system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: How are medicines made?

I'm assuming, for medicines which originated from plants, it's not a case of 'squeeze the juice out of a load of foxgloves and get digitalis' any more. I'm vaguely aware of 'synthesising' drugs. How does this work? What about drugs that don't originate from plants?

EDIT: explained! Thanks all :)
gpt
Synthetic organic chemistry. The more complex the molecule, the longer the synthesis. It's hard as fuck. Not only is it hard to actually make (and with the correct stereochemistry), then you have to make it economically viable on a production scale. Pharmaceuticals are expensive for a reason.