The days of 'the side-effect' may one day be over

A patient showed me a patient information leaflet for a drug he was taking.

"Could I get all these side-effects?" he said looking scared.

I scanned the extensive list and assured him that they were not all common and he may only get some of them.

Drugs cause side-effects by attaching to certain receptors. American scientists think that drugs may be a similar shape to molecules that bind to these receptors. They have created a computer package that shows domperidone attaching to a receptor that causes cardiac arrythmias. Once this is shown in reality it may be possible to alter a drugs chemical structure so that it's therapeutic effect is retained. But it can no longer bind to receptors to cause it's dangerous side-effects.

One day maybe the patient information leaflets won't contain a list of numerous side-effects and our patients will no longer fear taking their medication.