March 3rd 2009
This week in medicine
The following will appear in the Mar 7 issue of The Lancet:
Drug fraud The US Justice Department has charged Forest Laboratories with fraud for the illegal marketing of two antidepressant drugs, citalopram and escitalopram. Forest is said to have concealed the results of a negative study for over 3 years while heavily promoting the outcome of a positive one. These drugs now carry a black box warning about suicidal thoughts and behaviour in children.
IKEA donation UNICEF has received a US$48 million donation from Swedish retailer IKEA to improve health and survival of women and children in the most impoverished regions of India. The IKEA Social Initiative, UNICEF’s biggest corporate partner since 2000, has total commitments of more than $180 million until 2015.
Sexual violence A Médecins Sans Frontières report discusses their successes and challenges in combating sexual violence in Burundi, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, and South Africa. The provision of medical care after rape is still non-existent or scarce in many countries, and the report urges communities and governments to recognise sexual violence as the medical emergency it is.
Closing the gap Australia’s President Kevin Rudd has made his annual report to parliament on progress towards closing gaps in health, education, and housing between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Rudd said that although gains had been made in the past year-including health checks for 13 000 Indigenous children-reversing “generations of indigenous disadvantage” would take many years.
Obesity surgery Statistics released from the NHS Information Centre show that rates of obesity surgery, such as stomach stapling and gastric bypass, have risen by 40% in the last year in England. Experts say that the NHS does not have the resources to cope with the growing burden of obesity-almost a quarter of all adults in England are now classed as obese.
Texts and health The Rockefeller Foundation, Vodafone Foundation, and United Nations Foundation have launched the Mobile Health Alliance, which aims to improve health care in developing countries through the use of mobile and computer technology. Indeed, public awareness of diseases such as malaria and HIV/AIDS can be increased by the use of text messages.
Teens’ baby boom Rates of teenage pregnancies in England and Wales have risen for the first time since 2002. Data from the Office for National Statistics show that there were 41·9 conceptions per 1000 15-17 year olds in 2007, an increase from 40·9 in 2006. The UK has the highest rate of teenage pregnancies in Europe and the Government has pledged to halve this rate by 2010.
Malaria concern The emergence of artemisinin-resistant parasites along the Thai-Cambodia border could undermine global malaria control efforts, warns WHO. Monotherapies, which foster resistance, should be discarded in favour of combination therapy, says the agency, which has received a US$22·5 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to contain resistant parasites before they spread.
Anti-smoking laws The Scottish Government has unveiled plans to make smoking less attractive and less accessible to young people. Under proposed legislation, cigarette vending machines and tobacco shop displays will be banned. Scottish ministers hope that these moves will drive down the rising numbers of young smokers to less than 23% by 2012.
African excellence Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Tanzania, and Germany have joined forces in the Central Africa Network on Tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and Malaria (CANTAM). Supported by a €3 million grant from the European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership, CANTAM will be joined later this year by research networks in eastern, southern, and western Africa.
Falsified data Having uncovered falsified data for more than 25 drugs, the FDA has stopped all consideration of drugs from Ranbaxy Laboratories’ Pantoa Sahib plant. Ranbaxy-India’s largest drug maker-has been under investigation for safety testing violations, and has had more than 30 of its Pantoa Sahib-produced drugs banned by the USA since September, for unrelated manufacturing problems.
Contamination fears 21 000 doses of the meningitis C vaccine have been withdrawn by manufacturer Novartis, after samples taken from two batches were found to be contaminated with Staphylococcus aureus. The vaccine had passed initial safety checks before leaving the factory, but contamination was discovered after transport. The affected product, the Menjugate Kit, is manufactured in Italy.
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