Health technology The use of clozapine for the management of hospitalised treatment-resistant schizophrenic patients with moderate symptomatology. Treatment resistance was defined as an inadequate response to therapeutic doses (greater than 1,000 mg/day chlorpromazine equivalents) of at least two antipsychotic agents from at least two drug classes, for an adequate treatment duration (longer tha...

BACKGROUND Channeling occurs when a medication and its potential comparators are selectively prescribed based on differences in underlying patient characteristics. Drug safety advisories can provide new information regarding the relative safety or effectiveness of a drug product which might increase selective prescribing. In particular, when reported adverse effects vary among drugs within a th...

A rapidly growing number of oral anticancer agents has become available in oncology and hematology. Though these introductions have several benefits, medication adherence is an issue of concern. Little is known about the factors influencing adherence to treatment with oral anticancer agents in daily practice. Material and methods. In this observational, multicenter study including 216 patients,...

The in vitro hollow fiber system model has been qualified by the European Medicines Agency as a methodology for use in support of selection and development of antituberculosis regimens. More data are expected to be generated in the future to further characterize its value.

A large number of common household edible ingredients and their purified constituents have shown beneficial therapeutic potential. Most of them have also been used as alternative medicine from time immemorial. All of these have been known to have anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal and even antitumor properties. Therefore, these herbal remedies are a promising s...

Health technology The use of clozapine for the management of hospitalised treatment-resistant schizophrenic patients with moderate symptomatology. Treatment resistance was defined as an inadequate response to therapeutic doses (greater than 1,000 mg/day chlorpromazine equivalents) of at least two antipsychotic agents from at least two drug classes, for an adequate treatment duration (longer tha...

In response to increasing cost pressures, healthcare systems are encouraging the use of generic medicines. This review explores potential problems with generic substitution of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs). A broad search strategy identified approximately 70 relevant articles. Potential problems with generic substitution included: The limited evidence (mainly case reports with some pharmacokinetic...

Monitoring the quality of medicines plays a crucial role in an integrated medicines quality assurance system. In a publicly available medicines quality database (MQDB), the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) reports results of data collected from medicines quality monitoring (MQM) activities spanning the period of 2003-2013 in 17 countries of Africa, Asia, and South America. The MQDB contains ...

One of the biggest obstacles to progress in modern pharmaceutical research is the difficulty of integrating all available research findings into effective therapies for humans. Studies of traditionally used pharmacologically active plants and other substances in traditional medicines may be valuable sources of previously unknown compounds with therapeutic actions. However, the integration of fi...