target molecules
Drugs and drug target molecules Drugs need to bind to target molecules. Is there anything remarkable about this statement at all? Well, two things: 1. It is a surprisingly recent insight – only about 100 years old. (OK, so that is relative – long ago for you, but I'm nearly there.) 2. It is not generally true. The idea of defined receptor molecules for drugs or poisons was conceived by Paul Ehrlich (Figure 1.4). Ehrlich worked on a variety of microbes and microbial toxins. He observed that many dyes used to stain specific structures in micro-bial cells in microscopic examinations also exerted toxic effects on the microbes. This observation inspired him to systematically try every new dye he could get hold of (and new dyes were a big thing in the late 19 th century!) on his microbes. Although not trained as a chemist himself, he managed to synthesize the first effective antibacterial drug – an organic mercury compound dubbed `Salvarsan' that was clinically used