WHO Drug Information articles from January 2000

WHO Drug Information archives from January 2000

General Policy Issues.
January 1, 2000... The benefits and risks of self-medication [*] It is widely accepted that self-medication has an important role to play in health care and, with the continued improvement in people's education, general knowledge and socio-economic status,...

Personal Perspectives.
January 1, 2000... Tobacco product regulation: what can be achieved? T. Yoshida, Quality and Safety of Medicines, World Health Organization, Geneva Few people would question the evidence now available that smoking tobacco is both addictive and harmful to...

Spread of quinolone-resistant salmonella.
January 1, 2000... Food-borne salmonella infections have become a major problem in many industrialized countries [1, 2]. Salmonella enterica serotype typhimurium (DT104) is now resistant to five drugs: ampicillin, chloramphenicol, streptomycin, sulfonamides, and...

Evidence for the role of zinc in childhood survival.
January 1, 2000... Although the theoretical basis for a potential role of zinc has been postulated for quite some time, convincing evidence for its importance in child health has come only recently from randomized controlled trials of zinc supplementation....

Increased risk of gastrointestinal bleeding: SSRIs and NSAIDs.
January 1, 2000... Antidepressants with selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitory action such as fluoxetine, fluvoxamine, paroxetine and sertraline have been associated with bleeding disorders including purpura, ecchymose, epistaxis, prolonged bleeding time,...

Clozapine and venous thromboembolism.
January 1, 2000... Data from the Swedish Adverse Drug Reaction Committee suggest that use of clozapine is associated with venous thromboembolic complications. Until now, use of clozapine, an atypical antipsychotic agent, has been limited by agranulocytosis, and...

ACE inhibitors improve cardiovascular outcome.
January 1, 2000... Angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors have been shown to improve outcome among patients with left ventricular dysfunction, whether or not they have heart failure. ACE inhibitors block the activation of the renin-angiotensin system and...

Ticlopidine and thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura.
January 1, 2000... The Australian Adverse Drug Reactions Advisory Committee (ADRAC) has recently received its first report of thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP)in association with ticlopidineo (Ticlid[R]). TTP is a life-threatening syndrome of...

Miltefosine: effectiveness in visceral leishmaniasis explored.
January 1, 2000... There is currently no effective orally administered medication against visceral leishmaniasis, a parasitic disease affecting 500 000 people a year and occurring mainly in India, Brazil and Sudan. Symptoms of infected patients are...

HIV treatment guidelines for adults and adolescents.
January 1, 2000... An updated version of the Guidelines for the use of antiretroviral agents in HIV-infected adults and adolescents has been posted on the HIV/AIDS Treatment Information Service (ATIS) website [1,2]. The new Guidelines are based on the latest...

Immunization safety: a global priority.
January 1, 2000... Immunization is undoubtedly one of the most effective health interventions. Nevertheless, implementation of immunization programmes faces many challenges. One such challenge is immunization safety -- monitoring of adverse events following...

Cost effectiveness of influenza vaccination in healthy infants.
January 1, 2000... Influenza is the only respiratory virus for which there is a vaccine. Vaccination is generally recommended for use in adults over 65 years of age, high risk persons 6 months of age or older, and those who might transmit the virus to persons at...

Diphtheria and tetanus vaccines: harmonization of testing in sight?
January 1, 2000... Diphtheria is a bacterial infection transmitted from person to person through close physical and respiratory contact. It can cause infection of the throat that may lead to fatal obstruction of breathing. Like other respiratory infections,...

WHO Guidelines for the regulatory assessment of medicinal products for use in self-medication [*].
January 1, 2000... Self-care can be defined as a primary public health resource in the health care system. It concerns the health activities and health decisions of individuals and includes self-medication, self-treatment, social support in illness, and first aid...

Troglitazone withdrawn.
January 1, 2000... United States of America -- The Food and Drug Administration has requested Parke-Davis/Warner-Lambert, the manufacturer of troglitazone (Rezulin(r)) to remove the product from the market. This action has been taken subsequent to a review of...

Cisapride and cardiac effects.
January 1, 2000... United States of America -- The manufacturer of cisapride has announced that it will stop marketing the product (Propulsid(r): Janssen) in the USA with effect 14 July 2000. This effective date is intended to provide adequate time for patients...

Cisapride: changes to labelling.
January 1, 2000... United States of America -- Prior to the subsequent withdrawal of cisapride (Propulsid(r)) from the US market referred to above, the manufacturer had announced changes to the labelling and patient medication guide following reports of serious...

Cisapride: updated warning issued.
January 1, 2000... New Zealand -- Strict controls are in place on the use of cisapride, which is indicated for severe gastro-intestinal conditions. In New Zealand, cisapride can only be prescribed by a physician on a specialist's recommendation, thereby...

St John's wort: recommendations for use.
January 1, 2000... France -- Following the recent publication of several papers describing significant interactions between St John's wort (Hypericum perforatum) and digoxin, theophylline, indinavir, ciclosporin, certain oral anticoagulants, antidepressants and...

Northern hemisphere influenza vaccine.
January 1, 2000... World Health Organization -- The composition of the vaccine for the November 2000--April 2001 influenza season in the Northern hemisphere has been determined and communicated to vaccine manufacturers. * an A/Moscow/10/99(H3N2)-like virus...

Nicotine replacement therapy.
January 1, 2000... New Zealand -- The Government has announced measures to improve access to nicotine replacement therapies. These may now be sold through smoking cessation clinics run by medical practitioners, nurses, pharmacists or psychologists. Previously,...

Anorectic agents: suspension of marketing authorization.
January 1, 2000... France -- As a result of recommendations made by the Committee on Proprietary Medicinal Products (CPMP), the Agence Francaise de Securite Sanitaire des Produits de Sante (AFSSPS) has announced that it will shortly suspend marketing...

Insulin cartridges: leakage risk.
January 1, 2000... European Union - The European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products (EMEA) has issued a warning on the risk of leakage during use of recombinant human insulin cartridges (Insuman Infusat(R); 100 1U/mi solution for injection in...

Zimox(r): trade name duplication and risk of errors.
January 1, 2000... Islamic Republic of Iran -- The Tehran Drug and Poison Information Centre has informed the World Health Organization that a combination product containing the anti-Parkinson drugs carbidopa and levodopa is being imported into Iran from Greece...

Benzbromarone and hepatitis.
January 1, 2000... Japan -- Following reports of eight cases of fulminant hepatitis related to use of benzbromarone, the Ministry of Health and Welfare in Japan has requested all manufacturers to revise the labelling to include a warning of hepatic dysfunction...

Nevirapine: severe cutaneous reactions.
January 1, 2000... France -- Nevirapine, a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor was first launched in Europe in 1998 for use in HIV infection. Although attention was drawn to the possibility of serious cutaneous reactions and hepatic complications...

FDA cannot regulate tobacco industry.
January 1, 2000... United States of America -- The Supreme Court has ruled that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) lacks the power to regulate tobacco. In 1996, the FDA decided that it could regulate tobacco in the light of new evidence that demonstrated the...

New Internet website: information for consumers.
January 1, 2000... United States of America -- The Food and Drug Administration has announced the establishment of an Internet website to provide information on buying prescription drugs and medical products on-line. This initiative is part of an action plan to...

Cyber warnings for drug sales via the Internet.
January 1, 2000... United States of America -- In recent weeks the Food and Drug Administration has issued letters via the Internet to operators of non USA-based Internet sites that offer to sell on-line prescription medicines that may be illegal. The letters...

Triax [R]: a harmful product sold on the Internet.
January 1, 2000... United States of America -- The Food and Drug Administration has warned consumers not to purchase or consume the product Triax Metabolic Accelerator [R], containing the active ingredient tiratricol. The product is marketed as a dietary...

Illegal products on the market.
January 1, 2000... United States of America -- The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has taken legal action to protect consumers against unproven claims for drugs promoted as treatments for cancer and other diseases. Such unapproved drugs include: BeneFin,...

Epoetin alfa: inappropriate practices compromise product sterility.
January 1, 2000... United States of America -- An outbreak of 21 episodes of bacteraemia or pyrogenic reactions has been reported in patients receiving epoetin alfa (Epogen[R], Amgen) at a dialysis unit. A recent investigation has revealed that unused portions of...

Propylene glycol and amprenavir.
January 1, 2000... United States of America -- The manufacturer of amprenavir (Agenerase[R], Glaxo Wellcome) has issued a warning concerning a potential risk associated with the amount of propylene glycol present in the oral solution formulation. Amprenavir is a...

Trastuzumab: pulmonary reactions.
January 1, 2000... United States of America -- The manufacturer of trastuzumab (Herceptin[R], Genentech) has warned of 62 postmarketing reports of serious adverse events related to the use of their product indicated for the treatment of breast cancer. To date,...

International Travel and Health.
January 1, 2000... This annual guide issues authoritative advice on the medical and personal precautions needed to protect the health of international travellers. Information is provided on general precautions as well as recommended and legally required...

WHO Expert Committee on Drug Dependence.
January 1, 2000... The role of the WHO Expert Committee on Drug Dependence is to evaluate selected psychoactive substances and recommend an appropriate level of control under the international conventions on narcotic drugs and psychoactive substances. When making...

Correct handling and distribution of propylene glycol.
January 1, 2000... Starting materials used in the manufacture of pharmaceutical products often change hands many times before reaching the end user. Along the distribution, packaging and trade chain there are many opportunities for the starting material to be...

Reporting adverse drug reactions.
January 1, 2000... Compiled at the request of the pharmaceutical industry, this book responds to the urgent need for standard international terminology that is specific to adverse reaction reporting and procedures for post-marketing surveillance. Definitions are...

Preparing core safety information.
January 1, 2000... In 1995, the Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences (CIOMS) Working Group III report was drafted in response to the need to harmonize core drug safety information. It has been widely endorsed by pharmaceutical manufacturers...

Good pharmaceutical procurement.
January 1, 2000... Improper procurement practices lead not only to high prices and poor quality, but can also result in shortages of life-saving drugs. Ideally, the most cost-effective drugs should be bought in appropriate quantities from reputable suppliers at...