Goal: To help industry develop tools to improve safety of eye surgery medical devices The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other government and professional organizations today unveiled a program to monitor medical devices used in cataract surgery in an effort to stem outbreaks of a rare, inflammatory condition associated with the procedure. The Proactive TASS Program (PTP) is designed to reveal outbreaks of Toxic Anterior Segment Syndrome (TASS) early with the goal of minimizing the number of people affected. Outbreaks of TASS over the past 11 years have affected patients from hundreds of surgical centers in North America. In…
Author: Rajeev Singla
19 December 2011 — Lesotho has one of the highest rates of new tuberculosis (TB) cases in the world. The lack of health-care facilities in remote areas makes it hard for people with TB to get tested and treated, so the disease spreads quickly through communities. This photo story illustrates the difficulties and ways to overcome them and bring medicine to rural Lesotho. News extracted from World Health Organization
Global drug major Ranbaxy Laboratories on Thursday announced the launch of its generic version of its much sought after cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor in the U.S. market. The announcement of the launch came following the final approval from the U.S. health regulator to manufacture the generic version of Lipitor at the Ranbaxy’s wholly owned Ohm Laboratories facility in New Brunswick, New Jersey, as well as market the product. “Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals Inc, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ranbaxy Laboratories, has received final approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to manufacture and market Atorvastatin and has launched the product in the…
THE CIGARETTES AND OTHER TOBACCO PRODUCTS (PROHIBITION OF ADVERTISEMENT AND REGULATION OF TRADE AND COMMERCE, PRODUCTION, SUPPLY AND DISTRIBUTION) ACT, 2003 (COTPA) No. 34 of 2003 [18th May, 2003] An Act to prohibit the advertisement of, and to provide for the regulation of trade and commerce in, and production, supply and distribution of, cigarettes and other tobacco products and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. WHEREAS, the Resolution passed by the 39th World Health Assembly (WHO), in its Fourteenth Plenary meeting held on the 15th May, 1986 urged the member States of WHO which have not yet done so…
December 2, 2011: The Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) presents his compliments to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and has the honor to notify the deposit by the Government of the Republic of Vanuatu, on December 2, 2011, of its instrument of accession to the Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO Convention), signed at Stockholm on July 14, 1967, and as amended on September 28, 1979. The said Convention will enter into force, with respect to the Republic of Vanuatu, on March 2, 2012. News extracted by World Intellectual Property organization.
Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) has entered into a second supply agreement which will broaden and extend the duration of the Company’s commitment to help protect millions of infants and young children in the developing world from pneumococcal disease – the leading cause of vaccine-preventable death in young children. Pfizer is now committed to supply up to a total of 480 million doses of Prevenar 13 (Pneumococcal Polysaccharide Conjugate Vaccine [13-valent, adsorbed]) through 2023 building on its original commitment announced in March 2010 to supply up to 300 million doses of the vaccine under the auspices of the Advance Market Commitment (AMC)…
London, 15 Dec: Parents of 6-year old Josh Hadfield believe that a swine flu vaccination is responsible for their son’s sleeping syndrome narcolepsy. Josh lost muscle control and started sleeping up to 19-hours a day 3-weeks after being given Pandemrix nearly 2-years ago. Makers of the vaccine GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) claim there is no evidence of any connection and point out that only 7 children have developed the syndrome from 6 million doses of the vaccine in the UK. GSK said, “At the end of day, patient safety is of utmost importance to us and we wouldn’t ever put out a…
15 December 2011 – The Ministry of Health and Population of Egypt has notified WHO of two cases of human infection with avian influenza A (H5N1) virus. Investigations into the source of infection indicate that both cases had exposure to sick and dead backyard poultry (chicken and turkeys). The case was confirmed by the Egyptian Central Public Health Laboratories, a National Influenza Centre of the WHO Global Influenza Surveillance Network, on 3 December 2011. Of the 155 cases confirmed to date in Egypt, 53 have been fatal.
Scientists have discovered a new way to target cancer through manipulating a master switch responsible for cancer cell growth. The findings, published in the journal Cancer Cell, reveal how cancer cells grow faster by producing their own blood vessels.[1] Cancer cells gain the nutrients they need by producing proteins that make blood vessels grow, helping deliver oxygen and sugars to the tumour. These proteins are vascular growth factors like VEGF – the target for the anti-cancer drug Avastin. Making these proteins requires the slotting together of different parts of genes, a process called splicing.[1] [1] http://www.worldpharmanews.com/research/1902-scientists-discover-new-way-to-target-cancer