Use of generic Drugs are getting increasing Day by Day
A generic drug is a copy that is the same as a brand-name drug in dosage, safety, and strength, how it is taken, quality, performance, and intended use. In other words, their pharmacological effects are exactly the same as those of their brand-name counterparts. Generic drugs are marketed under a non-proprietary or approved name rather than a proprietary or brand name. Generic drugs are frequently as effective as, but much cheaper than, brand-name drugs.
The best thing associated with generic drugs is it is easily affordable by common people also. Branded are very expensive as compared to Generic drugs. An example of a generic drug, one used for impotence, is Generic Viagra. A brand name for generic viagra is VIAGRA. (Brand names are usually capitalized while generic names are not.)
Latest Study about Generic drugs: UK Push for greater use of generic drugs
New measures to increase the use of generic medicines in place of more expensive branded drugs are being put forward by the government as it seeks to save up to £50m a year - in spite of claims that the shift could threaten patient safety and innovation. A consultation paper issued by the Department of Health proposes new powers for pharmacies to replace branded drugs recommended on a prescription with cheaper generic equivalents, unless a doctor explicitly forbids it.
The UK has long encouraged doctors to help save the NHS money where there is no benefit from a specific branded drug by writing prescriptions using their generic name, resulting in 83 per cent generic prescribing - one of the highest in Europe. Much of the remainder represents branded medicines for which there are no generic equivalents, but the government estimates it could add at least another 2.5 per cent by allowing even a branded drug to be switched unless a doctor specifically objects.
Trevor Jones, a former head of the ABPI and director of several pharmaceutical companies, said the varied colours and shapes of different generic drugs could confuse patients and reduce their ability to take pills as prescribed.
Peter Martin, chief operating officer of Norgine, a company that produces generic medicines, warned that generic substitution would destroy the incentives to research new applications for his products. The proposals could favour the cheapest generic drugs, he warned.
The consultation, which runs until the end of March, argues generic substitution would cut annual direct costs by £21m, equivalent to £49m in total benefits through the extra resources given to the NHS. There would be one-off costs of £9m and annual costs to pharmacies and pharmaceutical companies of £4.5m.
“The reality is that generic medicines are approved to the same standards of safety, quality and efficacy as the equivalent brands and offer cost savings of up to 90%.”
HIV/AIDS patients are no longer banned from entering the U.S.
The 22-year-old ban on entry into the USA for anyone infected with HIV/ AIDS has been lifted. “This makes a huge difference,” said Dr. Julio Montaner of the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS. “This is extremely good news.”
People with HIV or AIDS are no longer banned from entering the U.S. after the country officially lifted a 22-year travel restriction on people with the disease Monday.The ban had been in place since 1987, before it was known how the disease was spread, in an attempt to curtail its transmission.
“It was an incentive for you to not take the treatment or to leave the treatment behind [when travelling to the U.S.] and it makes your virus load come back and you are more likely to transmit it,” he said. Montaner said AIDS advocates always opposed the restriction because they encouraged patients to hide their infection and go underground, which made the ban counterproductive.
Short-term permits also made it impossible for HIV-positive or AIDS patients to work or attend school in the U.S., advocates said. People wanting to visit the U.S. for short periods could get 30-day waivers but applying was time-consuming and involved costly legal fees, said Montaner.George W. Bush set the end of the ban in motion when he was U.S. president and President Barack Obama finally killed it.
Antidepressants may help Improving your Personality
A new study has pointed out that those taking antidepressants to treat depression could experience a change in personality even as they find relief for their depressive symptoms.Many people who suffer from depression are already taking some of the popular prescription medications available on the market, but they may be more helpful than they know. It has been shown that antidepressants can lead to significant personality changes, which are likely for the better.
Individuals who are neurotic tend to experience negative emotions and emotional instability, whereas extraversion refers not only to socially outgoing behaviour but also to dominance and a tendency to experience positive emotions.Researchers have linked both traits to the brain’s serotonin system, which is also targeted by the class of antidepressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).
Overall 120 participants were randomly assigned to take paroxetine, 60 to undergo cognitive therapy and 60 to take placebo for 12 months.Their personalities and depressive symptoms were assessed before, during and after treatment.It was found that all participants experienced improvement in their symptoms of depression.Sixty-nine of the original 120 participants who took the paroxetine followed up with the researchers for one year. The changes in their levels of extroversion and neuroticism before and after treatment for those antidepressant users were then compared to the placebo patients who showed the same amount of improvement in their depression symptoms. The study also found that there was 6.8 times as much change on neuroticism and 3.5 times as much change on extroversion in those participants who took the paroxetine as in placebo patients.
The researcher stated in the December issue of the journal Archives of General Psychiatry that, “One possibility is that the biochemical properties of SSRIs directly produce real personality change.” They also added that, since neuroticism is an important risk factor for depression, it might have been the improvements in neuroticism that contributed to the improvements of depression.
The findings provide evidence against a theory known as the state effect hypothesis, which proposes that any personality changes during SSRI treatment occur only as a result of alleviating depressive symptoms, the authors note. Several alternative explanations could be considered.The authors concluded that SSRIs are widely used to treat depression, but understanding of their mechanisms is limited.They have also been shown effective in treating anxiety disorders and eating disorders, conditions for which high neuroticism and low extraversion may also be a risk.
The researchers concluded that, perhaps the SSRIs can be viewed as personality-normalizing agents which are useful in treating many disorders that are associated with low extroversion and high neuroticism, although Tang notes that the findings must be reproduced in other studies before any firm conclusion can be made.
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