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Metals have been used in treatments since ancient times. The Ebers Papyrus from 1500BC is the first written account of the use of metals for treatment and describes the use of Copper to reduce inflammation and the use of iron to treat anemia. Sodium vanadate has been used since the early 20th century to treat rheumatoid arthritis.
A metallopharmaceutical is a drug that contains a metal as an active ingredient. [1] [2] Most commonly metallopharmaceuticals are used as anticancer or antimicrobial agents. The efficiency of metallopharmaceuticals is crucially dependent on the respective trace metal binding forms. [3] Examples of metallopharmaceuticals include:
Sodium aurothiomalate (INN, known in the United States as gold sodium thiomalate) is a gold compound that is used for its immunosuppressive anti-rheumatic effects. [2] [3] Along with an orally-administered gold salt, auranofin, it is one of only two gold compounds currently employed in modern medicine. [4]
The use of gold compounds has decreased since the 1980s because of numerous side effects and monitoring requirements, limited efficacy, and very slow onset of action. Most chemical compounds of gold, including some of the drugs discussed below, are not salts, but are examples of metal thiolate complexes.
Medicinal or pharmaceutical chemistry is a scientific discipline at the intersection of chemistry and pharmacy involved with designing and developing pharmaceutical drugs. Medicinal chemistry involves the identification, synthesis and development of new chemical entities suitable for therapeutic use.
Metal ions and metallic compounds are often used in medical treatments and diagnoses. [18] Compounds containing metal ions can be used as medicine, such as lithium compounds and auranofin. [19] [20] Metal compounds and ions can also produce harmful effects on the body due to the toxicity of several types of metals. [18]
Silver compounds have been used in external preparations as antiseptics, including both silver nitrate and silver proteinate. Before the development of antibiotics, Credé's prophylaxis used a 2% solution of silver nitrate to prevent neonatal conjunctivitis, which used to account for half of all cases of blindness in Europe.
Commercially, thallium is produced not from potassium ores, but as a byproduct from refining of heavy-metal sulfide ores. Approximately 65% of thallium production is used in the electronics industry and the remainder is used in the pharmaceutical industry and in glass manufacturing. [9] It is also used in infrared detectors.