Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation: Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Prescription Drugs: European Commission Persists in Putting Industry’s Interests First.
Direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs: European Commission persists in putting industry’s interests first.
Filed under: Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation
Prescrire Int. 2013 Jan; 22(134): 24-5, 27
In late September 2010, Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) issued their verdict on European Commission proposals aimed at lifting the ban on pharmaceutical companies communicating directly with the general public about prescription drugs. The MEPs were able to limit the scope of some of the more harmful aspects of these proposals, in particular by proposing that drug regulatory agencies should pre-screen the “information” produced by drug companies before it is made available to the public. In December 2010, faced with ongoing opposition from European Member States, the Commission appeared to back down, announcing that it was drawing up “amended proposals”. They were publicly released in February 2012 but still leave the door open to direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs, particularly “reminder advertising”. As of 4 July 2012, the amended proposals had not yet been examined by Member States, thus obstructing the legislative process. Public health and management of the costs of social services for Member States are at stake. The Medicines in Europe Forum (MiEF) and the International Society of Drug Bulletins (ISDB) urge Member States to continue to refuse to examine the Commission’s proposals, and have drawn up concrete counterproposals that would enable the general public to obtain relevant health information.
HubMed – drug
The Role of a Single Dose of Sublingual Nifedipine in Managing Hypertensive Emergencies in the Patients who Undergo Haemodialysis.
Filed under: Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation
J Clin Diagn Res. 2012 Dec; 6(10): 1740-1743
Singh J, Kumar R, Gupta VK, Maria AK, Paul R, Kaur S, Hayer PS
INTRODUCTION: The hypertensive emergencies in haemodialysis require immediate therapy, usually by parenteral drug administration; however, sublingual medications may have a potential in this special condition. METHODS: A prospective, non randomized, case control study was carried out to know the effectiveness and the safety of a single dose of 5mg Nifedipine (sublingual) in this subset of patients. About 100 patients were studied, who were on maintained haemodialysis and were having high Blood Pressure (BP) during the haemodialysis. The patients were monitored for about 5 hours. RESULTS: The patients who had chronic renal failure, who were maintained on regular haemodialysis, who had high systolic and diastolic blood pressure of >220 (systolic) and >125 (diastolic) respectively, were subjected to the study. These patients were of the 20-70 years age group, who visited our hospital between January 2010 to January 2011. Out of the 100 patients 30% were females and the rest (70%) were males. A single dose of nifedipine (5 mg by the sublingual route) was prescribed to determine its effectiveness and safety in the treatment of hypertensive emergencies during haemodialysis. The side effects of the drug were closely monitored. The blood pressure and the heart rate were measured continuously up to 280 min post-dose. The response rates were 90 % for nifedipine. The significant hypotensive effects of sublingual nifedipine occurred at 10 min, and a maximum reduction occurred after 30 mins and it continued up to 120 min. CONCLUSIONS: We concluded that sublingual nifedipine was effective and that it seemed to have less side effects. It may be an excellent drug in the urgent treatment of hypertensive emergencies in haemodialysis.
HubMed – drug
A Comparative Study of Efficacy and Safety of Azithromycin and Ofloxacin in Uncomplicated Typhoid Fever: A Randomised, Open Labelled Study.
Filed under: Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation
J Clin Diagn Res. 2012 Dec; 6(10): 1736-1739
Chandey M, Multani AS
OBJECTIVE: To compare the efficacy and safety of azithromycin with ofloxacin in patients with uncomplicated typhoid fever. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Forty adult patients with bacteriologically or serologically diagnosed, uncomplicated typhoid fever were included from Medicine out-patient department at Government medical college, Amritsar, India. They were randomized into 2 groups of 20 patients each. Group I: patients received ofloxacin 200mg orally twice daily for 7 days. Group II: Patients received Azithromycin orally 1 gm on day 1 and then 500 mg daily from day 2 to day 6. The following parameters were noted a) fever clearance time b) cure rate c) adverse drug reaction d) recurrence of symptoms, if any, during 4 weeks follow up. RESULTS: Nineteen out of 20 patients from group I were cured with mean fever clearance time of 3.68 days while all 20 patients from group II were cured with mean fever clearance time of 3.65 days. No significant side effects were noted in any of the patients. No relapse was recorded in the present study in a follow up period of 4 weeks in both study groups. CONCLUSION: Both ofloxacin and Azithromycin are almost equally efficacious and safe in treatment of typhoid fever with no major adverse effect. Azithromycin is an effective alternative in conditions where ofloxacin is contraindicated i.e., children, pregnant women and quinolone resistant cases of typhoid fever.
HubMed – drug
Pharmacovigilance of the Cutaneous Drug Reactions in Outpatients of Dermatology Department at a Tertiary Care Hospital.
Filed under: Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation
J Clin Diagn Res. 2012 Dec; 6(10): 1688-1691
S D I, M M, N S M, Amutha A, I GJ, Rahman F
OBJECTIVE: To study the various clinical patterns, causality, severity, and preventability of cutaneous drug reactions among the out patients of the Dermatology Department in a tertiary care hospital. METHODS: One hundred eighty one patients with suspected drug allergy were screened and 59 patients with Cutaneous Drug Reactions (CDRs) were recruited for this observational study which was conducted among the outpatients in the Department of Dermatology from June to December 2011. The history of drug intake, the morphology of the cutaneous reactions and their causality, severity and preventability were analyzed. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients with the cutaneous drug reactions was 30.5 years. Most of them were in the age group of 26-37 years, with 52.5% females and 47.5% males. The most common reactions observed were urticaria (32.2%), fixed drug eruptions (25.4%), acneform eruptions (13.6%), morbilliform eruptions (6.8%), maculopapular rashes (5.1%), and angio-oedema (3.4%) . The most common drugs which caused the reactions were Non Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) (39.1%), Quinolones (22.1%), Amoxicillin (8.5%) and Corticosteroids (8.5%). Most of the reactions were mild to moderate in severity and all of them were preventable. CONCLUSION: The patterns of the cutaneous adverse drug reactions and the drugs which caused them varied in our study population according to the pattern of the drug intake, the associated illness and the susceptibility of the patients. A sound knowledge of the adverse drugs reactions, a careful history taking and a cautious approach during the prescription of new drugs can prevent most of these adverse drug reactions.
HubMed – drug
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