A Review on Magic Bullets

About author
R.B. Desi Reddy, S. Lakshmi Sindhuri*, N. Pratibha
Department of Pharmaceutical Analysis and Quality Assurance,
Nalanda Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kantepudi, Sattenapalli, A.P, India
E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract
Magic bullets are the agents that cures or remedies by attacking a specific disease without causing harmful side effects. German medical scientist Paul Ehrlich (1854–1915) used the expression “magic bullet” to describe a chemical substance with the potential to cure a wide range of diseases. Magic bullet is a therapeutic agent, which is to be very effective in treating a condition, by specifically targeting the diseased tissue. Magic bullets can be used in the treatment of various diseases like syphilis, cancer. Earlier magic bullets of salvarsan was used to treat syphilis, which has selective affinity to eliminate the germ causing disease without body injury, meant the glory and led to further medicine development such as sulfonamide, antibiotics and more recently, anti-tumor medicines including recombinant peptides, as well as cytotoxic or radioactive agents which may be marked on a selective way with monoclonal antibodies on targeted approach. It is evident that among the findings made by Ehrlich in the therapeutic field we can find the seed that inspired the design of synthetic pharmacological agents used in current research and medical therapy. This review mainly discussed about the history, importance and applications of magic bullets.
Key words: Magic bullets, anti- tumour, syphilis, salvarsan, monoclonal antibodies.