What is Therapeutics?
It is the process of treatment and taking care of the patient for the purpose of both preventing and combating disease or alleviating pain or injury. The therapeutics term comes from the Greek word therapeutikos, which means “ inclined to serve”. Speaking broadly, therapeutics means serving and caring for the patient in a comprehensive manner preventing disease as well as managing specific problems.
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Exercise, diet, and mental factors are therefore integral to the prevention of disease. And as well as management of disease processes. Specific measures are taken to treat specific symptoms, which includes the use of drugs to relieve pain or treat the infection. Surgery to remove diseased tissue or replace poorly functioning or non-functioning organs with fully operating ones. Counselling or psychotherapy is employed to relieve emotional stress. Confidence of the physicians and the method applied enhances the effectiveness.
Therapeutic Effect
It refers to the response once the treatment of any disease is done, the result of which is judged to be favourable or not. Finally, depending on some parameters, the results obtained are expected, unexpected, or even an uninitiated consequence. Sometimes therapeutic effect may affect adversely which refers to harmful and undesired responses. And some of the time this effect constitutes side effects in a matter of both depending on the nature of the situation and the goals of the treatment. Undesired side effects cannot be separated from therapeutics as both responses are behavioural/physiological changes that occur as a response to the treatment strategy or agent.
Preventive Medicine
It is a kind of preventive medicine to identify the risk factors in each individual and reduce or eliminate those risks is an attempt to prevent the diseases. Primary prevention is especially preventing the disease through the behaviour which seeks to the avert diseases before it develops. Some of the examples for primarily preventing diseases are vaccinating children against diseases. Some of the diseases are detected earlier known as the secondary prevention or its precursors before symptoms appear, with the aim of preventing or curing it. Some of the examples of preventive medicines include regular cervical Papanicolaou test (pap smear) screening and mammography. After secondary prevention, tertiary prevention is an attempt to stop or limit the spread of disease that is already present. Looking at all three preventions, clearly, primary prevention is the most effective method of controlling the disease.
Different Therapeutics Pharmaceuticals
Now let us look at the different therapeutics involved in the treatment of the diseases, and the art and the science of living.
1. Arcturus Therapeutics
Arcturus Therapeutics is an American biotech company, which mainly focuses on discovery. development and commercialization of therapeutics for rare diseases with a focus on the RNA.
2. Horizon Therapeutics
Horizon Therapeutics plc is a biopharmaceutical company that mainly focuses on the research, development, and commercialization of medicines that address critical needs for people impacted by rare and rheumatic diseases. It primarily marketed products in the United States, which represented 97% of Horizon's 2019 worldwide sales.
3. Allogene Therapeutics
It is a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering in the development of allogeneic chimeric antigen receptor T cell (AlloCAR TTM) therapies for cancer.
4. Bioxcel Therapeutics
It is one of the pioneers in the biopharmaceutical company using the application of artificial intelligence and big data analytics integrated with drug development expertise. Bioxcel therapeutics use their proprietary platforms to advance the next wave of medicines and it significantly improves the clinical and regulatory success of drug development.
5. Prevail Therapeutics
Prevail Therapeutics is a kind of pharmaceutical company which develops disease-modifying gene therapy for patients with Parkinson’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders.
6. Recombinant Therapeutics
It is a type of therapeutics where proteins are produced by recombinant DNA technology. Recombinant therapeutics mainly include recombinant hormones, interferons, interleukins, hematopoietic growth factors, tumour necrosis factors, blood-clotting factors, thrombolytic drugs, enzymes, monoclonal antibodies and vaccines.
7. Seelos Therapeutics
Seelos Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company that mainly focuses on the clinical stage of the development of therapies for central nervous system disorders (CNS) and rare diseases. This company has completed enrollment of patients in Part 1 of its registrational Proof of Concept study of SLS-002 (intranasal racemic ketamine). Mainly for Acute Suicidal Ideation and Behavior (ASIB) in patients with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD).
8. Turning Point Therapeutics
Turning point therapeutics is a precision oncology company of clinical-stage having a pipeline of internally discovered investigational drugs. Which is designed to address key limitations of existing cancer therapies.
9. Applied Therapeutics
It is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that develops a pipeline of a novel drug. If the candidate is treated against validated molecular targets in indications of high unmet medical need.
10. Kymera Therapeutics
It is also a biopharmaceutical company, which focuses on the discovery and development of novel small molecules. Therapeutics selectively degrade disease-causing proteins by harnessing the body's own natural protein degradation system.
Do You Know?
What is clinical therapeutics? It is a monthly peer-reviewed medical journal. Which was established in 1977 and published by Elsevier. Clinical therapeutics is an official journal of the European Association for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (EACPT), and it covers all the aspects of clinical pharmacology and therapeutics.
FAQs on Therapeutics
1. What are therapeutics in the context of biology and medicine?
Therapeutics is the branch of medicine focused on the treatment of diseases and medical conditions. Its primary goal is to alleviate symptoms, combat pathogens, correct physiological defects, or prevent the progression of an illness to improve a patient's health and well-being. It encompasses all measures taken to cure a disease or manage its effects.
2. What are some common examples of therapeutic interventions?
Therapeutic interventions can vary widely. Common examples relevant to the biology syllabus include:
Drug Therapy: Using chemical agents like antibiotics to fight bacterial infections or painkillers to manage symptoms.
Gene Therapy: Introducing, removing, or altering genetic material within a person's cells to treat a disease, especially genetic disorders.
Recombinant Therapeutics: Using genetically engineered proteins, such as mass-produced human insulin for diabetes, as per the CBSE 2025-26 syllabus.
Immunotherapy: Using the body's own immune system to fight diseases like cancer, for instance, through monoclonal antibodies.
Radiotherapy: Using ionising radiation to control or kill malignant cells in cancer treatment.
3. How do therapeutics differ from diagnostics?
The primary difference lies in their purpose. Diagnostics are procedures and tests used to identify and characterise a disease or condition (the 'what' and 'why'). Examples include blood tests, X-rays, and MRI scans. In contrast, therapeutics refers to the actual treatment or management of the diagnosed condition (the 'how to fix it'). Essentially, diagnostics is about finding the problem, while therapeutics is about solving it.
4. What are the main types of therapeutic agents?
Therapeutic agents are the substances or methods used for treatment. They can be broadly classified into:
Chemical Agents: These are conventional drugs and pharmaceuticals synthesized in a lab (e.g., aspirin, antibiotics).
Biological Agents (Biologics): These are complex molecules derived from living organisms, such as vaccines, antibodies, enzymes, and hormones (e.g., human insulin).
Physical Agents: This category includes the use of physical methods like radiation (radiotherapy), heat (thermotherapy), or ultrasound for treatment.
5. How has biotechnology revolutionised modern therapeutics?
Biotechnology has transformed therapeutics by enabling the development of highly specific and effective treatments. Through recombinant DNA technology, we can now produce vital human proteins like insulin and growth hormone in large quantities, which was previously impossible. Furthermore, it has paved the way for advanced approaches like gene therapy to correct inherited disorders at their source and the creation of monoclonal antibodies that can target cancer cells without harming healthy tissue, leading to more personalised and less toxic therapies.
6. Why is the 'therapeutic index' a critical factor in drug development?
The therapeutic index (TI) is a crucial measurement of a drug's safety. It compares the amount of a therapeutic agent that causes the desired effect to the amount that causes toxicity. A high TI is ideal, as it means there is a large gap between the effective dose and the toxic dose, making the drug safer for patient use. Conversely, a drug with a low TI requires careful monitoring because the dose needed for treatment is very close to a dose that could be harmful or even lethal.
7. What is the fundamental difference between a vaccine and a therapeutic drug?
The fundamental difference lies in their function and timing. A vaccine is a prophylactic biological preparation used for prevention. It stimulates the body's immune system to produce antibodies and create immunological memory against a future infection. In contrast, a therapeutic drug is used for treatment after a person is already sick. It works by directly targeting the pathogen, altering a physiological pathway, or managing the symptoms of an existing disease.
