Generic medicines are cheap, but are they safe?

The June issue of SELF Magazine featured an interesting article on generic medicines.  While generics are certainly an important part of the healthcare industry, the article raises some important issues. Bad bargain All of us want cheaper medicine—but not if it costs us our health. Troubling reactions and a series of recalls are making some [...]

Global cooperation crucial to achieving MDGs, nations tell UN

Meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), eight ambitious anti-poverty targets agreed on by world leaders, by their 2015 deadline will require concert global cooperation, nations have told the General Assembly’s high-level annual debate. Norway pointed out that the financial crisis has pushed millions into poverty. “Loss of income is placing public policies at perilous risk, [...]

Malaria parasite’s resistance to top drug grows

Artemisinin, derived from the sweet wormwood shrub, is the best drug available but misuse and over-prescription have led to the parasite becoming resistant to it. Counterfeit antimalarial drugs have also been a major cause of deaths.

HIV vaccine trial cuts infection by 31.2%

A Phase III clinical trial involving more than 16,000 adult volunteers in Thailand has demonstrated that an investigational HIV vaccine regimen was safe and modestly effective in preventing HIV infection. According to final results released by the trial sponsor (the U.S. Army Surgeon General), the prime boost combination of Sanofi Pasteur’s ALVAC vaccine and AIDSVAX, [...]

UN report on patents and innovation

“History has shown… that companies and countries which continue to invest in new products and innovation during times of economic recession will be those that will be best positioned to take advantage of the recovery, when it arrives,” said WIPO Director General Francis Gurry. Demand for international trademarks and patents dropped last year in the [...]

Innovative vaccine venture offers hope to less-developed countries

Britain’s largest charity, the Wellcome Trust, and pharmaceutical company Merck & Co. have joined together to create a non-profit, £90-million (about $150 million) research center in India to facilitate the development of new vaccines, “including [those for] neglected diseases for which inadequate or no vaccines exist.”  According to Nature News, “the move marks the first [...]

U.S. and other countries make H1N1 vaccine available internationally through the WHO

The United States joins Australia, Brazil, France, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland and Britain in efforts to make the H1N1 vaccine available to less-developed countries.  The White House announced yesterday that they are prepared to make 10 percent of America’s H1N1 vaccine supply available to other countries through the World Health Organization. The recent news [...]

Mapping out the fight against malaria

One of the biggest challenges in the fight against malaria is knowing where to hand out the nets since not all mosquitoes transmit the disease. Researchers at the University of Ottawa are using satellite mapping to better direct the distribution of aid resources. To generate their maps of malaria-risk areas, the scientists use a process [...]

Counterfeit malaria drugs kill thousands in Africa

MediaGlobal (a global news agency, based in the United Nations Secretariat) recently reported on the WHO’s increasing efforts to combat counterfeit medications in Africa — and the deadly impact of these fakes. The World Health Organization (WHO) has stepped up their efforts to combat the creation and distribution of counterfeit malaria pills in Africa.  WHO [...]

UN report: Public health experts credit immunizations and other health interventions for decrease in deaths of children under 5

Newly released data compiled by demographers and health experts from UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Bank and the UN Population Division shows a 28 per cent decline in the under-five mortality rate, from 90 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1990, to 65 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2008. Public health [...]