A theory of detection limit, developed in analytical chemistry, is applied to public health surveillance to detect an outbreak of national emergencies such as natural disaster and bioterrorism. In this investigation, the influenza epidemic around the Tokyo area from 2003 to 2006 is taken as a model of normal and large-scale epidemics. The detection limit of the normal epidemic is used as a thre...

In the past decade there has been a significant growth in the sales of pharmaceutical drugs worldwide, but more importantly there has been a dramatic growth in the sales of single enantiomer drugs. The pharmaceutical industry has a rising demand for chiral intermediates and research reagents because of the continuing imperative to improve drug efficacy. This in turn impacts on researchers invol...

This study empirically examines whether managers manipulate reported income through the timing of sales of long-lived assets and investments. Several empirical implications of the income-smoothing and debt-equity hypothesis in the context of asset sales were tested. The findings are consistent with the timing of asset sales by managers so that the recognized accounting income from these sales s...

BACKGROUND In 2012, an Indian parliamentary committee reported that manufacturing licenses for large numbers of fixed dose combination (FDC) drugs had been issued by state authorities without prior approval of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) in violation of rules, and considered that some ambiguity until 1 May 2002 about states' powers might have contributed. To our know...

¶1 When it comes to sales figures, Big Pharma certainly lives up to its reputation. A recent study estimates worldwide pharmaceutical sales exceed $600 billion.1 The United States is by far the single largest market for pharmaceutical products,2 where companies invest hundreds of millions of dollars in drug discovery3 and boast annual sales of $252 billion.4 ¶2 What may come as more of a surpri...

OBJECTIVE To describe changes in prescription of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in Asturias (Spain) after the publication of the results of the Women's Health Initiative and the Million Women Study and following the recommendations of the Spanish Drugs Agency to women and prescribers (2004-2005). METHODS We performed a quasiexperimental study with no control group. The data used consisted ...

Pharmacoepidemiological analyses are needed as a background for evaluation of drug use and for making cost-effective priorities. Drug sales and prescription databases provide useful tools for analysis of drug consumption and expenditures. In this essay, an analysis of the sales and prescribing of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), drugs used for acid related gastric disorders, are presented. Since ...

BACKGROUND The epidemiology of vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) and such recurrent infections (RVVC) has been difficult to study as the majority of episodes of these conditions are self-treated by the women affected. In Sweden, all pharmacies are owned by the state and all prescriptions and over-the-counter (OTC) products, such as antifungals, are registered in a database, which offers unique pos...

BACKGROUND Good drug regulation requires an effective system for monitoring and inspection of manufacturing and sales units. In India, despite widespread agreement on this principle, ongoing shortages of drug inspectors have been identified by national committees since 1975. The growth of India's pharmaceutical industry and its large export market makes the problem more acute. METHODS The foc...

BACKGROUND Overdose deaths involving opioid pain relievers (OPR), also known as opioid analgesics, have increased and now exceed deaths involving heroin and cocaine combined. This report describes the use and abuse of OPR by state. METHODS CDC analyzed rates of fatal OPR overdoses, nonmedical use, sales, and treatment admissions. RESULTS In 2008, drug overdoses in the United States caused 3...