Pharmaceutical Firms Artificially Manipulate Drug Availability, Greek Institute Claims

Big multinational pharmaceutical companies are engineering artificial drug shortages in Greece by arbitrarily adopting “ceilings” for drugs sold per pharmacy and demanding personal data on customers and patients, the Pharmaceutical Development Institute of Greece (FANIE) asserted on Wednesday. FANIE claimed the practice extends to vital medication – such as insulin, drugs for serious psychiatric disorders or injections for the management of osteoporosis and prostate ailments – creating serious risks for patients’ lives. According to the institute, the problems created by some multinational firms concerning the availability of their products has recently become more acute, while it accused them of arbitrarily “deciding” whether or not to sell their products and imposing supply “ceilings” well below the demand of pharmacies and patients. This forced pharmacies to only partially fill prescriptions since they are unable to secure the quantities and range of drugs required by patients. At the same time, pharmaceutical firms are demanding that pharmacies provide personal data on patients in order to supply them with drugs, violating laws on the provision of personal information and data, FANIE said. (source: ana-mpa)

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Generic drug brands allowed in prescriptions

Doctors are now being allowed to recommend specific generic drugs when they issue prescriptions, in what the government says is a move designed to increase the use of this form of medicines in Greece.

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Greek Scientists Develop Cancer Drug

Greek scientists from the University of Patras are making a significant effort to help in the battle against cancer by developing an innovative drug. The research team has been working at the Pharmaceutical Chemistry Laboratory of the Department of Pharmacy at the University of Patras, led by associate professor Plato Magriotis. The team aims to create a new potent anti-cancer drug that will specialize in the treatment of sarcoma, melanoma, ovarian cancer, breast, kidney, prostate and non-microcell lung cancer. The idea behind the drug’s composition is based on a substance isolated about 48 years ago from a Caribbean marine microorganism. The substance ejected by Ecteinascidia turbinate (Et-743) is one of the most potent cytotoxins and its antineoplastic activity is much greater than that of known antitumor drugs. Et-743 is the first marine natural anti-cancer drug and was approved by the European Union in 2007. According to professor Magriotis, Et-743 causes damage to the cancer cells’ DNA and prohibits them from repairing the damage, thus further prolonging the destruction of cancer cells. “We are trying to do something different and innovative compared to what has already been done in the past and create a drug with simpler structure than that of Et-743 that will hopefully be adequate for most types of cancer. I am optimistic. This is my life’s dream. The research is on track and hopefully we will be successful fairly soon,” noted the professor.

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Greek Scientists Develop Cancer Drug

patras-lab Greek scientists from the University of Patras are making a significant effort to help in the battle against cancer by developing an innovative ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com

Greek Scientists Develop Cancer Drug

Greek scientists from the University of Patras are making a significant effort to help in the battle against cancer by developing an innovative drug. The research team has been working at the Pharmaceutical Chemistry Laboratory of the Department of Pharmacy at the University of Patras, led by associate professor Plato Magriotis. The team aims to create a new potent anti-cancer drug that will specialize in the treatment of sarcoma, melanoma, ovarian cancer, breast, kidney, prostate and non-microcell lung cancer. The idea behind the drug’s composition is based on a substance isolated about 48 years ago from a Caribbean marine microorganism. The substance ejected by Ecteinascidia turbinate (Et-743) is one of the most potent cytotoxins and its antineoplastic activity is much greater than that of known antitumor drugs. Et-743 is the first marine natural anti-cancer drug and was approved by the European Union in 2007. According to professor Magriotis, Et-743 causes damage to the cancer cells’ DNA and prohibits them from repairing the damage, thus further prolonging the destruction of cancer cells. “We are trying to do something different and innovative compared to what has already been done in the past and create a drug with simpler structure than that of Et-743 that will hopefully be adequate for most types of cancer. I am optimistic. This is my life’s dream. The research is on track and hopefully we will be successful fairly soon,” noted the professor.

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Signs of a global shift on drug policy

by  Aaron Pellish The Global Commission on Drug Policy announced a new report on the impact of drug policy on drug use around the world.   The new report, titled, “Taking Control: Pathways to Drug Policies that Work,” will be released at a press conference in New York City on Tuesday. It is the third in a series of groundbreaking studies released by the Global Commission on Drug Policy that researched hepatitis C and HIV/AIDS and how public health policy affected the spread of transmissible diseases around the world. The findings of those reports led to the implementation of a harm reduction program designed to reduce the spreading of hepatitis C in Greece that implemented, among other things, a public health and awareness program sponsored by the Greek government geared toward intravenous drug users to using drugs in a clean and healthy fashion.  Frank Vanbiervliet, the European advocacy coordinator for Doctors of the World International, said the unique policy emphasizes the facet of drug use that public health  advocates can actually affect. “Our first priority is not to prevent these people from doing drugs,” Vanbiervliet said. “But that it is done safely, with clean needles in a safe environment.” The program has gone as far as to implement government subsidized “drug rooms,” or supervised and sanitized areas where drug users in Greece can cleanly use intravenous drugs without the risk of contracting hepatitis C or HIV. Vanbiervliet also said that since the implementation of the program, the cases of hepatitis C and HIV have decreased significantly and the number of drug users has remained stable. Luis Mendao, an advocate for hepatitis C and HIV/AIDS awareness with GAT Portugal, said the program is naturally prone to controversy but stresses that  the rights to health care for drug users should be the same as any other person. “When someone gets (a transmissible disease) from injecting drugs, it’s considered their own fault,” Mendao said. “So, it is looked on as not important. But people need to help people.” Mendao, a victim of both HIV and Hepatitis C, also said that the best way to corral transmissible diseases that permeate specific demographics is to treat them within those demographic, or else the entire population is at a greater risk of infection. The Global Commission on Drug Policy press conference will be live-streamed at 1:45 GMT on Tuesday, September 9th and will feature United Nations and national politicians from around the world.

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