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"The World's Most Neglected Diseases" |
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"Infectious diseases can be considered 'neglected' when there is a lack of effective, affordable, or easy to use drug treatments" (BMJ 29 July 02). " As most patients with such diseases live in developing countries are too poor to pay for drugs, the pharmaceutical industry has traditionally ignored these diseases." Médicins sans Frontières recently organised a meeting in New York to explore the question of why the publicprivate partnerships which have tackled malaria, HIV and tuberculosis, have ignored kala-azar, Chagas' disease and sleeping sickness. The answer is that the first three can claim sufferers in developed countries. The company that developed Eflornithine for sleeping sickness stopped its production in 1995; African patients could not afford to buy the drug. "Eflornithine became available five years later in the United States, when it was found to reduce facial hair in women." Médicins sans Frontières, backed by the Pasteur Institute, the Indian Council for Medical Research and the Brazilian Government pharmaceutical organisation Fiocruz, has launched an initiative to test the idea that a drug research and development network could be established in the developed world, with a central management. This would define its needs, and then rely on public investment, not market forces, to meet them. |
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- Dame Cicely's Verdict
- Low Asian Birth Rate will Result in Poor Elderly
- Police Probe 13 Deaths at Hospital
- Guernsey Studies Euthanasia
- H.F.E.A. Challenged
- H.F.E.A. slammed by M.P.s
- American Red Cross Collects Umbilical Cord Blood
Dame Cicely's Verdict "I think what Diane Pretty asked for is dangerous. She wanted someone to come and kill her. I don t think a law which allows that is a very safe law to have." (The Times 2, 24 July 02.) Low Asian Birth Rate will Result in Poor Elderly Austin Ruse reports (22 May 02) that according to a U.N. press release, delegates meeting at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN/ESCAP), being held in Bangkok, conduded that the, combination of fertility decline and ageing "could result in future destitution for many people, especially women' throughout the continent. Police Probe 13 Deaths at Hospital "Police are investigating the deaths of up to 13 elderly hospital patients who relatives believe were killed with overdoses of powerful drugs, including the painkiller diamorphine." (Lois Rogers, Sunday Times 15 Sept 02.). Guernsey Studies Euthanasia The Sates of Deliberation, Guernsey's parliament on 26 Sept 02 voted by 38 to 17 to investigate voluntary euthanasia. H.F.E.A. Challenged CORE (Comment on Reproductive Ethics) was given permission by the High Court on 12 July 02 to bring a judicial review of the decision by the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority to use in vitro fertilization and pre-implantation diagnosis to create and select "designer babies." H.F.E.A. slammed by M.P.s The House of Commons Select Committee on Science and Technology heavily criticised the H.F.E.A. in a report published on 18 July 02, stating that "democracy is not served by unelected quangos taking decisions on behalf of Parliament." American Red Cross Collects Umbilical Cord Blood 250 babies have been "enrolled" in an umbilical cord blood donor programme m Alabama, USA to provide an ethical alternative to embryonic stem cells for treating disease. " Red Cross officials hope that cord blood donation becomes common around the nation." (National Right to Life News, USA) |
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