VPT 311: General and Systemic Veterinary Pharmacology (2+1)

MODERN MEDICINE

• Buccheim, a professor of Dorpat University who was known as the father of Pharmacology set up the first laboratory to study pharmacology. He discarded many remedies because rational scientific action or explanation could not be demonstrated in his laboratory.
• By the middle of the 19^th century, modern medicine had brought to fight disease only one effective weapon ie.immunization against smallpox.
• Later in quick succession came the anaesthetics and antiseptics. In the last quarter, the causative organisms for malaria, plaque, cholera etc. were identified.
• Beginning in the 20^th century, the fresh wind of synthetic chemistry began to revolutionise the pharmaceutical industry and with it the science of pharmacology.
• New synthetic drugs, such as barbiturates and local anaesthetics, began to appear and the era of antimicrobial chemotherapy began with the discovery of arsenical compounds for the treatment of syphilis by Paul Ehrlich in 1909. He was known as the father of chemotherapy.
• Further breakthroughs came with the discovery of sulphonamides by Gerhard Domagk in 1935 and the development of penicillin during worldwar II.
• The addition of drugs to the therapeutic jungle is growing with rapid pace from the later half of the 20^th century.