Sales of insulin syringes are set to drop over the next six years, making way for reusable pens and insulin pumps to take over the market as they capture new insulin users. Manufacturers of all three devices will also be looking closely at developments in the needle less technology sector. A new study by Frost & Sullivanfound that reusable pens are likely to take over the top spot in the drug delivery market in the UK, France, Italy and Spain. This is partly due to manufacturers attempting to lock all new patients into usage by giving away free pens. "The pens are much more sophisticated than syringes, with the capabilities of altering dosage and providing a much better delivery interface. Frost & Sullivan believes the major driver will be the increase in number of diabetes sufferers. Current World Health Organisation figures estimate the number of diagnosed diabetic sufferers at 175 million worldwide. As disease incidence rise and diagnosis improves, these figures are set to top 239 million in 2010.
First vaccine to protect against vaginal transmission of HIV-like virus
University of California scientists have developed the first vaccine that protects against vaginal transmission of a virus closely related to HIV. In studies with monkeys, all vaccinated animals remained healthy a year after exposure to virulent Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV) that normally causes AIDS-like disease within a year. Results have prompted plans for human clinical trials with an HIV version of the vaccine..Because sexual intercourse is the route of transmission in more than 80 percent of HIV infections worldwide, many experts believe the best chance to prevent the spread of HIV infection is by building up an immunological barrier at the port of entry-the mucosal surface of the genitals or rectum UCSF has recently licensed this technology to a company. To generate a broad-based immune response, his team developed the SIV vaccine as a "cocktail" combining Sabin poliovirus vectors with many fragments of the SIV genome, nearly covering its entire length. Shane Crotty,PhD, lead author on the paper who worked on the vaccine while a graduate student in Andino''s lab.is now a postdoctoral fellow at Emory University. "This is the first AIDS vaccine to provide full protection -- also called sterilizing immunity--for some individuals against vaginal transmission, and we think that is a big step in the right direction," said Andino. The researchers expect to move swiftly to human trials.
Nanometric Condom becoming New Choice For Chinese Couples
The compound nanometric condom is becoming the new choice for couples, according to China Population News. The most unique function for this condom is that it can efficiently sterilize bacteria. It works in this way: when persons body touches condom, the negative charged bacteria from men''s seminal fluid will be attracted by the active positive cation released from condom. The cations will also speedily permeate in bacteria organism to damage the protein enzyme which bacteria depend on to survive. At a national fair on family planning, experts said that since more and more people suffer from a variety of venereal diseases nowadays, the nanometric condom produced by Tianjin Amazon Technology Company will relieve this serious situation. A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter. The nanometric technology has gained great attention from China''s government in the past two years and experts said that it will lead to important developments in clinical medicine, computer hardware, environmental protection and other fields.
New Super antibiotic Beaten By Super germ
In a frustrating development in the battle against drug-resistant bacteria, scientists report the first entirely new type of antibiotic in 35 years has been beaten by the staph supergerm little more than a year after being introduced.
Researchers at Harvard Medical School describe in The Lancet medical journal this week how an 85 year-old man on dialysis came down with a staph infection in the lining of his intestines that was not vulnerable to the new drug, Zyvox. It is the first report of staph resistance to the medicine. In a bid to slow resistance, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now advise doctors to refrain from using vancomycin unless absolutely necessary. Consequently, Zyvox is becoming more widely used in the United States. Zyvox, known chemically as Linezolid, is the first in a long-awaited class of antibiotics called oxazolidinones and has arrived just as bacteria are becoming increasingly resistant to vancomycin. Zyvox was released in the United States in April 2000 and in Britain in January. It is not yet available in other countries..
Nigeria address Problem Of Fake Medicines
The National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration (NAFDAC) of Nigeria has pledged its commitment to tackle the problem of fake drugs in the country, reported the News Agency of Nigeria .The NAFDAC is planning to set up a drug market in Onitsha in the eastern Anambra State to supply traders with genuine drugs, Director General of the agency Dora Akunyili was quoted as saying. Addressing the fourth Annual Conference of the Nigerian Association of Industrial Pharmacists (NAIP) on Thursday in Lagos, Akunyili said that her agency was shocked to learn, during an enlightenment campaign, most of the traders themselves can not distinguish between fake and genuine drugs. The traders are ignorant of the fact that the drugs they bought from importers are fake, said Akunyili, adding that the NAFDAC recently seized 10 trailer loads of fake drugs that were meant for sale to the traders. It was noted that the problem facing the pharmaceutical industry is the wide circulation of fake and adulterated drugs and the present chaotic drug distribution channels in the country. It is estimated that about 40 percent of circulating drugs in the country are fake and adulterated. Statistics also showed that there are more than 4,000 illegal drug outlets that serve as distributors of substandard drugs in Lagos State alone.
US at odds with Europe over rules on world drug pricing
The United Nations'' global fund to fight AIDS was proposed by Secretary General Kofi Annan at a special General Assembly in June. He asked donors to contribute $7 billion to $10 billion a year. So far, only about $1 billion has been committed But before the United Nations has even raised the Fund up to $10 billion , the Bush administration and theEuropeanUnion are engaged in a behind-the- scenes struggle over how thatmoney will be spent, particularly on pharmaceutical drugs. According to a report in New York Times,the Bush administration, like the giant pharmaceutical companies,opposes the creation of any system to regulate world drug prices,or the creation of a database where prices could simply be posted.The US administration, while it has dropped moves against Brazil''sproduction of cheap generic drugs, emphasizes that patent rightsmust be protected and wants the companies left alone to offer discounts when they see fit. The Europeans appear to be siding with poor ountries and campaigners for cheaper drugs.No unified European position has yet been laid out, but differentleaders and European Council resolutions favor a "tiered pricingsystem," endorse the right of poor countries to shop for cheapgeneric drugs from countries that ignore Western patents, and favor the creation of a worldwide database to show prices for all drugs from any supplier and to indicate whether the supplier is considered reliable. The most obvious targets of the drive are anti-retroviral AIDS drugs, which 18 months ago cost as much as $10,000 a year per patient, and now are offered by generic makers for as little as $350 per year.
Osteoporosis Drug Found to Shrink Uterine Fibroids
A drug prescribed to help women maintain bone density may provide another benefit to women after menopause, the results of a new study suggest. The drug raloxifene also shrinks noncancerous uterine growths called fibroids, researchers in Italy report. Fibroids are benign growths of muscle and fibrous tissue that form in the wall of the uterus. At least 20% of all women aged 35 and older develop fibroids, and they tend to be more common among blacks than whites. Fibroids can cause a variety of symptoms, including heavy or prolonged menstrual bleeding, pain and frequent urination. Much of the time, fibroids do not need to be treated, but they can be surgically removed in a procedure called myomectomy. Hysterectomy--the complete removal of the uterus--is another treatment option for fibroids. The cause of the growths is unknown, but the female sex hormone estrogen is thought to increase the size of fibroids. Fibroids generally shrink as a woman goes through menopause and her exposure to estrogen declines. Because of this, many gynecologists are reluctant to prescribe hormone replacement therapy to postmenopausal women with the growths. Raloxifene, marketed as Evista by Eli Lilly and Co., is known as a selective estrogen receptor modulator. This means it behaves much as estrogen does in certain tissues such as bone, but not in others, including the breasts and uterus. The drug was originally approved by the US Food and Drug Administration to prevent the brittle-bone disease osteoporosis.
Drug Stores sue for Bush Plan
Drug store owners have filed a lawsuit to keep the Bush administration from promoting prescription discount cards in the Medicare program. The stores say the Bush plan is ``clandestine and unlawful'''' and would force them to bear the burden of trimming the cost of medicines for the elderly insured by Medicare. The cards would be free or cost at most $25, and save Medicare recipients 25 percent in typical pharmacy purchases, or as much as 50 percent for mail-order drugs. White House officials said that the administration could begin the program without congressional approval. The drug stores and some consumer advocates immediately criticized the plan, saying Medicare would not subsidize the cost of medicines, nor negotiate prices with drug makers.``
Compiled from WWW by Dr. Venkat Appaji Padmanabhunie-mail : appajipv@hotmail.com