Erica Penfold, South African Institute of International Affairs
Medicine shortages in southern Africa, particularly of anti-retrovirals for HIV patients, require urgent attention. A regional approach to distribution has been tried in South America and could work for the region.
High costs are used to justify high drug prices.
Bullstar/Shutterstock
Ever wonder how much it costs to develop a new drug? The Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development estimates US$2.6 billion. But how accurate is this figure?
Generic medicines may have a different colour, shape, size and taste than the original brand.
Konstantin Gushcha/Shutterstock
Whether you cheered the election result or were cast into a depression, it doesn’t really matter. The real power lies outside of Westminster, and outside of our control.
The cost of treatment is one of the biggest areas of the NHS budget and one of the most sensitive areas of discussion. We would all like to have an infinite amount of money to spend treating diseases and…
Overseas drug approval may have unintended consequences.
Victor/Flickr
One of the much-heralded platforms of the Abbott government is its promise to business to reduce red tape and burdensome regulatory obligations. Pharmaceuticals are a multi-billion dollar global industry…
The rise of bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics is a growing worry and threatens to put healthcare back to the early 20th century. Such resistance to drugs was inevitable, because bacteria evolve…
Food can prevent certain medicines being absorbed into the bloodstream.
Bertalan Szürös/Flickr
Have you ever been advised to take a medicine with food? How about taking a medicine with cola or avoiding grapefruit? Hundreds of medicines have food-related dosing instructions. With four out of five…
Getting the local distribution right.
Whiteafrican
A parliamentary bill proposing that the UK allocate 0.7% of its GDP for international aid has led to the usual criticism levelled against international aid: that in times of austerity, the country can’t…
Who pays for experimental treatments? Stock image from
www.shutterstock.com
In the last six months Colorado, Louisiana, Missouri, Michigan and, most recently, Arizona have passed “right to try” laws that allow terminally ill patients to access treatments that have only passed…
Pills ok during pregnancy? We can’t know if we don’t study them.
Medications image via www.shutterstock.com
Imagine being pregnant while having a chronic health condition such as diabetes, hypertension, depression or asthma, or being diagnosed with an illness while pregnant. Amazingly, your doctor may not know…
What if an experimental treatment seems to hold a terminal patient’s only hope?
Pill bottle image via www.shutterstock.com
On November 4, the state of Arizona will decide whether to join Colorado, Missouri, Louisiana and Michigan in passing so-called right to try laws. If passed, the “Arizona Terminal Patients’ Right To Try…
Central to the processes of the PBS is the idea that drugs with identical or similar clinical outcomes should have similar prices.
Thinglass/Shutterstock
Ten years on from the Australia-US Free Trade Agreement, Australia is entering another round of negotiations towards the new and controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership. In this Free Trade Scorecard series…
Reduced access to generics drugs has contributed to the 80% rise in the cost of Australia’s Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
Diego Cervo/Shutterstock
Ten years on from the Australia-US Free Trade Agreement, Australia is entering another round of negotiations towards the new and controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership. In this Free Trade Scorecard series…
Taking the fight to Ebola.
European Commission DG ECHO
The Ebola crisis brings into sharp contrast the importance of appropriate regulation for trials of new drugs. The “gold standard” in clinical research is the randomised trial, but the reliance on one particular…
It’s not yet clear how the Coalition will weigh health issues against economic priorities.
jdwfoto/Shutterstock
Ten years on from the Australia-US Free Trade Agreement, Australia is entering another round of negotiations towards the new and controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership. In this Free Trade Scorecard series…
Drug reps form a huge part of the industry’s marketing strategy.
Alexander Raths/Shutterstock
Here’s what I remember. It was 14 years ago, and I was a junior doctor working in psychiatry. Some colleagues planned a dinner as an end-of-term celebration and, despite reasonable incomes, they decided…
The furore over US pharmaceuticals giant Pfizer’s attempted takeover of UK rival AstraZeneca continues. AstraZeneca has now rejected Pfizer’s “final” offer, as it says the proposed deal “undervalues the…
Pfizer is like Woody Allen’s famous shark. It has to keep moving or it will die. And the drug company seems unable to keep moving by any means other than acquisitions. Its all-time best-selling drug, Lipitor…