Introduction

A medicine is commonly defined as a substance or preparation that can treat or prevent disease. Historically, most medicines were made from natural products. Advances in the last two centuries have led to the introduction of man-made chemical medicines, biologics and gene therapies. In addition, new technologies, such as tissue engineering , which uses living cells to repair tissues or organs, and nanomedicine , which uses tiny ‘nano’ particles in a variety of healthcare settings, have increased the options available.

These training materials provide short descriptions of the different types of medicine, how they work and how they are developed.