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Year 11
AQA
Foundation

Development of new medicines

I can describe the process of discovery and development of potential new medicines, including preclinical and clinical trials.

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New
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Year 11
AQA
Foundation

Development of new medicines

I can describe the process of discovery and development of potential new medicines, including preclinical and clinical trials.

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Share activities with pupils
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These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Plants and microorganisms provide new medicines; many others are synthesised in labs to target pathogens and host cells.
  2. Preclinical trials: the medicine is tested for safety and effectiveness on cultured human cells and on live animals.
  3. Clinical trials: the medicine is tested for safety in people without the disease.
  4. Clinical trials: the medicine is tested for safety and effectiveness in people with the disease.
  5. Use of placebos in clinical trials, and use of blind and double blind trials prevent to bias in the results.

Keywords

  • Safety - State of being not likely to be in danger, risk or injury.

  • Effectiveness - The degree to which something is successful.

  • Side effect - An undesirable effect of a medicine or treatment.

  • Placebo - A treatment or substance designed to have no therapeutic value.

  • Bias - Inclination or prejudice for or against one person or group, especially in a way considered to be unfair.

Common misconception

Pupils often do not realise that drugs are tested on healthy individuals first.

Healthy individuals are used as they will not have symptoms that interfere with the side effects from the drug.


To help you plan your year 11 biology lesson on: Development of new medicines, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

It is helpful to get the students to read the word placebo out loud as sometimes students can misread it and then not recognise it in questions.
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Equipment

None required.

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Content guidance

  • Depiction or discussion of sensitive content
supervision-level

Supervision

Adult supervision recommended

copyright

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
Which is the best description of a drug?
Sam: "Drugs are tablets that have a positive effect on the body."
Andeep: "Drugs are illegal substances that have an effect on the body."
Correct answer: Sofia: "Drugs are chemicals that have an effect on the body."
Lucas: "Vaccinations are drugs that help protect us from disease."
Q2.
True or false? All diseases are caused by pathogens.
true
Correct answer: false
Q3.
Unwanted effects from drugs are called ...
Correct answer: side effects.
desired effects.
effectiveness.
Q4.
Cells that can develop into other types of cell are called .
Correct Answer: stem cells, stem, undifferentiated cells
Q5.
Which of the following are painkillers?
Correct answer: paracetamol
fungicide cream
vaccines
antibiotics
Correct answer: aspirin
Q6.
What does toxicity mean?
something that you shouldn't ingest
Correct answer: how poisonous or harmful something is
something that will definitely kill you

Exit quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
True or false? Plants can be a source of new medicines.
Correct answer: true
false
Q2.
Put the stages of drug trialing in the correct order.
1 - The drugs are tested using computer models and skin cells grown from stem cells.
2 - The drugs are tested on animals.
3 - The drugs are tested on a small number of healthy individuals.
4 - The drugs are tested on people with the illness.
Q3.
What does optimum dose mean?
The highest amount of a drug that can be taken.
The least amount of a drug that can be taken.
The average amount of a drug taken by patients.
Correct answer: The amount of a drug to take to be effective but minimise harm.
Q4.
A treatment that appears to be real but has no therapeutic benefit is called a .
Correct Answer: placebo, placebo effect
Q5.
Which of the following are true of a blind trial?
Correct answer: The doctor knows who has taken the drug and who has taken the placebo.
The patient knows if they have taken the drug or the placebo.
The doctor doesn't know who has taken the drug and who has taken the placebo.
Correct answer: The patient doesn't know if they have taken the drug or the placebo.
Q6.
Why are double blind trials carried out?
to determine the cost of the trial
Correct answer: to reduce bias from the doctor and the patient
to ensure nobody knows how many people are involved in the trial
to ensure the placebo is working
to establish effectiveness in computer models