Influenza pandemics have been a regular occurrence throughout human history. 1 One difference between contemporary pandemics and those of the past is that today we have the capacity to develop life-saving pharmaceutical interventions in the form of vaccines and antiviral medications. Unfortunately, while these interventions should provide significant benefits to many people, the supply is likel...

During a 4 year period (January 1983 to December 1986), 418 requests for drug analysis were received in the Drug Analysis and Research Unit, Department of Pharmacy, University of Nairobi. Of these requests, 212 were from Medical Supplies Coordination Unit, 190 from Government hospitals and health research institutions, 11 from the Ministry of Health Headquarters (Director of Medical Services an...

Insulin replacement therapy is the standard of care for patients with type 1 and advanced type 2 diabetes mellitus. Porcine and bovine pancreatic tissue was the source of the hormone for many years, followed by semisynthetic human insulin obtained by modification of animal insulin. With the development of recombinant DNA technology, recombinant (biosynthetic) human insulin became available in l...

after the boom of pharmacological research during the 1950s, mainly as a result of the screening technique, the identification of active molecules, their reshaping by means of pharmaco-chemical drug design, and the creation of extremely efficacious and successful medicines, the pharmaceutical world sought a new source of inspiration. such biota as the tropical forest, a quantity of plants credi...

A water for injection system supplies chilled sterile water as a solvent for pharmaceutical products. There are ultimate requirements for the quality of the sterile water, and the consequence of a fault in temperature or in flow control within the process may cause a loss of one or more batches of the production. Early diagnosis of faults is hence of considerable interest for this process. This...

GPCRs (G-protein-coupled receptors) play key roles in many cellular processes, and malfunction may lead to a range of pathologies, including psychiatric and neurological disorders. It is therefore not surprising that this group of receptors supplies a majority of the targets for pharmaceutical drug development. Despite their importance, the mechanisms that regulate their function and signalling...

tant Abt Associates Inc, showed that 90% do not have a consistent water supply and 50% do not have electrical generators. “We never have a day without the electricity cutting off for 12 hours or longer, and half of these centers have no generator,” said Alwan. The same survey showed that 95% of those centers do not have gynecologic tables or electrocardiogram machines. “When we say there’s a sc...

In response to increasing prescription drug costs, more U.S. patients and policymakers are importing less-expensive pharmaceutical products from other countries. Large-scale prescription drug importation is currently illegal, but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration permits individuals to bring in 90-day supplies of drugs for personal use. As patient use of foreign-bought drugs has increased, ...

So far, most published results from clinical trials using various avian influenza virus vaccine formulations have been disappointing. Should the pandemic strike, we still do not have the ability to provide an efficacious pandemic vaccine in time and in sufficient quantities for the world. The H5N1 enzootic could potentially give rise to a pandemic at any time. Transcontinental air traffic could...

Saxitoxin (STX) and its 57 analogs are a broad group of natural neurotoxic alkaloids, commonly known as the paralytic shellfish toxins (PSTs). PSTs are the causative agents of paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) and are mostly associated with marine dinoflagellates (eukaryotes) and freshwater cyanobacteria (prokaryotes), which form extensive blooms around the world. PST producing dinoflagellate...