We have choice of medicines available

Natural products exist because the species (usually a plant) evolved to produce it to provide some benefit to those organisms. Some tiny fraction of those products turn out to be useful to humans and medicine. Plants and animals are under no obligation to make every possible medicinal compound that we might need. On top of that, natural products are limited by the kind of reactions that can take place inside a living organism. They’re limited when dealing with things like adding fluorine to a molecule. Fluorine containing medicines are quite common for exactly the reason that biology doesn’t deal with it well. That means our bodies can’t break it down almost immediately, and it can stick around long enough to have an effect.

Natural products are often a great starting point. Many modern drugs started out by finding a natural product with a beneficial effect, then tweaking the design in synthetic chemistry until you find something with either a stronger effect and/or less severe side effects. To test a drug for approved in preparation for sale big pharma wants a patent. The patent ensures they will get sole rights to sell the drug for several years. If you are selling drugs, you need “unnatural medicines” in order to get a patent. As a result, big pharma wants all natural products to be seen as less effective, as “not proven in clinical studies”, as more risky, than their patented (unnatural) products. That's part of their sales line - and they're working very hard to make everyone believe it. The best cures come from health. But no company can patent health, put it in a bottle, and sell at monopoly prices.

There are many examples of this, but one of my favorites has to be dolphins, who will chew on pufferfish to experience a sort of high. Pufferfish produce a very powerful defensive chemical when threatened, but small doses of this substance induces a trance-like state (at least in dolphins). They have been reported to gently pass a pufferfish between members of the pod, each taking turns to chew on it.

Nature and natural medicine is also what we experienced in the Middle Ages. How did that work out? What was the life expectancy? In the pre antibiotic, pre vaccine era childhood death was not unexpected. Main Outcome Measures Number of cases, deaths, and hospitalizations for 13 vaccine-preventable diseases. Estimates of the percent reductions from baseline to recent were made without adjustment for factors that could affect vaccine-preventable disease morbidity, mortality, or reporting.

Results A greater than 92% decline in cases and a 99% or greater decline in deaths due to diseases prevented by vaccines recommended before 1980 were shown for diphtheria, mumps, pertussis, and tetanus. Endemic transmission of poliovirus and measles and rubella viruses has been eliminated in the United States; smallpox has been eradicated worldwide. Declines were 80% or greater for cases and deaths of most vaccine-preventable diseases targeted since 1980 including hepatitis A, acute hepatitis B, Hib, and varicella. Declines in cases and deaths of invasive S pneumoniae were 34% and 25%, respectively.

Historical Comparisons of Morbidity and Mortality for Vaccine-Preventable Diseases in the United States. In 1930, the life expectancy for a US man was 58. Social Security kicked in at 65. No modern medicine, no antibiotics, no blood pressure medicines, etc. The natural world is very cruel. We’re experiencing that today with a pandemic that defies medical solution. Kind of a scary world. Even though it’s had several thousand years to improve, natural medicine still has a laughably poor track record as compared to scientific medicine which, even though it has only been around for a little over a hundred years, has been proven to be much more effective, and consistently so. Therefore, it’s only natural that natural medicine is considered the alternative to scientific medicine.

Let's be honest here. Most people wont even try a natural alternative to their medical problem and mostly because we have been conditioned to believe they don't work. The establishment spend billions every year convincing us that chemo is the answer to cancer, that vaccines are safe and that the world’s safety is being championed by the FDA. Let's not forget that the entire system (not just medical) is geared to getting us to believe that allopathic medicine is the way. The schooling system conditions us to tow the line in every respect.

What I believe that if common people were taught in school to think critically, the world would be a different place. A generic, or nonproprietary name or the "real" name, given to a drug, pharmaceutical substance, or biologic product may be used by all who wish to refer to this substance. This differentiates it from the trade (brand) name, which is owned by the firm that markets a specific product.

In the United States (US), the generic name is officially called the United States Adopted Name (USAN) and serves as an important and unique designation for the active ingredient.It appears with the company's trade name on drug labels, advertisements, and other information and is also requested on FDA applications and in drug substance chemical descriptions. The "one substance, one name" philosophy behind generic naming helps clearly identify the active substance across different brand or trade names, formulations, or in combination products.

Unlike generic names, brand names vary from company to company and from country to country.

Brand Names and Generic Names for Active Ingredients

Brand: Cialis

Generic: tadalafil

Brand: Colemin, Lipex, Zocor, Vytorin

Generic: simvastatin

Brand: Gleevec, Glivec

Generic: imatinib mesylate

How are names assigned? The process of assigning a USAN, referred to as a "negotiation," begins when a pharmaceutical firm or its representative files an application to name the substance. It ends with the statement of adoption, a document that formally assigns a USAN to a specific substance. Before a statement of adoption is issued, the sponsoring firm, the USAN Council and the International Nonproprietary Names Expert Group (INN) must agree on a single name for the substance.

The United States Adopted Name (USAN) considers several criteria in evaluating potential names: Whether the names reflect the drug action and fit the naming scheme? How well a name translates into languages other than English? How easy a name is to pronounce and remember? What do the names mean? Most new names consist of three parts: a prefix, an infix and a stem. Prefix: Means nothing; differentiates drug from others in class. Infix: Used occasionally; further subclassifies. Stem: Indicates place in nomenclature scheme; novel stems suggest novel drug action; drugs with the same stem are related.

As an example, consider sildenafil (Viagra?), vardenafil (Levitra?), and tadalafil (Cialis?). The -afil stem is formally defined as for PDE5 (phosphodiesterase 5) inhibitors. The -den- infix indicates that sildenafil and vardenafil have similar chemical structures. The prefixes are sil-, var- and tadal-. Pharmacologic families and Stems of some commonly prescribed and top-selling branded drugs are listed below

Stem: -stat

Lipitor? (atorvastatin calcium)

meaning: enzyme inhibitorsStem subgroup: -vastatin

Crestor? (rosuvastatin)

meaning: inhibitors of HMG-CoA, an enzyme involved in synthesizing cholesterol

Stem: -prazole

Nexium? (esomeprazole magnesium)

Prevacid? (lansoprazole)

meaning: agents to treat ulcer and/or heartburn that are chemically related to benzimidazole

Stem: -lukast

Singulair? (montelukast)

meaning: antiallergics and antiasthmatics that are leukotriene receptor antagonists

Stem: -grel

Plavix? (clopidogrel sulfate)

meaning: platelet aggregation inhibitors

Stem: -axine

Effexor XR? (venlafaxine hydrochloride)

meaning: antianxiety, antidepressant inhibitor of norepinephrine and serotonin reuptake

Stem: -oxetine

Cymbalta? (duloxetine hydrochloride)

meaning: antidepressants with a chemical structure related to fluoxetine

Stem: -sartan

Diovan? (valsartan)

meaning: angiotensin II receptor antagonists

Stem: -oxacin

Levaquin? (levofloxacin)

Meaning: antibiotics that are chemical derivatives of quinolone

Stem: -vir

Valtrex? (valacyclovir)

meaning: antiviral compounds

stem subgroup: -cyclovir

meaning: chemical structure is related to acyclovir

Stem: -mab

Avastin? (bevacizumab)

meaning: monoclonal antibodies

stem subgroup: -zumab

meaning: humanized

infix: -ci- for circulatory system targets (e.g. inhibiting angiogenesis)

Remicade? (infliximab)

meaning: monoclonal antibodies

stem subgroup: -ximab

meaning: chimeric

infix: -li- for immune system targets

There are few prefixes and infixes with specific, defined meanings, some of which have been used to coin names for top-selling drugs. Ar-, es-, lev- and dex- are used to name stereoisomers of drugs. For example, esomeprazole is a stereoisomer of omeprazole. Peg- means that a biologic substance, such as peptide, is pegylated. -Io- has been used as an infix to suggest a high iodine content (amiodarone). When -fos- appears anywhere in a drug name, the element phophorous is present, often as a phosphate ester. These are few rules that are used while naming a drug. However, this area is very dynamic and nothing is set in stone. The nomenclature practices will continue to evolve as new substances are developed and marketed by the pharmaceutical industry. Cheers!