Intended for healthcare professionals

Monk's moments: Chance observation

The development by Sir James Black of the betablocker propranolol, in the early 1960s, was a remarkable achievement. Not only did it result in what was to become, at one time, the world’s topselling drug, but it changed the way in which new pharmaceutical agents were developed. Whereas up until this point, drugs had been developed by a trial and error approach, here, for the first time, a molecule had been designed with a structure intended to produce a specific effect on receptors in the body.
Dermatology in practice 2012; 18(2): 16–16
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