Real-Life Decision Making -- Solution
You spend the time to test the second drug.
This is the real-life decision that pharmacologist James Hammond would
make. There is no room for cutting corners in the study of pharmacology.
"You have to be very thorough in this discipline," he says. "You can't
gloss over anything and you have to pay attention to detail."
He says that decisions constantly have to be made. "You have to decide
what approach to take, and what the best available resources are," he says.
"These decisions change on a day-to-day basis.
"We often use drugs as tools and you have to determine how the process
is working," he says.
In this case, both drugs should be tested. "There are a lot
of analgesics out there that have related activities but are slightly different."
They may have different side effects.
However, Hammond says he is answering from an academic perspective, where
the idea is to research different drugs and their properties and side effects.
He says that a pharmacologist working in industry would probably not choose
to test the second drug because the bottom line often rules and they would
want to save money.