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Loading ...A Safe, Easy to Use Chagas Treatment for Children / Un tratamiento más seguro y fácil para los niños infectados con la enfermedad de Chagas
Monday, August 18th, 2008From the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi): Chagas Disease Partnership Will Deliver Safe, Easy-to-Use Treatment for Children An agreement between Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) and the Pharmaceutical Laboratory of Pernambuco (Lafepe) will deliver the first pediatric formulation of benznidazole, the most widely used drug for the treatment of Chagas disease, at cost […]
Promoting Local Production of Cancer Medicines
Wednesday, July 9th, 2008A few years back, I engaged someone I know in the research-based pharmaceutical industry in a discussion of the raging debate over whether developing countries would impose compulsory licensing of key patented (by multinational companies) drugs for the treatment of life-threatening conditions such as HIV/AIDS and cancer, followed by either local production or importing generics […]
OECS Goes Proactive Regarding Fake Medicines
Tuesday, June 10th, 2008Temas Note: To understand better the threat posed by counterfeit medicines and what is being done by others to tackle it, check this prior Temas article. ________________________ From the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS): OECS Secretariat launches proactive mechanism against Counterfeit Medicines Law enforcement and health officials from St. Lucia will meet on Thursday […]
If You Can’t Find It Here, You May Not Find It
Friday, February 1st, 2008Quite a few Temas Blog readers noticed the absence of new posts for several weeks. I was fully occupied with work day-and-night on the final stages of the total revamp and re-launch of my main site, temasactuales.com Although work continues on the Spanish and Portuguese versions (coming soon!), the burden has lightened enough that I […]
Giving LAC’s First Plastic Packaging Law Teeth
Saturday, November 3rd, 2007An interesting thing happened over the last two weeks. Well, interesting to people like me who’ve been following the packaging waste debate for decades, at least. Environment enforcement officials for Rio de Janeiro (RJ) state “blitzed” supermarkets in Rio de Janeiro city — first on 19 October in the well-to-do Leblon section, then on 23 […]
Brazil Wants CFCs Out of Inhalers
Thursday, November 1st, 2007Synopsis in English: Brazil's National Sanitary Vigilance Agency (ANVISA) just published a portaria (an administrative regulation) that will ban, as of 01 January 2008, the production and import of medicines in metered dose inhalers (MDIs) that contain chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) as propellent. Anvisa is asking for public comment on the measure [Temas Observation: Interesting how Anvisa […]
Strengthening Primary Health Care in Argentina / Fortalecer atención salud primaria en Argentina
Sunday, October 21st, 2007Temas Observation: I find two aspects of this loan particularly interesting: (1) the emphasis on integrating attention to chronic disease into the primary health care system, just as the recent World Bank report suggested; (2) the Bank support for integrating access to essential medicines and promotion of rational use of medicines into the primary health […]
The Need to Improve the Safety of Children’s Medicines
Friday, September 28th, 2007Pharmacovigilance and medicine safety issues in children are relevant to everyone who has an interest in and cares about the health of children. In order to gain full marketing authorization, the law in most countries requires pharmaceutical firms to demonstrate that they have tested their medicines in healthy volunteers and patients for possible adverse effects. […]
A Huge Donation for Brazil’s Chief Consumer NGO / Uma donação grande para a ONG brasileira principal de defesa do consumidor / Una donación grande para la ONG brasileña principal de defensa del consumidor
Thursday, August 16th, 2007This grant from the MIF is a major coup for the Brazilian Consumer Defense Institute (IDEC), probably increasing their operating funds by 50% and cementing their lead as Latin America and the Caribbean’s (LAC) best funded consumer group. Parabéns, IDEC e Marliena Lazzarini (a Presidente do Instituto). To understand better the importance of IDEC and […]
Cheaper HIV/AIDS Treatments for LAC Nations
Thursday, June 7th, 2007In May former US President Bill Clinton announced that his foundation had negotiated new agreements to substantially reduce the price of 15 so-called “second-line treatments” for HIV/AIDS, plus a new, “next generation” once-a-day pill, for 66 poor and middle-income countries. The 66 (chosen because they represent about 90% of the world’s AIDS cases) includes many […]