PTIJohannesburg Last Updated:June 5, 2013 |20:36 IST Generic drugs distributed in South Africa by pharmaceutical giant Ranbaxy are "safe" and "efficacious", the country's regulator body said on Wednesday, days after the beleaguered drug maker paid a fine of $500 million in the US for selling adulterated drugs there. The South African subsidiary of India's largest pharmaceutical company has also issued a similar statement, assuring the public that drugs manufactured locally are safe. "We are confident that drugs currently on the market are safe, efficacious and of quality ," Mandisa Hela, Registrar of the South African Medicines Control Council (MCC), told the daily Business Day here. Hela said representatives from the regulator and those from the World Health Organisation, the UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency and the Australian Therapeutic Goods Authority, had inspected Ranbaxys manufacturing sites and were satisfied standards had improved. The assurance comes in the wake of the drug maker paid a fine of $500 million in the US for falsifying data and selling sub-standard drugs manufactured at two of its plants in India. Ranbaxy USA had pleaded guilty to three felony counts under Federal Food Drug and Cosmetics Act (FDCA), and four felony counts of knowingly … Continue reading →

NEW YORK, June 6, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Reportlinker.com announces that a new market research report is available in its catalogue: The World Market for Pain Management Drugs and Devices http://www.reportlinker.com/p01340843/The-World-Market-for-Pain-Management-Drugs-and-Devices.html#utm_source=prnewswire&utm_medium=pr&utm_campaign=General_Medicine_and_Specialty_Medicine This study encompasses a wide variety of products that treat and ease pain. The field of pain management is currently experiencing a busy and interesting period; and as a result, the range of therapeutic options available to physicians and other clinicians has expanded. Solutions to pain disorders are still elusive but continued human and animal studies will help to further identify the biochemical and neurophysiological factors that influence pain. The future of pain management will likely involve multidisciplinary departments dedicated to finding treatments that manage pain. The need is great worldwide for management of pain and there are still many facets of pain management that need to be explored. Faced with intensifying competition and increasingly price sensitive markets, manufacturers in the area of pain management therapeutics are trying to differentiate their products to avoid price competition and to increase profits. However, there are a number of issues and trends that have a direct influence on this market and the manufacturer's ability to successfully operate in the market. A keen awareness … Continue reading →

WEDNESDAY, June 5 (HealthDay News) -- Drugs used to treat early-stage Alzheimer's disease may also reduce patients' risk of heart attack and death, according to a new study. Researchers followed more than 7,000 Alzheimer's disease patients in Sweden for more than three years. Those taking cholinesterase inhibitors had a 38 percent lower risk of heart attack, a 26 percent lower risk of death from cardiovascular causes such as stroke and a 36 percent lower risk of death from any cause, compared to those who did not take the drugs. Patients who took the highest recommended doses of cholinesterase inhibitors (ChEIs) had the lowest risk of heart attack or death -- 65 percent and 46 percent lower, respectively, than those who never took the drugs, according to the study, which was published online June 5 in the European Heart Journal. "If you translate these reductions in risk into absolute figures, it means that for every 100,000 people with Alzheimer's disease, there would be 180 fewer heart attacks (295 as opposed to 475) and 1,125 fewer deaths from all causes (2,000 versus 3,125) every year among those taking ChEIs compared to those not using them," study author Professor Peter Nordstrom, of Umea … Continue reading →

5 June 2013 Last updated at 12:56 ET A former police officer who stole drugs and 205,000 in cash from an evidence store has been cleared of supplying cocaine to prostitutes. Dean Burnett, 43, admitted stealing the items while working as a constable at Govan police station between 1 August 2010 and 25 January last year He was cleared by a majority not proven verdict of supplying cocaine between January 2011 and January last year. Sentence on Burnett, who is on remand, was deferred. The High Court in Edinburgh heard that gambling addict Burnett was stealing narcotics and cash entrusted to him in the production room at Glasgow's Govan police station after it was seized by colleagues. The university law graduate took drugs that were earmarked for destruction and stole money linked to 98 separate cases. When he was caught, only 1,900 of the 205,279 he stole was recovered. During the trial, the Crown accepted Burnett's guilty plea to stealing cash, cocaine, cannabis, heroin and other powders he believed to be drugs from the police station. Burnett was cleared of supplying cocaine to escort girls and also found not guilty of being concerned in the supply of diazepam and offering … Continue reading →

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/sfxnpb/pain_therapeutics) has announced the addition of Jain PharmaBiotech's new report "Pain Therapeutics - Drugs, Markets and Companies" to their offering. This report describes the latest concepts of pathomechanisms of pain as a basis for management and development of new pharmacotherapies for pain. Major segments of the pain market are arthritis, neuropathic pain and cancer pain. Because pain is a subjective sensation, it is difficult to evaluate objectively in clinical trials. Various tools for pain measurement are described, including brain imaging. Most of the currently used analgesic drugs fall into the categories of opioids and nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs such as COX-2 inhibitors. Non-opioid analgesics include ketamine, a N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist. Adjuvant analgesics include antidepressants and antiepileptic drugs used for the treatment of neuropathic pain. Management of pain is multidisciplinary and includes both pharmacological and non-pharmacological methods such as acupuncture, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation and surgery. Various pain syndromes require different approaches in management, for example, the main category of drugs for migraine are triptans such as sumatriptan. Over 500 companies have been identified to be involved in developing or marketing pain therapeutics and 165 of these are profiled in the report along with 146 collaborations. These … Continue reading →

GUILFORD, CT--(Marketwired - Jun 6, 2013) - LAM Therapeutics, the first biopharmaceutical company dedicated to identifying and developing drugs for the treatment of Lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM), announced today that it has closed a Series A financing with private investors to launch operations. Proceeds from the financing will be used for identification of clinical stage drugs with potential activity against LAM and to conduct clinical trials. LAM is a rare lung disease found primarily in women. Besides the lungs, LAM often affects other organs including lymph nodes and kidneys. LAM is characterized as a destructive, metastasizing neoplasm of smooth muscle-like cells that leads to progressive cystic lung disease. The disorder causes shortness of breath, lung destruction, respiratory failure and death. LAM originates from mutations in tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) genes, resulting in the aberrant activation of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) complex 1 signaling network, which is also activated in the majority of human cancers. LAM can occur in otherwise healthy women (sporadic LAM) or in women who have TSC, a genetic disease associated with benign tumors of the brain, heart, skin and kidneys. Currently, there is no cure or FDA-approved drug for LAM. Leading LAM Therapeutics as President and CSO … Continue reading →