HomeMedicine
Medicine
Demand for new HIV jab outstrips supply in African rollout
Demand for the twice-yearly HIV prevention injection lenacapavir is outpacing supply in parts of Africa, with distribution covering a fraction of estimated need and...
Medical school bottleneck pushes students overseas
The competition to gain medical school acceptance in South Africa is so fierce that even top-performing matriculants won’t necessarily get in and are being...
How medicines pricing works in SA, how it might change
In South Africa, as in many places, pharmaceutical companies are not free to change medicine prices as they wish. In his Inside The Box...
SAHPRA alert on paediatric supplements
The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) has issued a health warning to parents about children’s supplements containing zinc picolinate and seleniumn –...
Urgent need for new ways to develop medicines
It’s imperative, urges an editorial in The Guardian, that the quest to discover new medicines be accelerated. Our magic bullets are increasingly rare and...
Why it's time to change the monthly script rule for ADHD medication
Attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) affects between 5% and 7% of schoolchildren, but because doctors can only prescribe treatment for a month at a...
Major US review maps effectiveness of GLP-1 drugs
A study by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs on the relationship between GLP-1 weight-loss drugs and 175 diseases and conditions supports a...
Limited batch of Panado syrup recalled
Adcock Ingram has launched a recall to SA distributors of a batch of Panado Paediatric alcohol-free grape-flavoured syrup, due to “precipitation” detected in the...
FDA approves new oral drug for UTIs, despite concerns
A new oral antibiotic has cracked the nod from the FDA for the treatment of uncomplicated urinary tract infections, despite the agency’s reviewers voicing...
Drugmaker recalls anxiety medicines over cancer concerns
A recall has been issued for thousands of bottles of the medicine duloxetine because they may contain a potentially cancer-causing agent, according to the US...
Slow progress on Pfizer’s plan to sell cheap drugs to poor nations
Two years after launching a plan to make its medicines available to 45 low-income countries at not-for-profit prices, Pfizer has only signed up 10...
Another Valproate alert over risks of children’s disorders
British medical authorities have issued further warnings for valproate use by men, after a retrospective observational study indicated a possible association between use around...
Price of lifesaving drug deliberately hiked – UK court
British taxpayers were forced to pay millions of pounds for a lifesaving drug after a pharmaceutical company deliberately inflated the cost, pushing it up...
Australia issues warning over compounded colic meds with belladonna
Australia’s health authority says it has received reports of serious adverse events in infants and children who have been given compounded wind and colic...
Curbing antibiotic use reduces AMR – report
A decline in antibiotic-resistant bacteria has been observed in European countries that have curbed the use of antibiotics in both animals and humans, according...