Uniting to combat neglected tropical diseases: public-private partnership

Today, 13 pharmaceutical companies, the U.S., U.K. and U.A.E governments, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Bank and other global health organisations announced a new, coordinated push to accelerate progress toward eliminating or controlling 10 neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) by the end of the decade. Uniting efforts with NTD-endemic countries, partners pledged to [...]

Asthma rates climb in US for children, adults

An article from today’s Wall Street Journal highlights the results of a new CDC study, which reports a 12.3% increase in the prevalence of asthma in the United States from 2001-2009.   Asthma, a chronic respiratory disease, affected 8.2% of all U.S. residents in 2009 (24.6 million), up from 7.3% in 2001. The CDC estimated [...]

World Malaria Day 2011

Today (April 25) is World Malaria Day — a day to commemorate global efforts to control malaria.  According to the World Health Organization, “the key is to maintain the financial and political commitments to fighting malaria over the next 5 years so that we can reach these ambitious RBM targets and the health-related Millennium Development [...]

World TB Day 2011

Today is World TB Day – an opportunity to raise awareness about the global epidemic of tuberculosis (TB) and efforts to eliminate the disease.  It is estimated that 1/3 of the world’s population are infected with the bacteria that causes TB; according to the World Health Organization, more than 14 million people have active TB [...]

IBM supercomputer applied to medicine

The computer that defeated humanity’s finest Jeopardy players in February isn’t stopping at game show domination. Its creators have been busy retrofitting ‘Watson’ to help doctors diagnose and treat patients. (Source:  Mashable) IBM has partnerships with eight major universities to get medical data for Watson’s information base and to help find the best ways for physicians [...]

Lupus drug approved – first in last 50 years

As reported by Scientific American, the autoimmune disease lupus has confounded drug developers for more than 50 years. But a new therapy finally broke through that barrier yesterday when the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the approval of Benlysta (belimumab) for the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus. This breakthrough has been a long time [...]

Access barriers to medicines and health: Op-Ed

Canadian MP Keith Martin recently wrote an interesting Op-Ed for the Edmonton Journal on the challenges of providing access to medicines and health for the world’s poorest.  He notes that lack of infrastructure, access to trained health workers, potable water and sanitation are the real barriers to access to medicines and care — not patents. [...]

UN working group on counterfeit medicines – preliminary report

“The first priority for public health, and this is the priority for WHO, is to protect populations from the harm caused by poor-quality, unsafe medicines,” stated Dr. Chan, WHO’s Director General in a recent release.  ”The objective is to keep these harmful products off the market everywhere, but especially in the developing world.” An intergovernmental [...]

World Cancer Day 2011

Today (Feb. 4) is World Cancer Day.  Cancer is a leading cause of death around the world and its incidence continues to rise.  The World Health Organization estimates that 84 million people will die of cancer between 2005 and 2015 without intervention. Evidence shows that 30-40% all cancers deaths can be prevented, and one-third can be cured [...]

New study finds adherence to medicines leads to lower health care costs

A new study featured in the January issue of Health Affairs reaffirms the importance of medication adherence to patients’ health and overall treatment costs.  The results of the study indicate that although improved medication adherence by people with four chronic vascular diseases increased pharmacy costs, it also produced substantial medical savings as a result of reductions in [...]