The Irish Times - Tuesday, May 8, 2012 FIONA GARTLAND NEW DRUGS for the treatment of a range of illnesses are likely to become more difficult to obtain after the threshold used to measure their cost effectiveness was halved. The National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics is charged with assessing drugs coming to the market for cost effectiveness and making recommendations to the Health Service Executive. Up until recently, the centre judged drugs as good value for money if they cost 45,000 or less for every quality-adjusted life year year of good health delivered to a patient. This figure has now been cut to 20,000 after discussion with the executive, which has been seeking to reduce costs. Controversial cancer drug Ipilimumab, used to treat malignant melanoma, was released for use last week following a public campaign by patients. It had been costed at 85,000 per patient. This amounted to almost 150,000 per life year, which the centre for pharmacoeconomics said did not represent good value for money. It recommended the drug should not be released to market at that price. Following negotiation with drugs company Bristol-Myers Squibb, the price of the drug has been reduced. Dr Michael Barry, clinical director of the … Continue reading →

(CBS News) There's been a nationwide shortage in life-saving cancer drugs for children. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) tells CBS News that 14 drugs are in short supply. Fifteen months ago today, Republicans and Democrats introduced bills to solve to problem. The Preserving Access to Life-saving Medications Act would require drug companies to notify the FDA if a shortage is coming. Both parties and the President support the bills, yet they haven't passed. 28 cancer medications in dangerously short supply CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook found out more about the shortage and then traveled to a place he'd never worked before -- the U.S. capitol. Ten-month-old Elena Schoneveld is running out of life-saving medications that can treat and cure her cancer. A good day may not look great when you're ten months old and fighting leukemia like Elena Schoneveld. But 80 percent of children with her kind of cancer can be cured with the right medications. Two months ago, her dad Mark Schoneveld was told her chemotherapy drug, methotrexate, was running out. "You just pray that stuff is handled by the professionals, and people do their jobs and get it done," he said to CBS News. But, … Continue reading →

8 May 2012 Last updated at 03:48 ET An anti-drugs group has urged parents of young people who take drugs not to send them to be shot in Londonderry. The vigilante group, Republican Action Against Drugs, has shot several young men from Derry in this way. But Opportunity Youth, which helps young people deal with addictions, said it was no solution to the problem. Chief executive, Anne-Marie McClure, said professional help and not so-called punishment attacks was the answer to drugs misuse. "Interventions such as group work, counselling and family support will ultimately make a difference to the lives of young people, not the barrel of a gun or other barbaric practices," she said. "Parents should not be put in a position where they are taking their children to be shot by appointment. "They should be taking their young people for appointments at services such as Opportunity Youth's DAISY (Drug and Alcohol Intervention Service for Youth) project. "Our DAISY service offers bespoke programmes which address not only the core needs of young people affected by drugs and alcohol misuse but specific family-focussed support and help." See more here: Anti-drugs group in RAAD warning … Continue reading →

(CBS News) There's been a nationwide shortage in life-saving cancer drugs for children. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) tells CBS News that 14 drugs are in short supply. Fifteen months ago today, Republicans and Democrats introduced bills to solve to problem. The Preserving Access to Life-saving Medications Act would require drug companies to notify the FDA if a shortage is coming. Both parties and the President support the bills, yet they haven't passed. 28 cancer medications in dangerously short supply CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook found out more about the shortage and then traveled to a place he'd never worked before -- the U.S. capitol. Ten-month-old Elena Schoneveld is running out of life-saving medications that can treat and cure her cancer. A good day may not look great when you're ten months old and fighting leukemia like Elena Schoneveld. But 80 percent of children with her kind of cancer can be cured with the right medications. Two months ago, her dad Mark Schoneveld was told her chemotherapy drug, methotrexate, was running out. "You just pray that stuff is handled by the professionals, and people do their jobs and get it done," he said to CBS News. But, … Continue reading →

Pharmaceuticals and fat About 70 percent of people in the United States are overweight and, in a cruel catch-22, many of the drugs used to treat obesity-linked conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and depression can themselves cause weight gain. "Patients and doctors need to be more aware of thisit's an under-recognized driver of our obesity problem," says Lawrence Cheskin, MD, director of the Johns Hopkins Weight Management Center, in Baltimore. Here are 13 drugs that could cause you to gain weight. But don't stop taking your (possibly life-saving) medicine! There are strategies for keeping off the pounds. Paxil (paroxetine) Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) generally don't cause weight gain because the antidepressants boost serotonin, which helps you feel full. Paxil is an exception. Paxil is one of the best anxiety treatments, but if you gain weight while using it you could talk with a doctor about switching to a more weight-neutral SSRI such as Prozac or Zoloft, says Louis Aronne, MD, director of the Comprehensive Weight Control Program at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, in New York City. (Dr. Aronne is a consultant for the maker of Paxil.) Depakote (valproic acid) Depakote is used to treat bipolar disorder … Continue reading →

By Kaustubh Kulkarni and Tony Munroe MUMBAI (Reuters) - Drugmaker Cipla (CIPL.NS), long a thorn in the side of big pharma, is looking at cutting the prices of more cancer drugs after it slashed the prices of three treatments last week by as much as 75 percent. Y.K. Hamied, chairman and managing director of India's fourth-largest drugmaker by sales, said the unexpected response to the price cuts, including for its generic version of Bayer's (BAYGn.DE) kidney and liver cancer drug Nexavar, prompted Cipla to consider further moves. "Our agents and partners in Africa and other countries have written to us: 'are you extending your price reductions to us?'" Hamied said in an interview. Hamied and Cipla made headlines in 2001 by producing antiretroviral drugs to treat AIDS in Africa for under $1 per day. Hamied said Cipla was working out details of how to cut prices on more of the 23 cancer drugs it makes. "I am now sitting with my boys to see what reductions we can make in the entire range of cancer drugs. We are making some calculations about pricing, costing and other aspects." In March, India stripped Germany's Bayer of its exclusive rights to sell Nexavar, … Continue reading →