PHARMA LITERATI

Thank you so much for your interest in the Pharma Literati Internship for Summer 2019. We have received more than 300 applications for the internship for this year.  Based on our requirement and profile of the candidates, we have selected following candidates for the internship.  We would be publishing the list of candidates at other institutes soon.  Please get in touch with pharmaliterati@gmail.com for details. SN Name of student Institute 1.        Dikshita Bhoi Bombay College of Pharmacy, Mumbai, Maharashtra. 2.        Shraddha Unde Principal KM Kundnani College of Pharmacy, Mumbai, Maharashtra. 3.        Hasti Chandarana Dr. Bhanuben Nanavati College Of Pharmacy, Mumbai, Maharashtra. 4.        Somil Shah NMIMS SPPSPTM, Mumbai, Maharashtra. ...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Fragmin (dalteparin sodium) injection, for subcutaneous use, to reduce the recurrence of symptomatic venous thromboembolism (VTE) in pediatric patients one month of age and older. VTE can include deep vein thrombosis (blood clot in the deep veins of the leg) and pulmonary embolism (blood clot in the lungs), which can lead to death. "Most children who have VTE are fighting a serious underlying primary illness such as cancer or congenital heart disease. Not only are they fighting a serious illness, having a condition like VTE can then lead to significant complications and even death," said Richard Pazdur, M.D., director of the FDA's Oncology Center of Excellence and acting director of the Office of Hematology and Oncology Products in the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. "Prior to this approval, there had been no FDA-approved therapies to treat VTE in pediatric patients. Given the unmet need, ...

The Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (IPC) under the Union health ministry organized two-day training workshop recently at Central Drugs Standards Control Organization (CDSCO) zonal office in Chennai to sensitize medical device manufacturers, importers, regulators, healthcare practitioners (HCPs) and bio-medical engineers about the medical device quality, safety management and testing as per the Medical Devices Rule 2017.  The main objective of the workshop was also to encourage medical devices entrepreneurship and extend technical support to start-up on medical devices.  The two-day training workshop covered relevant topics like medical devices quality management system, risk management, adverse events reporting tools and other related areas. Training programme was attended by more than 75 participants from different parts of the country including industry, HCPs, government and CDSCO officials. Experts from Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), CDSCO, IPC and Industr...

Medical experts are of the view that the biggest problem to control hypertension is compliance with the treatment. Despite the availability of effective and safe antihypertensive drugs, experts rue that hypertension and its related risk factors like obesity, high blood lipids, and diabetes mellitus remain uncontrolled in many patients. Hypertension in the younger age group is altogether a different entity. On the occasion of the World Hypertension Day observed on May 17, with this year’s theme as ‘Know your numbers’, doctors are concerned on the rising incidence.  Adults with high blood pressure globally was around 972 million in 2000 and this is expected to reach 1.56 billion by 2025. According to a study, about 33% of people in urban India and 25% in rural India are estimated to be hypertensive.  Lifestyle factors, such as physical inactivity, a salt-rich diet with high processed and fatty foods, and alcohol and tobacco use, are reasons for this increased di...

The guidelines for storage of drugs are not being properly followed by manufacturers, distributors and retailers across the country leading to deterioration of the quality of medicines available in the market, sources in the Union health ministry has said. According to the sources, the ministry in its reply to a  Committee on Subordinate Legislation   over a representation on the issue, said that starting from  drug manufacturing  companies to distributors and chemists, nobody follows guidelines on drugs storage, properly leading to degradation of effectiveness of medicines and in many case s early expiry. The Drugs and Cosmetics Act and the rules specify in detail parameters on premises, surroundings, sanitation, storage of raw materials, documentation and  quality control systems   among others that a manufacturer is required to comply with under the conditions of licence, a senior  official   said. "The rules prescribe conditions...

To uplift the profession of pharmacy more patient-friendly and to bring in ‘ease of doing service’ in the hospital settings, the Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) is contemplating to make amendments in the Pharmacy Practice Regulations (PPR) 2015 as per PCI norms, it is learnt. Along with, amendment will be brought in for phasing out D Pharm qualification and making degree in pharmacy (B Pharm) as basic qualification for a pharmacist.  For ease of doing service, the council will change the PPR in accordance with the requests made by the pharmacists of the state and central services. The public sector dispensers have been demanding a patient-pharmacist ratio of 100:1 for out patient (OP) ward and 75:1 for in-patient (IP) ward. These norms of the PCI should be applicable in all the hospitals and in dispensaries. In addition to this, all the IP wards should have separate pharmacists to take care of pharmacy services. PCI has decided to work out on amendment procedure ...

·       Diagnosis can be done within 30 minutes of blood sample collection, bands   detected within 10 minutes of application ·         Haemophilia A and VWD are the most common bleeding disorders Topics Haemophilia A The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has developed an affordable test kit for diagnosing common blood disorders such as severe Haemophilia A and Von Willebrand disease (VWD). The cost-effective point-of-care (POC) rapid diagnostic test kit developed by the ICMR-National Institute of Immunohaematology, Mumbai, is the world’s first POC test for specific diagnosis of any common bleeding disorder. It costs less than ₹50, while other existing diagnostic kits cost between₹4,000 and ₹10,000, the ICMR said on Tuesday. Haemophilia A and VWD are the most common bleeding disorders. Globally, the incidence of Haemophilia A is 1 per 10,000 male births, and that of VWD is around 1% of the g...