PharmaceuticalPreparations

Switzerland's biggest drugmakers are clashing over cheaper copies of pricey biotech drugs - one reason why Novartis is considering selling its $14 billion stake in cross-town rival Roche.  

The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) has subpoenaed India's largest drugmaker Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd seeking information about the pricing and marketing of the generic drugs it sells in the United States, the company said.  

Drugmakers are renewing efforts to develop medicines to fight emerging antibiotic-resistant bacteria, but creating new classes of drugs on the scale needed is unlikely to happen without new financial incentives to make the effort worth the investment.  

Methylenedioxymethamfetamine (MDMA), most commonly used in the form of “ecstasy” tablets, is returning as a stimulant drug of choice for young people in Europe, stated the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction in its annual report presented in Lisbon, Portugal, on 31 May.1  

Chronic use of prostaglandin analogues (PGAs) may cause reversible corneal changes contributing to underestimation of intraocular pressure (IOP) in glaucoma patients, according to Canadian researchers.  

The US Food and Drug Administration wants to expedite the availability of cancer drugs. But is this a good idea when full approval is based on an unproven, unexamined surrogate end point?  

Results from a new meta-analysis suggest that tai chi can lower blood pressure in older people as effectively as drugs or other exercise.  

In a lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, all the work that happens in a vast pharmaceutical manufacturing plant happens in a device the size of your kitchen refrigerator.  

The inquiry found that research evidence on food banks, immigration, choice of GP, and drugs policy were among cases where results were “held back when the findings were politically awkward.”  

A new combination of chemotherapy drugs should become the main therapy for pancreatic cancer, say UK researchers.  

A 28 year old woman who was 31 weeks pregnant attended the emergency department of our hospital with acute onset of abdominal pain in her right upper quadrant. She had undergone regular antenatal check-ups in the midwifery clinic, with no problems reported. She had no medical history of note and was not taking any drugs. She was a non-smoker and before she was pregnant she rarely drank alcohol. Her cardiovascular, respiratory, and neurological examinations were unremarkable and she had no peripheral oedema. The fetal heart sounds were normal. Her blood pressure was high (136/104 mm Hg) and her pulse was 88 beats/min. The urine protein to creatinine ratio showed no evidence of proteinuria.  

A 28 year old woman who was 31 weeks pregnant attended the emergency department of our hospital with acute onset of abdominal pain in her right upper quadrant. She had undergone regular antenatal check-ups in the midwifery clinic, with no problems reported. She had no medical history of note and was not taking any drugs. She was a non-smoker and before she was pregnant she rarely drank alcohol. Her cardiovascular, respiratory, and neurological examinations were unremarkable and she had no peripheral oedema. The fetal heart sounds were normal. Her blood pressure was high (136/104 mm Hg) and her pulse was 88 beats/min. The urine protein to creatinine ratio showed no evidence of proteinuria.  

Cancer is entering a "new era" of personalised medicine with drugs targeted to the specific weaknesses in each patient's tumour, say doctors.  

The new form should take physicians far less time to fill out, the agency says. The FDA also issues guidance on costs for the drugs.  

Taking hormonal drugs for up to 15 years reduces the risk of breast cancers coming back, a landmark study suggests.  

Extending use of adjuvant aromatase inhibitors from five to 10 years in women treated for primary breast cancer significantly increases rates of disease-free survival and the risk of cancer occurring in the other breast, a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine shows.1 However, extended use of the drugs was not found to affect overall survival.  

Changing the CMS formula for reimbursing physicians for costs of drugs may have a small effect, but the fundamental problem comes from the price set by manufacturers, the author writes.  

In response to Tufan and colleagues, it is true that older frail patients are under-represented in our meta-analysis, but such patients are under-represented in clinical trials in general, not just those investigating type 2 diabetes.1 2 Even when there is no formal age limit, the common exclusion of patients with organ dysfunction and comorbidities means that most older people are excluded.3 We can but hope that further trials will provide more information on benefits and risks of drugs in older people and will update …  

New guidance from NHS England and the Royal College of General Practitioners is urging GPs to review prescriptions for patients with learning disabilities or autism and to make sure that psychotropic drugs are continued only when the person poses a severe risk to themselves or others and all other alternatives have been exhausted. A review published last year found that between 30 000 and 35 000 people in the United Kingdom with learning disabilities or autism were taking an antidepressant or an antipsychotic despite not having the conditions for which the drugs are indicated. (See full BMJ story doi:10.1136/bmj.i3137)  

New guidance from NHS England and the Royal College of General Practitioners is urging GPs to review prescriptions for patients with learning disabilities or autism and to make sure that psychotropic drugs are continued only when the person poses a severe risk to themselves or others and all other alternatives have been exhausted. A review published last year found that between 30 000 and 35 000 people in the United Kingdom with learning disabilities or autism were taking an antidepressant or an antipsychotic despite not having the conditions for which the drugs are indicated. (See full BMJ story doi:10.1136/bmj.i3137)