Synthetic "designer drugs" with hallucinogenic properties have become increasingly popular among recreational drug users in recent years. Some of the designer drugs are chemically modified drugs previously used in treatment of depression and chronic fatigue. The drugs are available from a large number of internet distributers. There is very little knowledge of the clinical symptoms and how into...

OBJECTIVE A population-based survey was conducted in 1999 to describe the patterns of migraine diagnosis and medication use in a representative sample of the US population and to compare results with a methodologically identical study conducted 10 years earlier. METHODS A survey mailed to a panel of 20 000 US households identified 3577 individuals with severe headache meeting a case definitio...

• With the majority of the world’s population, a large number of patients with rare diseases and relatively limited access to appropriate medicines compared with western countries, Asia represents a real opportunity for the commercialisation of orphan drugs • However, despite some countries implementing policy to facilitate this process, funding for orphan drugs remains challenging since health...

BACKGROUND Generic drugs (GDs) offer a way to reduce health spending without sacrificing quality. Despite this, there are doubts as to their acceptance by the population. This work aims to assess perceptions of GDs among the Brazilian population. METHODS We conducted a national household survey face-to-face between April and May 2013, with 5000 individuals aged over 15 years. The questions ex...

BACKGROUND Low-cost generic drug programs (LCGPs) increase the accessibility and affordability in the USA of prescription medication that can treat many common pediatric conditions. No studies have assessed the prevalence and predictors of LCGP use in the pediatric population, analyzed trends in LCGP use since their implementation, or analyzed which medications are most commonly purchased for c...

The number of children in the US taking prescription drugs for emotional and behavioral disturbances is growing dramatically. This growth in the use of psychotropic drugs in pediatric populations has given rise to multiple controversies, ranging from concerns over off-label use and long-term safety to debates about the societal value and cultural meaning of pharmacological treatment of childhoo...

Context Although the EU Council stated[1] that “All health systems in the EU aim to make provision, which is patient-centered and responsive to individual need”, numerous sources show important and unacceptable differences in access to orphan drugs in the Member States of the European Union (EU COM [2], EURORDIS [3,4], BE EU Presidency [5,8], EU Council [6]). With this regard, in the context of...

OBJECTIVE To provide a teratology update for prescription and non-prescription drugs and infections during pregnancy. OPTIONS Limited to teratology principles and possible common exposures during pregnancy. EVIDENCE A search of Medline and textbooks was conducted for information published to June 2006 on teratology exposure risks. This document represents an abstraction of the information. ...

Thirty-two psychotropic substances (31 compounds and one plant) have been controlled as designated substances (Shitei-yakubutsu) in Japan by the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law since April 2007. Although the trafficking of these drugs has decreased because of this regulation, new designer drugs (synthetic cannabinoids and cathinones) have appeared, one after the other. As of October 2011, 40 compoun...

Exorbitant price increases for critical off-patent medicines have received considerable media attention in recent months, leading to an investigation by the U.S. Senate. However, much of this attention has focused upon the companies that initiated the price increases, all of whom had recently acquired the drugs in question. Overlooked are upstream interventions with the originators of these dru...