Drug class in the context of "Pharmaceutical drug"

Medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal product, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and relies on the science of pharmacology for continual advancement and on pharmacy for appropriate management.

Drugs are classified in many ways. One of the key divisions is by level of control, which distinguishes prescription drugs (those that a pharmacist dispenses only on the medical prescription) from over-the-counter drugs (those that consumers can order for themselves). Medicines may be classified by mode of action, route of administration, biological system affected, or therapeutic effects. The World Health Organization keeps a list of essential medicines.

Depressants, also known as central nervous system depressants, or colloquially known as "downers", are a class of psychoactive drugs characterised by decreasing neurotransmission levels, decreasing the electrical activity of brain cells, or reducing arousal or stimulation in various areas of the brain. Commonly used depressants include alcohol, opioids, and benzodiazepines. Some specific depressants influence mood, either positively (e.g., opioids) or negatively (e.g., alcohol), but depressants often have no clear impact on mood (e.g., most anticonvulsants). In contrast, stimulants, or "uppers", increase mental alertness, making stimulants the opposite drug class from depressants. Antidepressants are defined by their effect on mood, not on general brain activity, so they form an orthogonal category of drugs.

Depressants are closely related to sedatives as a category of drugs, with significant overlap. The terms may sometimes be used interchangeably or may be used in somewhat different contexts. Nearly all commonly used depressants are addictive, and use of them carries the risk of death from respiratory depression, especially in opioids.

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) are members of a therapeutic drug class which reduces pain, decreases inflammation, decreases fever, and prevents blood clots. Side effects depend on the specific drug, its dose and duration of use, but largely include an increased risk of gastrointestinal ulcers and bleeds, heart attack, and kidney disease. The most prominent NSAIDs are aspirin, ibuprofen, diclofenac and naproxen, all available over the counter (OTC) in most countries. Paracetamol (acetaminophen) is generally not considered an NSAID because it has only minor anti-inflammatory activity.

The term non-steroidal, common from around 1960, distinguishes these drugs from corticosteroids, another class of anti-inflammatory drugs, which during the 1950s had acquired a bad reputation due to overuse and side-effect problems after their introduction in 1948.