Editing Medication (section)

===Modern pharmacology===
For most of the 19th century, drugs were not highly effective, leading [[Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.]] to famously comment in 1842 that "if all medicines in the world were thrown into the sea, it would be all the better for mankind and all the worse for the fishes".<ref name=Reasonable/>{{rp|21}}

During the [[First World War]], [[Alexis Carrel]] and [[Henry Drysdale Dakin|Henry Dakin]] developed the Carrel-Dakin method of treating wounds with an irrigation, Dakin's solution, a germicide which helped prevent [[gangrene]].

In the inter-war period, the first anti-bacterial agents such as the [[sulpha]] antibiotics were developed. The Second World War saw the introduction of widespread and effective antimicrobial therapy with the development and mass production of [[penicillin]] antibiotics, made possible by the pressures of the war and the collaboration of British scientists with the American [[pharmaceutical industry]].

Medicines commonly used by the late 1920s included [[aspirin]], [[codeine]], and [[morphine]] for pain; [[Digoxin|digitalis]], [[nitroglycerin]], and [[quinine]] for heart disorders, and [[insulin]] for diabetes. Other drugs included [[antitoxin]]s, a few biological vaccines, and a few synthetic drugs. In the 1930s, antibiotics emerged: first [[sulfa drug]]s, then [[penicillin]] and other antibiotics. Drugs increasingly became "the center of medical practice".<ref name=Reasonable>{{cite book | year = 2008 | title = Reasonable Rx: Solving the drug price crisis | publisher = FT Press |vauthors=Finkelstein S, Temin P }}</ref>{{rp|22}} In the 1950s, other drugs emerged including [[corticosteroids]] for [[inflammation]], [[Rauvolfia#Chemical constituents|rauvolfia alkaloids]] as tranquilizers and antihypertensives, [[antihistamine]]s for nasal allergies, [[xanthine]]s for asthma, and typical [[antipsychotic]]s for psychosis.<ref name=Reasonable/>{{rp|23–24}} As of 2007, thousands of approved drugs have been [[drug development|developed]]. Increasingly, [[biotechnology]] is used to discover [[biopharmaceutical]]s.<ref name=Reasonable/> Recently, multi-disciplinary approaches have yielded a wealth of new data on the development of novel antibiotics and antibacterials and on the use of biological agents for antibacterial therapy.<ref name= MillerAAMillerPF>{{cite book | vauthors= Miller AA, Miller PF | year=2011 | title=Emerging Trends in Antibacterial Discovery: Answering the Call to Arms | publisher=[[Caister Academic Press]] | isbn= 978-1-904455-89-9}}</ref>

In the 1950s, new psychiatric drugs, notably the antipsychotic [[chlorpromazine]], were designed in laboratories and slowly came into preferred use. Although often accepted as an advance in some ways, there was some opposition, due to serious adverse effects such as [[tardive dyskinesia]]. Patients often opposed psychiatry and refused or stopped taking the drugs when not subject to psychiatric control.

Governments have been heavily involved in the regulation of drug development and drug sales. In the U.S., the [[Elixir Sulfanilamide disaster]] led to the establishment of the [[Food and Drug Administration]], and the 1938 Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act required manufacturers to file new drugs with the FDA. The 1951 Humphrey-Durham Amendment required certain drugs to be sold by prescription. In 1962, a subsequent amendment required new drugs to be tested for efficacy and safety in [[clinical trial]]s.<ref name=Reasonable/>{{rp|24–26}}

Until the 1970s, drug prices were not a major concern for doctors and patients. As more drugs became prescribed for chronic illnesses, however, costs became burdensome, and by the 1970s nearly every U.S. state required or encouraged the substitution of [[generic drugs]] for higher-priced brand names. This also led to the 2006 U.S. law, [[Medicare Part D]], which offers Medicare coverage for drugs.<ref name=Reasonable/>{{rp|28–29}}

As of 2008, the United States is the leader in [[medical research]], including pharmaceutical development. U.S. drug prices are among the highest in the world, and drug innovation is correspondingly high. In 2000, U.S.-based firms developed 29 of the 75 top-selling drugs; firms from the second-largest market, Japan, developed eight, and the United Kingdom contributed 10. France, which imposes price controls, developed three. Throughout the 1990s, outcomes were similar.<ref name=Reasonable/>{{rp|30–31}}