Drug development for TB: an innovative collaboration

A landmark collaboration could see the development of the first new-action tuberculosis drug in 40 years.  Global Alliance for TB Drug Development (TB Alliance), a not-for-profit, product development partnership, and Tibotec, a Johnson & Johnson company, have joined forces to focus on the development of the new experimental drug TMC207.
Forbes reports that if the drug [...]

Online pharmacies and patient safety

A recent article by the San Diego Union-Tribune raises concerns over online pharmacies.  According to the piece, a vast majority of online pharmacies may not be compliant with US Federal standards.   Carmen Catizone, executive director of the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP), was quoted as saying, “We have found that 92 percent of [...]

GAVI announces innovative approach to developing vaccines for developing nations

At the end of last week, the GAVI Alliance partners (the World Bank, WHO and UNICEF), five national governments and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation formally announced the first-ever Advance Market Commitment (AMC) designed to accelerate access to vaccines against pneumococcal disease.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the $1.5 billion program marks a departure [...]

WHO set to declare flu pandemic

The BBC reports that UN health officials are expected to declare the first global flu pandemic in 40 years, after holding emergency talks on the swine flu crisis.

WHO poised to declare first flu pandemic in 40 years
Flu experts expected to recommend move to phase 6
Expected to urge finishing seasonal flu vaccine production
Spread of virus in [...]

Japan, China Start Group on Intellectual Property Rights

Bloomberg reported that Economic ministers from Japan and China will start a working group on protecting intellectual property rights as part of an effort to tighten economic ties during the global recession.
Asia’s two largest economies agreed to set up a working group to discuss intellectual property, implement economic measures pledged at the Group of 20 [...]

Counterfeits and drug resistance: the global concern of malaria

Many health experts are concerned that the growing resistance to artemisinin drugs in western Cambodia could result in a repeat of the fate of chloroquine, which became largely ineffective. Counterfeit drugs can contain insufficient amounts of active ingredient, failing to cure the disease parasite and allowing it to mutate and resist the drug.  With half [...]

A historical view of flu pandemics: a reason to remain vigilant

Global H1N1 fears are subsiding, but as a recent Wall Street Journal article pointed out this may be premature.  The article illustrates how the number of countries with confirmed H1N1 cases has risen from four on April 27th to 48 as of Wednesday, with the number of individual cases increasing from 73 to 13,398.  However, [...]