Small Molecule - Drugs

Drugs

Further information: Drug design

Most drugs are small molecules, although some drugs can be proteins, e.g. insulin. Many proteins are degraded if administered orally and most often cannot cross the cell membranes. Small molecules are more likely to be absorbed, although some of them are only absorbed after oral administration if given as prodrugs. Small molecules are often considered superior to "large molecule" biologics because they can be taken orally.

Many dietary supplements are small molecules (but not herb extracts, such as ginkgo).

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Famous quotes containing the word drugs:

    “There is not much sense in suffering, since drugs can be given for pain, itching, and other discomforts. The belief has long died that suffering here on earth will be rewarded in heaven. Suffering has lost its meaning.”
    —Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (b. 1926)

    “If we became students of Malcolm X, we would not have young black men out there killing each other like they’re killing each other now. Young black men would not be impregnating young black women at the rate going on now. We’d not have the drugs we have now, or the alcoholism.”
    —Spike Lee (b. 1956)

    “To possess your soul in patience, with all the skin and some of the flesh burnt off your face and hands, is a job for a boy compared with the pains of a man who has lived pretty long in the exhilarating world that drugs or strong waters seem to create and is trying to live now in the first bald desolation created by knocking them off.”
    —C.E. (Charles Edward)