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Drug Companies (drug + company)
Selected AbstractsA systematic review of wound cleansing for pressure ulcersJOURNAL OF CLINICAL NURSING, Issue 15 2008FFNMRCSI, Zena Moore MSc Aim., The aim of this study was to use a Cochrane systematic review process to explore the effect of wound cleansing solutions and techniques on pressure ulcer healing. Background., Pressure ulcers impose a significant financial burden on health care systems and negatively affect the quality of life. Wound cleansing is an important component of pressure ulcer care; however, there is uncertainty regarding best practice. Design., Systematic review. Methods., The Specialised Trials Register of the Cochrane Wounds Group, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and bibliographies of relevant publications were searched. Drug companies and experts in the field were also contacted. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing wound cleansing with no wound cleansing, or different wound cleansing solutions, or different cleansing techniques, were eligible for inclusion. For dichotomous outcomes, relative risk (RR) plus 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated; for continuous outcomes, weighted mean difference plus 95% CI were calculated. Meta analysis was not conducted because of the small number of diverse RCTs identified. Results., No studies compared cleansing with no cleansing. A statistically significant improvement in healing occurred for wounds cleansed with saline spray containing Aloe vera, silver chloride and decyl glucoside (Vulnopur) compared with isotonic saline (p = 0·025). No statistically significant change in healing was seen when water was compared with saline (RR 3·00, 95% CI 0·21, 41·89). No statistically significant change in healing was seen for ulcers cleansed with, or without, a whirlpool (RR 2·10, 95% CI 0·93,4·76). Conclusion., There is little trial evidence to support the use of any particular wound cleansing solution or technique for pressure ulcers. Relevance to clinical practice., No firm recommendations for ways of cleansing pressure ulcers in clinical practice can be made, the lack of RCT evidence should be a concern for health care providers. [source] How to design an opioid drug that causes reduced tolerance and dependenceANNALS OF NEUROLOGY, Issue 5 2010Amy Chang Berger BS Mu opioid receptor (MOR) agonists such as morphine are extremely effective treatments for acute pain. In the setting of chronic pain, however, their long-term utility is limited by the development of tolerance and physical dependence. Drug companies have tried to overcome these problems by simply "dialing up" signal transduction at the receptor, designing more potent and efficacious agonists and more long-lasting formulations. Neither of these strategies has proven to be successful, however, because the net amount of signal transduction, particularly over extended periods of drug use, is a product of much more than the pharmacokinetic properties of potency, efficacy, half-life, and bioavailability, the mainstays of traditional pharmaceutical screening. Both the quantity and quality of signal transduction are influenced by many regulated processes, including receptor desensitization, trafficking, and oligomerization. Importantly, the efficiency with which an agonist first stimulates signal transduction is not necessarily related to the efficiency with which it stimulates these other processes. Here we describe recent findings that suggest MOR agonists with diminished propensity to cause tolerance and dependence can be identified by screening drugs for the ability to induce MOR desensitization, endocytosis, and recycling. We also discuss preliminary evidence that heteromers of the delta opioid receptor and the MOR are pronociceptive, and that drugs that spare such heteromers may also induce reduced tolerance. ANN NEUROL 2010;67:559,569 [source] Direct-to-consumer advertising of pharmaceuticals: developed countries experiences and TurkeyHEALTH EXPECTATIONS, Issue 1 2007Semih Semin MD PhD Abstract While several major problems concerning drugs occur in the world, the attempts to direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) has gained a considerable impetus lately in both developed and developing countries. DTCA has increasingly become an appealing advertising alternative for the pharmaceutical industry as drug companies have come to wrestle with such problems as the expansion of the drug market; the decline of the medical representatives' work efficiency; drug reimbursement restrictions; and the escalating role of the Internet in the consumer market. Some of the main disadvantages of the DTCA are: increasing drug expenditures, unnecessary drug consumption and adverse effect risks. Even though the influence of pharmaceuticals on health services and the economy hold the same importance in the developed and developing countries, its negative consequences have increased by encompassing developing countries in its grip. Therefore, in this review, using Turkey as an example, the situation of direct-to-consumer advertisements in developing countries is analysed in relation with developed countries. [source] Show Us the Money: Lessons in Transparency from State Pharmaceutical Marketing Disclosure LawsHEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH, Issue 1 2010Susan Chimonas Objective. To assess legislation requiring drug companies to report gifts to providers, and to evaluate the information obtained. Data Sources. Data included legislation in Vermont, Minnesota, Maine, Massachusetts, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia, and company disclosure data from Vermont. Study Design. We evaluated the strengths and weaknesses of state legislation. We also analyzed 4 years of company disclosures from Vermont, assessing the value and distribution of industry,provider exchanges and identifying emerging trends in companies' practices. Data Collection Methods. State legislation is publically available. We obtained Vermont's data through requests to the state's Attorney General's office. Principal Findings. Of the state laws, only Vermont's yielded robust, publically available data. These data show gifting was dominated by a few major corporations, and <2 percent of Vermont's prescribers received 69 percent of gifts and payments. Companies were especially generous to specialists in psychiatry, endocrinology/diabetes/metabolism, internal medicine, and neurology. Companies increasingly used loopholes in the law to avoid public scrutiny. Conclusions. Disclosure laws are an important first step in bringing greater transparency to physician,industry relationships. But flaws and weaknesses limit the states' ability to render physician,industry exchanges fully transparent. Future efforts should build on these lessons to render physician,industry relationships fully transparent. [source] Samples: to use or not to use?JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PHARMACY & THERAPEUTICS, Issue 6 2005K. K. Daugherty PharmD BCPS Summary The United States Prescription Drug Marketing Act makes people think that samples are simply advertisement for the drug companies. However, this is not the only reason that they are used. Samples make up a large part of most drug companies' budgets and are used by many clinics with very little control. We need to ensure that these products are being used appropriately. This is becoming a big issue as reports suggest that over 90% of family practise residency clinics allow personal use of drug samples and 60% of pharmaceutical representatives have either used samples for themselves or have given them to non-physicians. The other disturbing fact is that despite the high use of samples, fewer than 10% of family practise residencies in a Brotzman and Mark study reported having written policies regarding the use of samples. The purpose of this article was to review the literature concerning the reasons for use of drug samples, and the problems associated with such use, and then to discuss possible procedures that offices, especially those that train resident physicians, can implement to ensure good governance, if such use is permitted. [source] A journey of hope: lessons learned from studies on rare diseases and orphan drugsJOURNAL OF INTERNAL MEDICINE, Issue 1 2006M. WÄSTFELT Abstract. Rare diseases are frequently life-threatening or chronically debilitating and the impact on the quality of life of affected patients and their family members is thus significant. However, drug development for these conditions has been limited by a lack of understanding of the underlying mechanisms of disease and the relative unavailability of subjects for clinical trials, as well as the prohibitive cost of investing in a novel pharmaceutical agent with poor market potential. Nevertheless, the introduction of Orphan Drug legislations has provided important incentives for the development of orphan drugs (i.e. drugs that have been abandoned or ,orphaned' by major drug companies). Moreover, recent studies on rare diseases, including inherited immunodeficiencies and metabolic disorders, have served not only to alleviate the plight of patients with rare diseases, but also yielded valuable information on biological processes of relevance for other, more common conditions. These lessons, along with the crucial importance of cooperation between academic institutions, pharmaceutical companies, patient advocacy groups and society in the elucidation of rare diseases, are highlighted in the present review. [source] The truth about the drug companies, by Marcia Angell, Random House: New York, 2004. xx +305 pp., $24.95MANAGERIAL AND DECISION ECONOMICS, Issue 4-5 2007F.M. SchererArticle first published online: 17 AUG 200 No abstract is available for this article. [source] The place of suxamethonium in pediatric anesthesiaPEDIATRIC ANESTHESIA, Issue 6 2009MARCIN RAWICZ MD Summary Suxamethonium is a drug that promotes very strong views both for and against its use in the context of pediatric anesthesia. As such, the continuing debate is an excellent topic for a ,Pro,Con' debate. Despite ongoing efforts by drug companies, the popular view still remains that there is no single neuromuscular blocking drug that can match suxamethonium in terms of speed of onset of neuromuscular block and return of neuromuscular control. However, with this drug the balance of benefit vs risk and side effects are pivotal. Suxamethonium has significant adverse effects, some of which can be life threatening. This is particularly relevant for pediatric anesthesia because the spectrum of childhood diseases may expose susceptible individuals to an increased likelihood of adverse events compared with adults. Additionally, the concerns related to airway control in the infant may encourage the occasional pediatric anesthetist to use the drug in preference to slower onset/offset drugs. In the current environment of drug research, surveillance and licensing, it is debatable whether this drug would achieve the central place it still has in pediatric anesthesia. The arguments for and against its use are set out below by our two international experts, Marcin Rawicz from Poland and Barbara Brandom from USA. This will allow the reader an objective evaluation with which to make an informed choice about the use of suxamethonium in their practice. [source] Doctors and drug companies: the beauty and the beast?ACTA OPHTHALMOLOGICA, Issue 4 2005Sigurður Guðmundsson No abstract is available for this article. [source] | ||||||||||