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According to a recently released survey by the Bethesda, MD-based American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, over half (51%) of American adults take two or more medications each day. In addition, almost half (46%) of Americans take at least one prescription medicine every day, while more than a quarter (28%) take multiple prescription medications daily. The survey of 1,000 Americans focused on consumers' use of prescription and nonprescription medications, including herbal supplements and vitamins.

A General Accounting Office examination of prescription drugs withdrawn from the U.S. market determined that most posed more health risks to women than to men. According to the GAO, ten prescription drugs have been withdrawn since January 1997, eight of which caused more adverse events in women; four of the drugs' users were mostly women, and four were widely prescribed to both men and women.

An article in the New England Journal of Medicine (vol. 344, no. 3) asserts that the increased penetration of managed care organizations actually increases the amount of time patients spend with their doctors. The article debunks most physicians' perception that managed care limits the time they have to spend with their patients.

London, UK-Changes to the law on human embryo research could herald a new era for UK biotech research. The government feared its proposals to allow the cloning of embryos as sources for stem cells for research would be thrown out by the House of Lords-where a powerful body of opinion holds that they represent a slippery slope toward reproductive cloning-but the proposals passed by a surprisingly large majority.

Industry Must Set Product Prices That Ensure Reasonable Profit - and Minimize Political Fallout

The number of pharmaceuticals in development recently mushroomed, and the complexity of trials is increasing. Amgen has reduced its cycle times but still wants to improve efficiency and cost effectiveness as it enlarges its pipeline, presenting tough new challenges in clinical research.

Sodertalje, Sweden-After two consecutive years of robust postmerger growth, AstraZeneca is facing a tough 2001. The company recorded a 16 percent increase in pretax profits for 2000, but CEO Tom McKillop advises that this year}s growth will be in the 5}6 percent range when Losec/Prilosec (omeprazole)-the world}s best-selling medicine-goes off patent and the US launch of its successor Nexium (esomeprazole) is delayed.

A cure for cancer is the Holy Grail of modern medicine--long sought but seemingly unattainable. Because cancer cells are not foreign, easily identifiable invaders, but native parts of the bodies in which they live, neither the immune system nor chemical compounds have been able to accurately target and eliminate them from healthy tissue.

Of course, Digital Pharma and the drug Virtua are fantasy. But the digital technologies highlighted in the fictional news story are available today.

New Delhi, India-Anthrax, a disease that most commonly infects livestock, has been diagnosed at an increasing rate in humans in the southern states of India. The disease has been eradicated in the developed world but remains endemic in South India, mostly due to a lack of effective human and animal vaccines.

Beijing, China-Chinese scientists registered more than 110 patents on genes cloned last year from the human hypothalamus}pituitary}adrenal axis. They profiled the axis} gene expression, cloning more than 300 previously unknown genes discovered during its sequencing.

FDA proposals for expanding the pediatric study program include tax incentives and }transferable exclusivity.}

How can we use the Internet to communicate more effectively with wholesale customers and increase efficiencies by automating work processes? That intriguing question from our marketing group started the ball rolling, recalls Mike Conley, executive director of customer service at Novartis.

Sidney Taurel Takes His Global Team Beyond Prozac

Huntingdon, UK-Huntingdon Life Sciences, a contract research organization under siege by animal rights activists, secured its short-term future through a refinancing package offered by overseas institutions.

It}s generally accepted that pharmaceutical companies need to transform their business processes to remain competitive in the global economy. Shareholders, analysts, partners, suppliers, and customers consistently applaud announcements about information technology (IT) improvements. But managing the necessary changes to exploit the value of e-business initiatives is more problematic than many companies realize, requiring a focused management effort, within which is buried the stealth issue of e-business taxation.

Stirling, UK-Scotia became the first public UK biotechnology company to seek protection from creditors after the European Medicines Evaluation Agency rejected Foscan (temoporfin), the anticancer agent on which its fortunes were pinned.

United States-At this time last year, the United States} supply of tetanus vaccine was easily met by the two companies licensed to produce it there, Aventis Pasteur and Wyeth-Ayerst. But in June 2000, the latter ran into regulatory problems, and FDA seized thousands of substandard doses of acellular pertussis vaccine from the company}s Marietta, Pennsylvania, plant.

Marketers Face A Slew of New Challenges as FDA Examines the Rx-to-OTC Switch

Brazil}In 1994, the World Bank estimated that 1.2 million Brazilians would be HIV-positive in 2000.

Socioeconomic Reform in Japan Clears the Path for Pharma Companies' Success There.

}Drug costs continue to rise at an alarming rate. Two major reasons for the increasing costs are introductions of new drugs and direct-to-consumer advertising campaigns that have been effective in marketing expensive name brand drugs.}

Privacy isn}t your worst nightmare, but ignoring consumers} fears might be.

Americans are notoriously obsessed with health. In fact, more than 40 million go online to visit health sites, the vast majority seeking information about pharmaceuticals. As a result, drug manufacturers} product sites play a leading role in consumers} healthcare knowledge.

Surgeon General David Satcher announced a year-long effort to develop a national action plan for reducing the prevalence of obesity in the United States. Satcher said the process would be inclusive and collaborative, and would include open public comment periods, listening sessions, federal and non-federal dialogue, interactive workshops, and the formation of working groups to implement strategies.

The Department of Health and Human Services published new rules in the Federal Register to help more low-income Americans with high medical expenses gain healthcare coverage under Medicaid.

Health and Human Services Secretary Donna E. Shalala today announced final regulations addressing self-referrals by physicians. The final regulations will protect beneficiaries and taxpayers from potentially abusive referral patterns, while making it easier for physicians and providers to comply with the law.

Why physicians are afraid to prescribe them and what you can do to set their minds at ease.

The Food and Drug Administration has proposed a new format for prescription drug labeling that will help reduce medical errors, which, according to the National Academy of Sciences, may be responsible for as many as 98,000 U.S. deaths annually. According to the FDA, this new, user-friendly format will reduce errors in drug prescribing.

In her two years as a sales rep for Mountain View, CA-based Alza Corp., Suzy Porter has discovered that seeing results in patients' lives is her job's most rewarding aspect. A year ago, Porter established a support group for patients with interstitial cystitis, a disease that often evades diagnosis, can be left untreated for years and can severely disrupt day-to-day life. Its symptoms resemble "a constant urinary tract infection that is excruciatingly painful."