Drugs gang ordered to repay 1 each - despite making 1.3m selling heroin 12:27pm Tuesday 5th March 2013 in News 1: John Tait A drugs gang who made 1.3m selling heroin and cocaine have been ordered to pay back just 1 each. John Tait acted as a ringleader from behind bars and recruited cohorts, who made a fortune from their crimes, but were jailed last year for a total of 50 years after they were snared by a police operation. They were brought back to court as prosecutors tried to take back some of the cash they made in a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing. But Newcastle Crown Court heard despite raking in up to 462,000 each, five of the gang have been ordered to pay back just 1 because they have no available assets. A sixth man, who also earned thousands from the drugs trade, has to pay back just 985 which he was caught with when police arrested him. Tait was estimated to have made 203,270 and must pay back just 1. Brian Harrison profited to the tune of 462,437 and was ordered to pay 1. Read more: Drugs gang ordered to repay £1 each - despite making … Continue reading →

Drugs alert after surgery car is stolen 9:20am Wednesday 6th March 2013 in News DRUGS used for treating animals which could prove fatal if used incorrectly were in a car stolen from a York vets surgery, police have said. The drugs were in a car taken from the surgery in Upper Poppleton between 4pm on Sunday and 7.30am on Monday. The thieves stole the vehicles keys and a small amount of money from the premises before taking the car. North Yorkshire Police has warned the drugs are not for human use and will cause serious health issues or could even prove fatal if used incorrectly. Sgt Nicola Peters said: I am urging anyone who has any information about the theft of the vehicle and the drugs to contact the police straight away. The drugs are intended for use on animals and could prove extremely hazardous if they fall into the wrong hands. If you are the person who stole the car and you still have these drugs in your possession I urge you not to just throw them away or dump them. They need to be disposed of in a safe manner. If anybody finds the drugs, I ask they … Continue reading →

Americans are spending less on pills and other conventional medications for the first time in two decades, and more on complex injected drugs, a study has found. Use of pills and other non-injected, non-specialty drugs fell 1.5 percent last year, according to the report by the pharmacy management company Express Scripts Holding Co. Traditional drugs are medicines like pills that dont require special means of administration or frequent monitoring. The drop is a reflection of trends in the pharmaceutical industry that include development of biotechnology drugs made from living organisms that require injection as well as expensive injectable or infused specialty medications that require special care. Wider use of cheaper generic equivalents of pills has helped reduce spending on conventional medicines, even as total pharmaceutical spending continues to rise. Express Scripts, which is the biggest pharmacy benefits manager by sales, said it was necessary to put pressure on the cost of specialty drugs and biotechnology medicines, in part through developing cheaper copies called biosimilars or biogenerics. Increased drug competition, in the form of biosimilars, is necessary to offer more affordable medication for patients afflicted with these complex specialty conditions, said Glen Stettin, St. Louis, Missouri-based Express Scripts senior vice president … Continue reading →

Published: March. 5, 2013 at 12:37 AM BALTIMORE, March 5 (UPI) -- People who take the newest class of diabetes drugs to control blood sugar are twice as likely to be hospitalized with pancreatitis, U.S. researchers say. Study leader Dr. Sonal Singh, an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said the new drugs -- glucagon-like peptide-1-based therapies -- are associated with an increased risk of hospitalization for acute pancreatitis compared to those on other forms of sugar-control medication. The agents sitagliptin and exenatide -- generic names for the drugs sold under the brand names Januvia and Byetta -- appear to contribute to the formation of lesions in the pancreas and the proliferation of ducts in the organ, resulting in wellsprings of inflammation, Singh said. "These agents are used by millions of Americans with diabetes. These new diabetes drugs are very effective in lowering blood glucose," Singh said in a statement. "However, important safety findings may not have been fully explored and some side effects such as acute pancreatitis don't appear until widespread use after approval." Patients should be alert to symptoms of pancreatitis such as nausea, vomiting that won't stop, abdominal pain and seek treatment immediately … Continue reading →

Designer drugs are multiplying at a worrying rate and increasingly sending users to hospital, a UN-affiliated report said Tuesday, calling for international efforts to stem the spread of these substances. "In recent years, there has been an unprecedented surge in the abuse of new psychoactive substances," often called "legal highs" or "designer drugs," the Vienna-based International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) said in its annual report. "In Europe alone almost one new substance is appearing every week. Previously, between 2000 and 2005 there were an average of five notifications of new substances per year," added INCB head Raymond Yans. Experts estimate thousands of such drugs currently exist on the market, the report said. "As abuse of these substances has increased, so too has the number of users who have experienced grave health consequences or even suffered death due to exposure to them," it went on, pointing to "marked increases in emergency room visits for adverse health reactions" and "significant increases in calls to poison treatment centres." Aggravating the problem further was the fact that these drugs were not subject to international control regimes and were readily available on the Internet, requiring states and international institutions to find new ways to identify … Continue reading →

Drugs made by Gilead Sciences that can prevent healthy adults from getting HIV didn't reduce infections in African women because of lack of adherence to treatment, raising questions about the medicines' usefulness in stopping the spread of AIDS. About two-thirds of women didn't consistently use Gilead's daily pill Truvada or Viread, which came in the form of a pill or vaginal gel, according to a study released Monday at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Atlanta. The women in the study said they were deterred from using the medicines because of stigma associated with AIDS drugs and side effects, which can include diarrhea and nightmares. "Women were not using the product, and those women least likely to use the product are the ones most at risk for HIV infection; they are young women and those who are not married," said Jeanne Marrazzo, a researcher at University of Washington in Seattle who led the study. The finding may cause global health officials to rethink their strategies for using the treatments as a form of prevention. U.S. regulators approved Gilead's Truvada last year as the first drug to prevent HIV infection in healthy adults. Health organizations worldwide have been studying … Continue reading →

By Steven Reinberg HealthDay Reporter MONDAY, March 4 (HealthDay News) -- People suffering from restless legs syndrome may find some relief by taking one of several drugs approved to treat the condition, a new review confirms. The medications, which include Requip (ropinirole), levodopa, Neurontin (gabapentin) and Lyrica (pregabalin), appear to reduce symptoms of the syndrome in more than 60 percent of patients, researchers report. The first two drugs raise dopamine levels in the body, and the last two drugs reduce the amount of calcium reaching brain cells and trigger the production of other chemicals that help reduce pain. Dopamine is a brain chemical that regulates movement and mood. "Physicians and patients now have better information on the effectiveness and harms of two types of drug treatments for patients with at least moderately severe restless legs symptoms in which to guide treatment choices," said review author Dr. Timothy Wilt, core investigator at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System. Restless legs syndrome causes a person to feel a powerful urge to move his or her legs. The legs become uncomfortable when lying down or sitting, and the condition can disrupt sleep and take a toll on the quality of life, the researchers … Continue reading →