the Ethical Medicines community of South Africa

Cote d'Ivoire: High prices drive people to counterfeit medicines

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 06:57:00 +0200

With a severe respiratory infection and a prescription for medicines that would cost 35,000 CFA francs (US$83) at official prices, Drissa Kone has a problem - he has no hope of raising enough money to buy the medicines. Read full story... | Send to a friend

Medicine prices: Americans count the cost

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 06:18:00 +0200

New USA Today/Kaiser/Harvard poll finds the public sees real benefits from prescription medicines, but feels that they cost too much and that pharmaceutical companies care too much about profits. Read full story... | Send to a friend

Problems with blood thinning drug could originate in China

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 07:55:00 +0200

Following a warning from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that it had received reports of 4 deaths and over 300 incidents of health problems associated with a blood-thinning drug, it has now been revealed that U.S. regulators never inspected the Chinese plant that makes Baxter International's heparin. Read full story... | Send to a friend

Health experts discuss counterfeit medicine

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 06:26:00 +0200

An international conference discussing threats of counterfeit medicine and their effects on patients in Africa is underway in Johannesburg. Read full story... | Send to a friend

New Zealand warns of risk from anti-epileptic drugs

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 07:13:00 +0200

New Zealand's Ministry of Health drug regulation arm Medsafe is alerting health care professionals about a small increased risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviours in patients taking anti-epileptic medicines. Read full story... | Send to a friend

New tetanus vaccine for children

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 06:18:00 +0200

This year, children aged 6 - 12 will receive a new vaccine called Diftavax (Td) to replace the existing tetanus diphtheria (TD) vaccine. Read full story... | Send to a friend

The cost of pushing pills

Fri, 04 Jan 2008 08:00:00 +0200

A new estimate of pharmaceutical promotion expenditures in the United States indicates that pharmaceutical companies spend almost twice as much on promotion as they do on R&D. Read full story... | Send to a friend

New relief for UI sufferers

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 06:22:00 +0200

Topical gel set to offer welcome relief for urinary incontinence sufferers. Read full story... | Send to a friend

Some drug studies more likely to have favourable conclusions

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 12:26:00 +0200

Previous work has shown that, when a drug study was funded by the company that made that drug, the results might be biased in favour of that drug because the methods or analyses were manipulated. Read full story... | Send to a friend

HIV drug designed for children wins FDA approval

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 08:53:00 +0200

A pill containing three anti-HIV drugs designed specifically for children has been given tentative approval by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Its use in sub-Saharan Africa will benefit thousands of children living with HIV. The Medical Research Council sponsored the trial that helped to develop the right combination of drug doses in the pills. Read full story... | Send to a friend