Posts Tagged ‘drugs’

Audit firm Ernst & Young said in a recent report that consumer electronics companies Nintendo and Apple, Inc. are helping drug makers bring their products to customers as looming health-policy changes and new technologies force them to seek non-traditional marketing methods. As well, global drug sale growth through the year 2013 are only expected to be 4-7% due to the impending expiration of patents on some of the industry’s most profitable drugs. Bayer AG has already teamed up with Nintendo to produce a glucometer for use by children, which attaches to the Nintendo DS portable video game player. Johnson & Johnson is currently working with Apple, Inc. to create an iPhone application which would allow diabetics to better monitor their disease. Ernst & Young states that 92% of business executives surveyed for the report expect that new medical technology, mobile and electronic health companies will most likely be the new partners for pharmaceutical companies for product distribution. [via Businessweek]

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The current edition of the Journal of General Internal Medicine reports that health care providers who use electronic prescriptions are seven times less likely to make errors, compared to those who write prescriptions by hand. Electronic prescriptions are written on computers which contain databases of information on drugs which assist physicians in selecting proper drug dosages, avoid drug interactions, and checking drug allergies. The majority of errors were unlikely to cause serious harm to patients as they were often picked up by pharmacists – these include incomplete directions and omitting the quantity of drug to dispense. A small number of errors were more serious, such as prescribing incorrected dosages of drugs. However, the advantages of e-precribing go well beyond reducing the risk of patient harm. Reduction in errors can dramatically improve health care delivery and reduce health care costs. [via iHealth Bulletin]

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A new UCLA study shows that patients who choose to use mail-order pharmacies demonstrated higher rates of adherence to their prescribed medications than those who used traditional pharmacies. Nearly 85% of mail-order pharmacy patrons took their medications as prescribed by their doctor, compared to 77% of traditional pharmacy patrons. As well, more people who used mail-order pharmacies chose to do so because of financial incentives (mail-order pharmacies are often able to offer very competitive prices, compared to traditional pharmacies). The researchers studied people with chronic diseases – diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure – which is important since management often requires lifelong pharmacotherapy. “Our findings indicate that mail-order pharmacies streamline the medication acquisition process, which is associated with better medication adherence,” said lead researcher, Dr. O. Kenrik Duru. [via Yahoo! News]

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The National Institute on Drug Abuse is announcing a scientific first – a vaccine for treating addiction. A study published in the current issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry shows that vaccination with an experimental anti-cocaine vaccine resulted in a 38% reduction in cocaine use among study patients with a history of drug abuse. Similar to vaccines against infectious diseases, the anti-cocaine vaccine stimulates the immune system to produce antibodies. However, unlike antibodies against infectious diseases which destroy or deactivate disease-causing agents, anti-cocaine antibodies bind to cocaine molecules in the blood, rendering them incapable of passing through the blood-brain barrier, thus inhibiting or blocking cocaine’s effects on the body. [via NIH News]

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“The recent deaths of Anna Nicole Smith and Michael Jackson have made clear to the whole world just how dangerous prescription drug abuse can be,” said California Attorney General Edmund Brown Jr., as he unveiled the state’s new CURES internet database which provides physicians, pharmacists and law enforcement officers instant access to any patient’s prescription drug use history. Although not necessarily targeted for patients like the above named celebrities, the main use of the database is in an effort to curb prescription drug abuse, especially among patients who seek out and receive multiple prescriptions from different doctors. With 7,500 pharmacies and 158,000 prescribers reporting prescription information annually, CURES is the largest online prescription-drug monitoring database in the United States. Its goal is to reduce drug trafficking and abuse of dangerous prescription medications, lower the number of emergency room visits due to prescription-drug overdose and misuse, and reduce the costs to healthcare providers related to prescription-drug abuse. [via ABC KERO 23]

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An essay published by the Stanford Prevention Research Center in the New England Journal of Medicine is arguing that current drug labeling doesn’t adequately allow consumers to effectively compare two drugs used for the same indication. For example, how would a consumer know whether a new drug is better than one that’s been on the market for years? Currently, the FDA doesn’t require pharmaceutical companies to include statements about how their new products compare with existing treatments. All they are required to do is to show that it performs better than placebo – without harmful side effects. Now, imagine picking up a drug with the following label: “Although this drug has been shown to lower blood pressure more effectively than placebo, it has not been shown to be more effective than other members of the same drug class.” After reading this would you prefer to buy this newer (and likely more expensive) brand-name drug or would you opt for the tried and true generic? The authors argue that this type of labeling can curb the appetite of consumers – and doctors – in always wanting the newest medications, which contributes tremendously to our ever-growing health care costs. [via Medical News Today]

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If you know anything about American college life you know that sleep is often a rarity. Between the activities, festivities, oh, and the education sleep is sometimes not a top priority. Thus, the findings of a new study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health should not be of any surprise – that only 30% of college age students get at least eight hours of sleep per night (the average required for young adults). Furthermore, on weeknights, 20% of students stay up all night at least once a month and 35% stay up until 3 a.m. at least once a week. Sleep deprivation can induce extra stress on the body, lead to weight gain, not to mention impair the cardiovascular and immune systems. Even more jarring, more than 60% of students have sleep-wake cycle disturbances and many take drugs and alcohol regularly to help them do one or the other. [via Medical News Today]

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One of the reasons why tuberculosis is such a difficult disease to eradicate is that the bacteria, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, can evade our immune systems so well that treatment for the infection often involves taking daily pills for six to nine months. Furthermore, the actual symptoms of infection tend to go away after just two months of therapy, so the incentive to carry on is negligible. This is where MIT medical engineer Jose Gomez-Marquez brilliantly devised a scheme to get people interested in taking their medications. The project is called “XoutTB” and it involves stamp-sized special paper patches that reveal a code when they come into contact with urine containing traces of antituberculosis medication. When patients urinate on these test strips everyday the code they reveal can be sent via text message to phone companies who will then credit the patient-customer with free talk time minutes. A trial involving 30 tuberculosis patients proved to be a success and a larger, second trial of XoutTB will be starting soon in Pakistan.

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Pharmaceutical company Pfizer announced a new program called MAINTAIN (Medicines Assistance for Those who Are in Need) which makes 70 of their medicines free to US residents who have lost their jobs. According to the company’s website, the program was initiated by company employees “who were witnessing friends, family and neighbors struggle to make ends meet after losing their jobs.” Many pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer, already have patient assistance programs that help eligible patients pay for medications. By giving away free medicines during this time of economic hardship, the company is likely aiming to keep patients loyal to the brand. Eligibility requirements of the new program include:

• Loss of employment since January 1, 2009
• Prescribed and taking a Pfizer medicine for at least 3 months prior to becoming unemployed and enrolling in the program
• Lack of prescription drug coverage
• Can attest to financial hardship

Click here for more information and the MAINTAIN application.

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As we near the end of one flu season here in the US, there is news that one drug-resistant type of the flu virus may be coming around in greater numbers the next season. The type A influenza virus appears to be developing resistance to the most commonly used anti-flu medication in the US, Tamiflu. This finding was published early in the online version of the Journal of the American Medical Association due to it’s importance on public health. The report is urging medical professionals to be cognizant of this rising drug resistance and to prescribe Tamiflu only when appropriate.

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