Frontiers in pharmacology
-
Frontiers in pharmacology · Jan 2020
Funding and Service Organization to Achieve Universal Health Coverage for Medicines: An Economic Evaluation of the Best Investment and Service Organization for the Brazilian Scenario.
There are many health benefits since 31 years after the foundation of the National Health Service (NHS) in Brazil, especially the increase in life expectancy. However, family-income inequalities, insufficient funding, and suboptimal private sector-public sector collaboration are still areas for improvement. The efforts of Brazil to achieve universal health coverage (UHC) for medicines have resulted in increased public financing of medicines and their availability, reducing avoidable hospitalization and mortality. However, lack of access to medicines still remains. Due to historical reasons, pharmaceutical service organization in developing countries may have important differences from high-income countries. In some cases, developing countries finance and promote medicine access by using the public infrastructure of health care/medical units as dispensing sites and cover all costs of medicines dispensed. In contrast, many high-income countries use private community pharmacies and cover the costs of medicines dispensed plus a fee, which includes all logistic costs. In this study, we will undertake an economic evaluation to understand the funding needs of the Brazilian NHS to reduce inequalities in access to medicines through adopting a pharmaceutical service organization similar to that seen in many high-income countries with hiring/accrediting private pharmacies. ⋯ The results of the economic evaluation demonstrate potential savings for the NHS and society. Achieving UHC for medicines reduces household expenses with health costs, health litigation, outpatient care, hospitalization, and mortality. An optimal private sector-public sector collaboration model with private community pharmacy accreditation is economically dominant with a feasible medicine price negotiation. The results show the potential to improve access to medicines by 25% for all income classes. This is most beneficial to the poorest families, whose medicines account for 76% of their total health expenses, with potential savings of lives and public resources.
-
Frontiers in pharmacology · Jan 2020
Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor-Related Cytokine Release Syndrome: Analysis of WHO Global Pharmacovigilance Database.
Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have proven effective in the treatment of numerous cancers; however, they have been associated with immune-related adverse events (irAEs), among which cytokine release syndrome (CRS) has been reported in a few case reports. To describe the burden of ICI-related CRS and raise awareness of CRS as irAE, we queried VigiBase, the World Health Organization global database of spontaneously reported suspected adverse drug reactions (ADRs), and retrieved safety reports of suspected CRS associated with ICIs, gathered in the database through January 12th 2020. We assessed ICI-related CRS safety reports in terms of geographical and temporal patterns of reporting, patient demographics and clinical features, treatment characteristics, CRS clinical presentation, timing, seriousness, and outcome. ⋯ Besides two fatal cases, CRS recovered/was recovering at the time of reporting in 35 (60%) cases. We observed differences in the geographical pattern of ICI-related CRS reporting, with a high proportion of ICI-related CRS cases in Australia and North America (0.14 and 0.10% respectively). Due to ICI expanding indications, clinicians should be aware that ICIs could contribute to CRS onset in cancer patients as pharmacological triggers.
-
Frontiers in pharmacology · Jan 2020
Research on Quality Markers of Guizhi Fuling Prescription for Endometriosis Treatment Based on Gray Correlation Analysis Strategy.
Guizhi Fuling prescription (GFP), a prestigious prescription of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) recorded in "Jingui Yaolue," was composed of five Chinese medicines, including Moutan Cortex, Paeoniae Radix Alba, Persicae Semen, Poria Cocos, and Cinnamomi Ramulus. It was used for the treatment of endometriosis, primary dysmenorrhea, and blood stasis for centuries. However, its Quality Markers of treating endometriosis have not been clearly elucidated. ⋯ Among them, amygdalin, cinnamic acid, paeonol, gallic acid, and paeoniflorin had the lower binding energies. It was proposed that these constituents could be directed at Quality Markers for GFP. Thus, the integrated approach describing for revealing Quality Markers of GFP could be expected to provide a method for quality evaluation.
-
Frontiers in pharmacology · Jan 2020
Effect of Triple Combination Therapy With Lopinavir-Ritonavir, Azithromycin, and Hydroxychloroquine on QT Interval and Arrhythmic Risk in Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients.
No data are provided about the effect of triple combination therapy with Lopinavir/Ritonavir (LPN/RTN), hydroxychloroquine (HQ) and azithromycin (AZT) on corrected QT (QTc) interval and arrhythmic risk, in COVID-19 patients. This study aims to describe the incidence of extreme QTc interval prolongation among COVID-19 patients on this experimental treatment and to identify the clinical features associated with extreme QTc prolongation. ⋯ We observed a high incidence of extreme QTc interval prolongation among COVID-19 patients on triple combination therapy. Since the incidence of malignant arrhythmias seems to be not negligible, a careful electrocardiographic monitoring would be advisable.
-
Frontiers in pharmacology · Jan 2020
Access and Benefit Sharing Under the Nagoya Protocol-Quo Vadis? Six Latin American Case Studies Assessing Opportunities and Risk.
Global challenges related to access and benefit sharing (ABS) of biological resources have become a key concern in the area of research on herbal medicines, ethnopharmacology, drug discovery, and the development of other high value products for which Intellectual Property protection can be secured. While the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD, Rio 1992) has been recognized as a huge step forward, the implementation of the Nagoya Protocol (NP) and of new forms of collaboration often remain unresolved, especially in the context of "the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources" (Convention on Biological Diversity, 2011). The vision and the specific implementation of this international treaty vary from country to country, which poses additional challenges. ⋯ Different policies in the six countries result in very diverse strategies and opportunities relating to the equitable use of biodiversity. A long-term strategy is required to facilitate a better understanding of the treaties and the resulting opportunities for a fairer development and implementation of transparent national polices, which currently differ in the six countries. So far, the benefits envisioned by the CBD and the NP remain unfulfilled for all stakeholders involved including local communities.