Essential Medicines News

Andrew Jack, “GSK Varies Prices to Raise Sales,” The Financial Times, 16 March 2008.
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has begun a scheme of tiered pricing of its medicines in low- and middle-income countries. The policy is being tested in India, South Africa and Morocco, to ensure the greatest availability of their products, while still recovering R&D […]

“Scientists Identify New Leads for Treating Parasitic Worm Disease,” Eurekalert, 16 March 2008.
Nature Medicine has published a study showing that oxadiazoles can effectively control schistosomiasis. For the past two decades, praziquatel has been the sole drug used to treat this disease in the 70 tropical nations that require annual or semi-annual drug treatment. […]

“New Chemical Can Kill Latent Tuberculosis,” Weill Cornell News, 13 March 2008.
A new drug tested by researchers at Weill Cornell inhibits the action of dihydrolipoamide acetyltransferase (DlaT), a bacterial enzyme that is used to procure energy from nutrients and defend against oxidative damage. Dr. Carl Nathan, coauthor of the study published in Cell Host […]

“Microbicide Developer Receives License for Novel HIV Microbicide Candidate from Merch & Co., Inc.,” International Partnership for Microbicides Press Release, 11 March 2008.
Merck has agreed to provide a full royalty-free license for L’644, a gp41 fusion inhibitor, to the International Partnership for Microbicides (IPM) for development as a potential vaginal microbicide for women in […]

“Senate Foreign Relations Committee Approves PEPFAR Reauthorization Bill,” Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 14 March 2008.
Thursday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted to reauthorize the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief at a cost of $50 billion over the next five years. No amendments were considered presently for the senate bill introduced by Sen. Biden […]

“Inhaled Tuberculosis Vaccine More Effective than Traditional Shot in Study Using Experimental Animals,” Harvard School of Public Health Press Release, 12 March 2008.
A study by University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill researchers, Medicine in Need, the Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation, and Harvard University researchers has been published in the past issue of the Proceedings of […]

“Model Identifies Targets for Eradication of Malaria,” Physorg.com, 12 March 2008.
Researchers at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência have published an article at PLoS One showing that malaria eradication is a real possibility in areas with moderate transmission. It also supports the view that mass administration of antimalarial drugs bear an important role in eradication […]

Ed Harris, “Chinese Researchers Claim Comoros Malaria Success,” Reuters, 11 March 2008.
Artequick, a malarial drug based on the Artemisia shrub, has reduced malaria cases from 23% to 1.4% within 60 days on the Moheli island of Comoros. Four doses were given to the 40,000 people living on the island in November as part of […]

Nicholas Zamiska, “Thai Ministry to Recommend Ignoring Patents on Cancer Drugs,” Wall Street Journal, 11 March 2008.
Nopporn Wong-Anan, “Thailand Will Override Cancer Drug Patents,” Reuters, 10 March 2008.
Thailand’s health minister, Chaiya Sasomsap, is urging the government to continue issuing compulsory licenses, in particular for drugs to treat cancer. As such, Novartis has agreed […]

“New TB Test Means Quicker and Easier Diagnosis for Patients,” Imperial College London News Release, 7 March 2008.
A new study in the Annals of Internal Medicine shows that the ELISpot PLUS blood test can determine whether a patient does not have tuberculosis with 99% accuracy when used in combination with a tuberculin skin test, […]