in 2008, Harald Zur Hausen received the nobel Prize in physiology and medicine for showing that two human papilloma viruses, HPV16 and HPV18, were associated with the bulk of cervical cancers, and that some of the genes contained within the viruses were incorporated into the infected host tissue, resulting in carcinogenesis. These carcinogenic strains of HPV cause 70% of cervical cancer and kil...

In October 2002 the federal government issued a draft "Compliance Program Guidance for Pharmaceutical Manufacturers." The draft Guidance questioned the legality of many arrangements heretofore left to the discretion of physicians and drug companies, including industry-funded educational and research grants, consultantcies, and gifts. Medical organizations and drug manufacturers proposed major r...

BACKGROUND Registration trials leading to the approval of drugs are paramount in drug development. After approval, continuous efforts are necessary to ensure proper use of the approved drugs. In Japan, post-marketing surveillance (PMS) by drug companies is conducted in accordance with good post-marketing study practice (GPSP). Although the global standard for pharmacovigilance is incorporated i...

Suxamethonium is a drug that promotes very strong views both for and against its use in the context of pediatric anesthesia. As such, the continuing debate is an excellent topic for a 'Pro-Con' debate. Despite ongoing efforts by drug companies, the popular view still remains that there is no single neuromuscular blocking drug that can match suxamethonium in terms of speed of onset of neuromuscu...

BACKGROUND A training physician has his first interaction with a pharmaceutical representative during medical school. Medical students are often provided with small gifts such as pens, calendars and books, as well as free lunches as part of drug promotion offers. Ethical impact of these transactions as perceived by young medical students has not been investigated in Pakistan before. This study ...

105 doctor if the answer is “yes” would do wonders to continuity of care. To assume that “we cannot believe a word of what drug companies tell you”1 is making the whole industry and its representatives collectively responsible for the vices of some—this is simply not only not true but also, I believe, not the right thing to say. Summarizing, I regret the author was not asked to change the langu...

Dose-related adverse effects of medications are a major problem in modern medical practice. The "correct" dose, based on drug company guidelines in package inserts, may not be correct for many patients. Tablet splitting or dividing has been an accepted practice for many years as a means of obtaining the prescribed dose of medication. As model tablets for this investigation, two batches of lisin...

BACKGROUND Commercial sources of information are known to have greater influence than scientific sources on general practitioners' (GPs) prescribing behavior in under developed and developing countries. The study aimed to determine the self-reported impact of pharmaceutical promotion on the decision-making process of prescription of GPs in Eastern Turkey. METHODS A cross-sectional, explorator...

David Resnik begins his paper with the claim that `Providing people with affordable prescription drugs is probably the most important health care issue for the developing world as we begin the 21st century.' I believe he is correct. He goes on to argue that drug companies have social responsibilities, including moral obligations based in beneficence and justice, to help meet this need by such p...

Although known as a major supplier of generic drugs, India has begun to forge new alliances with big US and European pharma companies. Such collaborations are helping to shepherd Indian drug companies into a new era of innovative drug discovery, but regulations governing patents, drug approvals, and clinical trials are still in the process of being updated.