Category Archives: Drugs

NEW YORK, July 31, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Reportlinker.com announces that a new market research report is available in its catalogue: Effective Sales and Marketing Strategies for Orphan Drugs http://www.reportlinker.com/p0939704/Effective-Sales-and-Marketing-Strategies-for-Orphan-Drugs.html#utm_source=prnewswire&utm_medium=pr&utm_campaign=Drug_and_Medication The real potential for orphan drug pharma marketing With drug pipelines moving from essential products to niche therapies, large pharma companies are increasingly attracted to the prospective high demand and low competition of orphan drug markets. However, the 'sales and marketing' models for orphan drugs are distinctly different to conventional models for common medications. So the transition to this specialist field is a lot more challenging than it appears. A new report from FirstWord Dossier Effective Sales and Marketing Strategies for Orphan Drugs examines the effectiveness of strategic business models that big pharma are using to market these products. It draws upon the in-depth opinions of 13 experts from the orphan drugs industry, patient organisations, and regulatory authorities in rare diseases. Report Overview Effective Sales and Marketing Strategies for Orphan Drugs summarises the main issues, challenges and tactics involved in launching new pharma products for rare diseases. The report compares the critical differences between marketing orphan vs non-orphan drugs from initial drug development through to commercialisation. It also discusses the huge … Continue reading →

The AFP have seized half a ton of illicit drugs and arrested seven people in their largest ever ice haul. Part of the $500 million drugs haul that police say was concealed in 100 terracotta pots. Picture: Tim Hunter Source: The Daily Telegraph ILLEGAL drugs with a street value of half a billion dollars have been seized and seven people arrested in Sydney after a tip-off from US drug agents. More than half a tonne of drugs, including 306kg of crystal methamphetamine, also known as ice, and 252kg of heroin, were seized in Sydney during the operation. Seven people - all Hong Kong nationals - have been arrested. They are expected to face Sydney Local Court later Tuesday. It is the largest seizure of ice and third-largest heroin haul in Australian Federal Police history. The AFP also seized six kilograms of methamphetamine from a 55-year-old mans Green Valley residence. The bust came after US Drug Enforcement Administration agents tipped-off the AFP to an international organised crime syndicate allegedly planning to import illicit drugs into Australia. In January, Customs and Border Protection identified several people believed to be associated with the syndicate and two suspect cargo consignments were targeted. On July … Continue reading →

Huge crowds flocked to Splendour in the Grass on its return to Byron Bay. Blainey Woodham TWEED and Byron's top cop has called for "the culture of drug taking at music events" to stop, after more than 400 people were detected with drugs at Splendour in the Grass. Tweed/Byron Local Area Command Superintendent Stuart Wilkins said police were kept busy during the four-day festival with most of their time taken up with drug and alcohol-related issues. "Over 400 people were found in possession of prohibited drugs and that is simply unacceptable," he said. "This culture of drug-taking at music events needs to stop!" Many thousands attended the four-day music festival, which this year returned to its traditional home at Byron Bay's Belongil Fields after being held at Woodford in Queensland for the past two years. The more than 100 additional police brought in from around the state for operation Splendour 2012 were supported by the Mounted Unit, Dog Unit, Public Order and Riot Squad, Operation Support Group and officers from the Alcohol and Licensing Enforcement Command. Supt Wilkins said officers conducted 730 people searches, 30 vehicle searches and issued 74 move-on directions. "Drug detection dogs were used throughout the event, … Continue reading →

31 July 2012 Last updated at 01:05 ET Australian police have seized drugs worth over half a billion dollars and broken up a Hong Kong-based drugs ring. Four Hong Kong nationals and three Australian residents were also arrested in raids in Sydney on Monday. Over half a tonne of drugs, including 306kg (674.61lb) of crystal methamphetamine - also known as ''ice'' - and 252kg of heroin, were seized. The haul is the largest seizure of ''ice'' and the third largest seizure of heroin, police said. The drugs are estimated to be worth A$500m (US$526m; 335m), the Australian Federal Police (AFP) said in a statement. The raids and arrests followed a year-long investigation. "Countless lives would have been affected had this seizure made its way to Australian streets," Deputy Commissioner Andrew Colvin told Australian media. He said investigations would continue and more arrests could take place. The investigations into the syndicate began in August 2011 after a tip-off from the US Drug Enforcement Administration, police said. The drugs were found in a shipment of terracotta pots on 19 July. See original here: Australia in record drugs seizure … Continue reading →

An alleged boss of the Wellington Nomads hid a stash of thousands of dollars worth of methamphetamine in cemeteries, a court has been told. Paul Peter Mawana Rodgers, known as Porky Rimene, has pleaded guilty to supplying meth between July 2009 and February 2011, offering to supply the drug, conspiring to obstruct the course of justice, money laundering and taking part in a criminal group. He is accused of distributing more than three kilograms of meth - with a street value of $3 million - into the Wellington region. An unnamed witness told the High Court at Wellington on Monday that Rodgers had so many places to bury drugs and money that it was hard to keep track of them, Fairfax reported. The witness said he buried drugs and money at sites around Wellington and Wairarapa, including at a private urupa or cemetery in Masterton. A groundsman at Riverside Cemetery in Masterton also found a container of about $7000 worth of meth. At one stage a bulldozer working on a public track displaced a buried container and they had to use a hired metal detector to find it. The witness said Rodgers told him he would be buried if he … Continue reading →

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- DRX, a leading provider of healthcare comparison tools, technology and data, announced today that the company is expanding its coverage of specialty drugs in its popular DrugCompare technology. DRX DrugCompare is the leading platform for identifying lower cost drug alternatives for prescription drugs. This technology provides the most comprehensive set of therapeutically equivalent drug mappings available, offering dose-specific price comparisons for branded, generic and therapeutic equivalents of prescription drugs. The Lower-Cost Alternatives data in DrugCompare is the most widely-used comparative effectiveness solution in the US. It is used by health plans, pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), drugstore chains, online pharmacies, consulting firms, electronic medical records providers (EMRs) and e-Prescribing vendors. In the area of Specialty medications, DRX currently covers therapeutic alternatives for Anemia, Hepatitis C, and Multiple Sclerosis. The Specialty drug spend continues to be a major factor in our clients overall drug spend, so DRX is working hard to continue to expand our coverage in this area. By the end of 2012, we plan to add at least 4 more Specialty medications to our suite. These include medications for Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension, said Toby Rogers, COO of DRX. In 2013, we will focus on enhancing our alternatives … Continue reading →

NEW YORK, July 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Reportlinker.com announces that a new market research report is available in its catalogue: Anesthesia Drugs Market (2011 - 2015) - U.S. Market Entry Study http://www.reportlinker.com/p0864779/Anesthesia-Drugs-Market-2011---2015---US-Market-Entry-Study.html#utm_source=prnewswire&utm_medium=pr&utm_campaign=Drug_and_Medication Anesthesia is a condition in which sensation is totally or partially blocked. This enables the patients to undergo medical procedures and surgery. Based on the applications (type of surgery or medical procedure) anesthetic drugs are broadly categorized into two types; i.e. local anesthetic drugs and general anesthetic drugs. Local anesthesia is a condition when sensation within a specific body part in inhibited, where as general anesthesia results in loss of consciousness and sensation. The anesthesia drugs market research report specially focuses on ketamine market in U.S.A. Under general anesthesia drugs category, drugs such as propofol, midazolam & diazepam, fospropofol disodium, sodium pentothal, ketamine, methohexital sodium, pentobarbital, etomidate and fentanyl are studied. The U.S. general anesthesia market was valued at $2 billion in 2011 and is poised to grow at a CAGR of approximately 4% to reach $2.3 billion by 2015. Advantages offered by general anesthesia includes - rapid onset of anesthesia, full control of the body processes (airway, respiratory and circulatory system), used in surgeries with unpredictable duration … Continue reading →

"It's too easy for teenagers to get hold of drugs. Drugs are everywhere and somebody will always know somebody who will sell you some. "Unfortunately there are websites where people talk openly about their drug habits and which drugs they like and don't like and glorify the effects." Explaining their daughter rarely drank or went to parties due to suffering Crohns disease, Mrs Harding, who provides holistic care for drug addicts, and her husband said: Serena just wanted to be like everybody else her age. We believe Serena got out of her depth and gave in to peer pressure. Every day we ask ourselves `how can this be?' Serena filled all our hearts; she was so loving and caring and was sometimes wise beyond her almost 17 years. "The tears we cry everyday are futile because she will never come home again. Miss Harding, who was studying a fashion and design course in Warrington, Cheshire, took the drug with friends while celebrating her exam results on August 21. Manchester Crown Court heard she had been encouraged to take it by Michael Millington, 19, who Serena knew well and had a crush on. A friend later said she had wanted to … Continue reading →

By Raymond Bonner 2012-07-29T22:30:04Z The mission of the Food and Drug Administration is to protect us from drugs that might kill because they are impure, badly manufactured, untested. Well, not all drugs, as it turns out. When it comes to drugs used in executions, the FDA says it doesnt check on their potency, safety or effectiveness. Thus, the agency allowed a small company in Mumbai that stored its drugs in a room without air conditioning to sell Nebraska enough sodium thiopental for 166 executions. It permitted a tiny wholesaler, Dream Pharma, operating out of two rooms in the back of a driving school in London, to sell sodium thiopental -- the most critical drug in executions -- to Georgia, Arkansas, Tennessee, South Carolina and California. The FDA even helped expedite a shipment of sodium thiopental to Arizona because it was for the purpose of executions and not for use by the general public, the deputy director of the Arizona Department of Corrections wrote in an e-mail to his counterpart in California. This caused one death penalty lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, to say sarcastically that drugs can be expedited if they are meant to kill someone, but apparently not if they … Continue reading →

Calculating the so-called street value of drugs is like trying to see into the future with a calculator. Experienced narcotics cops have a good idea of how drugs are packaged and sold to consumers, and they use that information to guesstimate how much a large shipment of drugs might have been worth down the line if it hadn't been confiscated. That usually involves dividing kilos and pounds into grams or smaller quantities then multiplying that by the retail value of each bag. Some cops, figuring that the drugs will be "cut" with other substances, use another multiplier. The numbers get real high, real fast. But it's far from an exact science. It doesn't account for drugs that might have otherwise been consumed, confiscated, or sold at larger quantities for instance, an "8-ball" of cocaine, or about 3.5 grams instead of a gram or smaller. Those variables have the potential to significantly alter the "street value," the number that often winds up in news reports. It bears little resemblance to what the bust cost the drug-distribution system. "I'm not saying they're wrong, it's just their way of looking at it," David Leff, a narcotics expert who frequently testifies in court, said … Continue reading →