Deadly drugs

A sort of bizarre debate is currently going on in the USA, whether or not it is legal to import thiopental from Europe. Sodium thiopental is a part of the lethal injection used for executions in parts of the USA. Currently there is a shortage of domestic sodium thiopental and buying it from Europe may be in violation to FDA (Federal Drug Administrations) rules regarding drugs. The issue is if these rules are applicable since it is not used as a drug. In the UK, the source of the import, the debate is about whether or not it is legal to sell a substance used for killing people when it is known that it will in fact be used for executions. 

Sodium thiopental induces unconsciousness, then the prisoner is paralysed by pancuronium bromide and finally the heart is stopped using potassium chloride. This may seem to be a rather medieval way of punishment, and not surprisingly the death sentence has been abolished in most democratic countries. However, it still exists in many states ruled by communism, religious fundamentalism or despotism. Not a fun group to be associated with for the USA...

[Execution] [Drugs] [Death Sentence] [Democracy] Share on Facebook

Resistance: Fall of Man ?

Antibiotics resistance in bacteria is growing to be a large problem and will most likely grow even more in the future. Current research seem to agree, it is caused by over-use of antibiotics and incomplete treatments. Bacteria develop resistance randomly over time, however when exposed to antibiotics this gives a huge evolutionary advantage. If one organism develops immunity to a certain antibiotic agent when it is present, the competing organisms will die and leave the resistant bacteria with great opporunity to grow and procreate, thuse spreading its DNA. If the antibiotic compound is not present, this resistance is not a factor giving an evolutionary advantage. Thus, using antibiotics when they are not needed may increase chances of increased growth of resistant bacteria. One problem here is that many doctors prescribe antibiotics for viral infections; antibiotics is not effective against viruses.

To be on the safe side for the future there are several antibiotic compound that have been developed, but are not used on humans. So in the case of bacteria with broad resistance we have at least some alternatives. However, what is scary is that they are to some extent used in animals, giving opportunities for development of resistance.

Will a pandemic of antibiotic resistant bacteria be our downfall?

[Resistance] [Bacteria] [Virus] [Antibiotics] [Pharmaceutics] Share on Facebook

Happy pills?

Pills (medicines) for children are often coated with bright colors, to make the pills more look more appealing. So far all is well. However, the color used is so called azocolor. The problem with this synthetic color is that it is harmful to humans. This is something which is not recognized and dealt with by pharmaceutical producers.

Azocolor are a group of water-soluble or oil-soluble mono-, di-, and trisulfonated colors containing a naphthalene ring and an azo linkage to either a second naphthalene or benzene ring. This coloring compound are involved in induction of DNA-change, eg. they are mutagenes. By this process sever disorders can arise, such as cancer. Furthermore, studies have shown children developing hyperactivity and behavioral disorders after exposure to this group of colored compounds.

These kind of coloring is also present in many food products, something which has recently been getting media attention.

Some further information:
Radomski, 1974
Tsuda, et al., 2001

[Color] [Pharmaceutical] [Drugs] [Food] [Azo]

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Is Big Pharma going down?

The pharmaceutical market is huge, worth around $640 billions yearly. Within this industry the 10 largest companies represent about 40% of the yearly sales. But how are this companies doing?

A lot has been written lately about their questionable business strategies and behaviour. Furthermore, there is lot of talk about their pipelines being weak and their best-seller, so called blockbusters, having patent running out. In this industry, dependent on intellectual property, this is a threat. But is it true?

Many blockbusters are running out of patents soon, but there is also many new drugs in the late stages of the pipelines coming up to fill this spots. Also the first generation of drugs built on biotechnological applications have recently reached, or will soon reach, the customers. This is not a real threat. Also many of the larger companies have acquired smaller companies to use innovative drugs in their pipelines.

What however is threatened may be the blockbuster business model. The objective in this model is developing those best-selling drugs, rather than a broad range of drugs. Today, the buzz is about pharmacogenomics and the ability to make drugs specific for the (genetic) characteristics of a person. This is not in tune with the blockbuster business model and may give larger room for smaller players. It remains to see how Big Pharma will adapt.

Furthermore, another threat is the increased generics market (generic drugs are copies of another drug which has run out of patent protection). This are gaining ground due to the fact that they can be sold to a lower cost, because of lower R&D expenditures. But this is only a threat after the patent has expired, and by then a drug should have sold enough to cover it's development process and then some.

There will still be a place for Big Pharma, however these companies will probably change to adapt to new settings.

[Big Pharma] [Blockbuster] [Drugs] [Innovation] [Pharmacogenomics]