MMR – reloaded: Can’t say I’m surprised, but the mothers of two girls who have been trying to prevent them having MMR have lost their appeal in the courts. In the report in the Telegraph the following is stated:
"The mothers, the sole carers of their daughters, argued that immunisation should be voluntary and it [...]
Life is a risky business: One of the most difficult things a health professional does is to communicate risk to patients. They may already be concerned about the condition they are being treated for and in the case of vaccination parents may be worried about a perfectly healthy little Jimmy getting autism from MMR, [...]
Crocked Aussies: Medication errors down under:
"MEDICATION mix-ups put more Australians in hospital each year than major illnesses such as diabetes or asthma, doctors have warned.
Experts estimate 140,000 hospital admissions a year are linked to medication use.
University of New South Wales professor of clinical pharmacology Ric Day said drug mix-ups were in the top five [...]
Patent extension helps kids: Time Magazine:
"in 1998 the FDA ruled that companies had to conduct pediatric tests of adult drugs. That rule followed a 1997 law offering drugmakers a six-month extension on their patents if they did so voluntarily.
Good thing. Turns out kids aren’t little adults, after all. New studies show that young children need [...]
The German NICE: As the National Institute for Clinical Excellence gets a hammering in the media, Stephen Pollard writes about the new German Center for Quality Medicine.
"Its proponents argue, as did NICE’s creators, that its concern will be to ensure that all Germans receive access to the best medicines. By examining the effectiveness of different [...]
It’s a small world afterall: My friend Simon Whittaker, who had 15 minutes of fame with an ebay pound coin , has started a netcetera blog which you might find more fun that this one. Interestingly, he is applying Small World Theory in attempt to find a new job.
Pharmaceutical Lobbying: The large pharmaceutical lobby in Washington managed to split the US congress along Pharma donation lines rather than along party lines. Although the bill allowing the reimportation of cheap pharmaceuticals from Canada was passed, it does show the influence the pharmaceutical industry can wield.
Campaign contribution figures show that lawmakers who sided with [...]
Growth Hormone deaths:
The world’s largest drugmaker, Pfizer Inc., has notified doctors of seven deaths around the world linked to use of its Genotropin growth hormone, all of whom were pediatric patients with a rare genetic disease called Prader-Willi syndrome.
But do we know how to put it across?