Active ingredient
Active ingredients are substances that have a specific effect or cause a specific reaction in an organism . Active ingredients are used in the following meanings:
pharmacy
biology
- active component of a plant protection product , see plant protection active substance or more specifically under pesticide , herbicide and fungicide
- effective component of a pesticide , see biocide
- effective component of an agent for repelling animals, see repellent
Food (especially dietetic food for special medical purposes) and cosmetics can contain substances that are of particular importance with regard to the development of certain physiological effects. These can therefore occasionally be referred to colloquially as active ingredients .
Certain medical products also contain substances that primarily have an effect on an organism in a physical way and can therefore be viewed as active ingredients . If there are indications that such ingredients develop their effect via a pharmacological , immunological or metabolic mechanism, through which they would be classified as medicinal substance, the product delimitation must be clarified. The targeted design of an active ingredient is known as active ingredient design .
