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Half of patients receive at least one antibiotic while hospitalised
A one-day prevalence survey of 183 hospitals in the US found that approximately 50 per cent of hospitalised patients included in the survey were receiving antimicrobial drugs, and that about half of...
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Bid to make personalised medicine widely available
Pic: PhotoQueen123/Getty A new initiative is aiming to make personalised medicine available to all European patients. The initiative is led by Prof Mark Lawler, Chair in Translational Cancer Genomics...
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Pharmacists retain concerns over generic medicines
Irish pharmacists continue to demonstrate some reticence regarding generics, with 9 per cent believing that the drugs are not manufactured to the same quality as the originator, according to new...
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Natural lithium in water may help explain suicide figures
Pic: Getty Images New research from Austria has found no evidence that lithium-based pharmaceuticals either directly or via accumulation in drinking water diminish the risk of death by suicide. Neither...
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St John’s Wort returns to Ireland
Trained pharmacist and Fannin Executive Director Rory O’Riordan discusses with Lloyd Mudiwa the reintroduction of the popular herbal medicine St John’s Wort, some 14 years after its withdrawal from the...
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Exploring the management of neuropathic pain
Pic: Getty Images Dr Shelagh Wright PhD, retired lecturer in Psycho-oncology at the School of Nursing and Human Sciences DCU and Facilitator in Pain Management, reports on the Irish Pain Society’s...
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Lancet study failed to consider confidential discounts
The price of drugs in Ireland reduced by 30 per cent per item reimbursed between 2009 and 2013, with the average cost at levels seen in 2001/2002, the Department of Health has said. Responding to an...
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Warning over codeine-containing cough medicines
A healthy 14-year-old Irish girl experienced confusion and loss of the ability to create new memories after prolonged consumption of a codeine-containing over-the-counter (OTC) cough medicine, in the...
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Feedback to GPs can tackle overuse of antibiotics
Sending a GP in England a letter giving feedback on their antibiotic prescribing habits could cut unnecessary prescriptions of antibiotics, according to the first nationwide randomised trial of its...
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Magic mushroom compound holds antidepressant promise
Pic: DaveLongMedia/Getty A hallucinogenic compound derived from magic mushrooms may offer a possible new avenue for antidepressant research, according to a new study published in The Lancet Psychiatry....
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Most antidepressants ineffective for children and teens
Most available antidepressants are ineffective, and some may be unsafe, for children and teenagers with major depression, according to the most comprehensive comparison of commonly prescribed...
View ArticleAntibiotics may provide an appendectomy alternative
Antibiotics rather than surgery may be an effective treatment for acute non-complicated appendicitis in children, a new study has shown. The systematic review of existing literature, which was carried...
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Biosimilars consultation due
Gary Culliton speaks with Bristol oncologist Dr Paul Cornes about the savings that could potentially be made from switching to biosimilar drugs. A consultation paper on biosimilar medicines is due to...
View ArticleFour years on, how are we doing on generics?
June Shannon looks at the impact generic substation has had in Ireland over the past four years. A 2008 study in the Irish Medical Journal revealed that in the previous year spending on medicines under...
View ArticleRise in adrenaline devices given to UK children
The number of children in the UK prescribed adrenaline-auto-injectors (AAI) for anaphylaxis increased by 355 per cent between 2000 and 2012 and there has also been a more than 500 per cent increase in...
View ArticleAzithromycin not linked to abnormal heartbeat risk
The commonly used antibiotic azithromycin is not linked to an increased risk of ventricular arrhythmia, according to a large study published recently in the CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal)....
View ArticleAntidepressants in early pregnancy do not increase risk of autism or ADHD
Antidepressants during early pregnancy do not increase the risk of autism or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a new study has found. The research, which is published in the Journal of...
View ArticleStatin concerns stop stroke survivors taking meds
Negative media coverage of the side-effects associated with taking statins, and patients’ own experiences of taking the drugs, are among the reasons cited by stroke survivors and their carers for...
View ArticleNovartis’ Breezhaler associated with fewer critical handling errors than...
A large-scale, real-world study published in the European Respiratory Journal, has found that chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) inhaler handling errors were associated with increased rates...
View ArticleCost control – tackling Ireland’s spiralling drugs bill
Unless Ireland radically reforms its medicine procurement process, patients will face increasing difficulties accessing affordable medicines, a new group has warned. This story continues at Cost...
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