General Articles

Concurrently with our computerized unit dose drug distribution system, medicine cabinetsexist o­n patient care units for emergency drug use. Use of this emergency reserve leads to loss of information in terms of patient drug history as well as risk of drug overstocking. To help solve these problems, an automated medication storage and distribution device Sure-Med® (Baxter, France) was introduced in the department of nephrology as a pilot project. This study evaluates its impact o­n drug distribution flows (quantity of drugs distributed during the day, during the night, drugs returned to the pharmacy), and composition of the emergency stock. Drug distribution flows were studied over two 14-day periods, o­ne before and o­ne after the introduction of Sure-Med®. Drug distribution during the day was not disturbed, whereas a significant decrease was observed in the mean number of unit doses dispensed daily during the night (50±44 vs 17±23, p<0.05).

Anna von Bonsdorff-Nikander, Jukka Rantanen, Leena Christiansen, Jouko Yliruusi
AAPS PharmSciTech. 2003; 4(3): article 44.

It is no secret: today’s pharmaceutical marketplace is alive with innovative products, drug delivery systems, new drug substances and modifications to existing APIs. Improved drug product formulations and delivery technologies1-3 are addressing everything from consumer preferences to financially competitive positions and improved bioavailability. Simultaneously, therapeutic specific APIs are arising from genomic/proteomic investigations4—both large and small molecules—that hold immense promise for treating diseases without complicated side effects. Additionally, modifications to existing APIs have led to direct improvements in efficacy or allowed for more user-friendly applications.

Perchlorate salts are being used as rocket propellants in fireworks and in the electroplating industry. Currently, there is a major concern for bio-accumulation of perchlorate in major vegetable and fruit crops. The farming industry is monitoring perchlorate in crops of lettuce, spinach, green o­nions, lemon (citrus fruits), alfalfa and strawberries among others. It is evident that any vegetable which has high water content will accumulate more perchlorate.


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During the last five years, the pharmaceutical market underwent dramatic change. Most companies became far more aggressive in all forms of promotion, particularly direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising, and the rush to create consumer demand for specific therapies brought product brands to the front line. But industry leaders and analysts agree that the singular commitment to blockbuster drugs may be waning and that pharma companies are moving toward a more balanced market approach that takes into account diverse consumer segments, physicians, care management organizations, financial analysts, and regulatory groups.

EJHP•2/2003

The objective of this study was to prepare and characterize microparticles of budesonide alone and budesonide and polylactic acid (PLA) using supercritical fluid (SCF) technology. A precipitation with a compressed antisolvent (PCA) technique employing supercritical CO2 and a nozzle with 100-µm internal diameter was used to prepare microparticles of budesonide and budesonide-PLA. The effect of various operating variables (temperature and pressure of CO2 and flow rates of drug-polymer solution and/or CO2) and formulation variables (0.25%, 0.5%, and 1% budesonide in methylene chloride) o­n the morphology and size distribution of the microparticles was determined using scanning electron microscopy. In addition, budesonide-PLA particles were characterized for their surface charge and drug-polymer interactions using a zeta meter and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), respectively.

The role of active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturers in the pharmaceutical industry supply chain is evolving in response to newfound demands from customers and growing pressures from global competitors. Increasingly, innovators (marketers of brand drugs, as opposed to generic drug companies) are looking beyond their usual group of closely-knit European suppliers. Meanwhile, traditional generic companies are looking to India and China for bulk actives, while specialty pharma companies have generated new demands for more specialized capabilities than those required by traditional generics. In order to remain competitive, API manufacturers will need to attune themselves to this evolving landscape.

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As a chemist, a vice-president, and just about everything in between, Sarah Harrison has spent 25 years delivering business excellence and predicting the impact of radical changes in the healthcare environment. Now she leads AstraZeneca in its own multi-faceted transformation. With rapt attention, a group of public policy, clinical, regulatory, sales, commercial, managed care, and government affairs leaders listens to the woman in charge of helping prepare AstraZeneca for the future. She guides the discussion with intelligence and humor, working to build momentum toward a common goal: integrating the company's business processes with its newly revamped customer strategy. Inherently comfortable as a leader, Sarah Harrison is not yet entirely comfortable in her evolving seven-month-old position; and that's the way she likes it.

Rank Company 1 Pfizer, Inc. 2 GlaxoSmithKline, plc 3 Merck & Co. 4 AstraZeneca, plc 5 Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. 6 Aventis 7 Johnson & Johnson 8 Novartis 9 Pharmacia 10 Wyeth 11 Eli Lilly & Co. 12 Abbott Laboratories 13 F. Hoffman-La Roche 14 Schering-Plough 15 Takeda Chemical Industries 16 Sanofi-Synthelabo 17 Bayer AG 18 Boehringer-Ingelheim 19 Sankyo Co. 20 Shionogi & Co. For profiles of companies 6-20, please refer to the print edition of Contract Pharma.

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