Fewer new drugs are being discovered now than ever before. Pharmaceutical companies have shifted their focus from new drug development to reformulation so that more patent drugs can be introduced into the market. It seems like a good idea. But what are they really creating? New and better drugs? Or are they creating drugs that are different enough from the originals that they can make more money?

Most of the drugs that are used in the pharmaceutical market were discovered between 1935 and 1975. The core drugs have been reformulated into thousands of different combinations and strengths over and over again since then. When a drug patent expires and is available to become generic it is no longer a major money maker for the drug company. These companies seem to follow the modern tactic of reformulating that drug and issuing an additional patent to cover the new form. Drug representative then take the new formulation out to the medical community and offer incentives for the switch to the new formula. In this way, the drug companies make more money off the new higher price patented drug then they would if every took the same drug as before but paid the generic price.

Another troubling trend is mass market advertising of new drugs. Major pharmaceutical companies advertise their drugs in magazines, on the internet and even on TV. For example, a drug used for menopause symptoms is often advertised in women’s magazines with a market age of 35 to 65. The women reading those magazines are more than likely thinking about menopause and the advertiser’s bank on this and often include cards or discount forms for the reader to take to her doctor. Do you see a problem with this trend? Would you rather take medical suggestions from a magazine ad or from your physician? Which is the higher authority?

New drugs are supposed to be better, and have fewer side effects, but often they are not. Scientific evidence is often biased to show positive results for the pharmaceutical companies who are funding the research. Listen closely to the next advertisement you hear for the next great on the market, and pay attention toward the end when they are almost whispering and talking fast about all the possible side effects. Some of the side effects are worse than the disorder they are attempting to treat. Buyer beware!

Although the pharmaceutical industry is becoming increasingly vigilant about drug safety, cases of adverse drug reactions are still reported. However, constant efforts have been made by drug regulation authorities and pharmaceutical companies in ensuring that the safe drugs are manufactured and made available to the consumers. Adverse event reporting system has been instrumental in helping medicine manufacturing companies in ensuring its safety.

An adverse event is an untoward medical experience in a patient who is administered a pharmaceutical product and which does not necessarily have to have a casual relationship with this treatment. In such cases, though the medicine administered in the patient is the cause of problem, the manufacturer cannot be held responsible since the manufacturer would have manufactured the medicines in adherence to standards prescribed by the regulation authorities. In order to improve the quality of drugs, pharmaceutical companies use the adverse event reporting system.

Adverse event reporting system (AERS) is a computerized database of adverse events that is designed to help drug regulation authorities in drug manufacturing and post-marketing safety surveillance program for all medicines and biological products produced. AERS can be used in monitoring activities such as looking for new safety concerns that might be related to a marketed product, evaluating a manufacturer’s compliance to reporting regulations and responding to requests for drug information from consumers, medical practitioners or authorities.

AERS can be used to compile and enhance the set of standards set for manufacturing and marketing drugs. The pharmaceutical industry will be in turn notified about the revised drug standardizations. Based on this, they can manufacture products that do not cause any of the reported adverse drug reactions. This helps pharmaceutical industries produce safer products that in turn generates greater demand and increases sales.

With many companies in the industry falling short of new and unique compound it is harder for pharmaceutical companies to continue to fork out the billions of dollars in development as in the past. The time taken for a new drug to get the regulatory approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is on an average ten to fifteen years and estimated one million dollar.. With each delay making a blow to the profitability of the concern, the industry is forced to rely on web technology applications to speed up the other processes.

The primary step to be taken by these companies is to introduce the web technology applications in pharmaceutical meetings that enable the participants to have a better understanding on the business needs and to quickly identify the opportunities and advancements made in the technology. With web application tools like teleconferencing and video conferencing creating a stage for easy communication irrespective of the geographical location of the participants of the meeting, the employment of advanced technologies can eradicate the barriers of time.

The pharmaceutical meetings have introduced web technology applications to conduct web seminars or the Webinars. With the pharmaceutical companies using a mix of biology and chemistry, there are loads that each need to be informed about. With web conferencing giving access to the participants to watch an online presentation, besides the facility of sharing desktop, these group presentations and meetings create an effective output. The interaction between the participants gets enhanced when the query put forward by one finds an immediate solution from another.

The platform created by the web technology applications in pharmaceutical meetings permits the meeting and chatting of scientists from any field irrespective of their place of location. The time and cost savings spared through web application-employed meetings is immense.

The whiteboards are a great way for conceptualizing the ideas of the members of the pharmaceutical meetings. Identification of the tools used by others and ways for improving these ensures better outcome. The drawing and annotation tools like the pencils, pens and virtual sticky notes offer an interesting way of carrying out detailed discussions by the members. The web technology applications are also used by the pharmaceutical companies to share a document to which access to a restricted few permits the opportunity to make modifications to the document on a real-time basis, creating a great stage for follow-up.

Medical science has grown in leaps and bounds since the days of Hippocrates. Modern day pharmaceutical drugs are really life-savers. They have increased life expectancy and improved the quality of life for millions of people. But there is the other side of the coin as well. These drugs sometimes have very adverse effects that can even be life-threatening. The drug Vioxx is a case in point.

What is pharmacovigilance?

There is a need to monitor the effects of drugs before and after it’s successfully tested and launched in the market. Pharmacovigilance involves monitoring and assessing the quality of drugs; detecting and preventing any adverse effects of drugs. Pharmacovigilance involves evaluating information provided by healthcare providers, pharmaceutical companies and patients in order to understand the risks and benefits involved with a particular drug.

What is the role of pharmacovigilance?

The goal of pharmacovigilance is to:

• Monitor the quality of drugs
• Identify the health risks involved in the administration of certain drugs
• Prevent harm to patients
• Research the efficacy of drugs

How does pharmacovigilance help the public?

Pharmacovigilance helps save thousands of lives each year. By monitoring the adverse effects of drugs right from the lab to the pharmacy and then on for many years, pharmacovigilance keeps track of any drastic effects of drugs. This way, it prevents harm to patients using those drugs.

?How does pharmacovigilance help drug manufacturers?

Pharmaceutical companies spend millions of dollars and a considerably long-time in developing new drugs. They again spend a lot of money in conducting clinical trials before the drugs are approved and launched in the market. But after all this, if there are adverse effects to the drugs, the company again loses millions of dollars in sales and litigations. Furthermore, the reputation of the company is also severely damaged. Pharmacovigilance monitors the development of the drug across various stages and assesses its effectiveness after its launch for many years. This way it may reduce the adverse risk from drugs, thereby aiding the drug manufacturers.

We are going through a sort of emergency health crisis as regards the over prescription of ADHD meds without knowing or caring too much about ADHD medicine long term effects. A big problem is the mindset of parents, teachers and doctors who all want a quick fix to behavior problems in children and all the better if it has the ADHD label. It is trendy and it can explain a host of symptoms. Unfortunately the teacher has a mindset where he or she wants to keep the class under control. The doctor is rushed off his feet and may stand to gain by prescribing these ADHD meds. The parent also wants a quick fix and drugs seem the easiest option.

But when we look at ADHD medicine long term effects, the picture begins to darken and there are some worrying thoughts to plague our dreams and uneasy sleep. The first thing we need to keep to the forefront is that, if we cannot come to terms with behavior problems by learning a few techniques from behavior modification, then there is not much hope, quite frankly. The ADHD medicines will solve some of the immediate problems such as reducing hyperactivity, help to improve attention span and maybe aid concentration and focus but the ADHD medication long term effects will be brushed under the carpet.

So, what are the other things we need to know about ADHD medicine long term effects? The second one is that we live in a corrupt world (as if we didn’t know!). That means that pharmaceutical companies, doctors, consultants and politicians have conspired for the sake of their own business interests, to influence clinical trials so that results are what they want and expect. Simply put, we are not getting nearly enough reliable and honest information about ADHD medication long term effects. There is simply a lack of data. Thank goodness there are organizations like Transparency International who are dedicated to fighting this sort of corruption, especially in cases for example where ADHD medication long term effects are ‘censored’ to gain money !

The third thing we need to know is that Ritalin has one alarming side effect which has received hardly any attention at all in the medical press - see my second point above. This is that Ritalin can increase anxiety, depression and increases the desire in some children to inflict injury on themselves.

The fourth thing to be aware of about ADHD medicine long term effects is that there are risks associated with taking these drugs and getting involved in drug abuse. Children will be asked to sell their drugs at school. At college,these drugs are sought (Adderall is astonishingly popular) as smart drugs to help students get through college exams. ADHD kids may be socially ostracized which further increases their chances of getting in on the drugs scene , not to mention the fact that the company making these drugs do happen to mention that there is a risk of substance abuse!

It is clear that parents are only getting a very blurred picture. Are these the risks you want your child to take? Have you considered a homeopathic remedy together with some ADHD behavioral therapy which will help you to get back in control again? The homeopathic remedies have no side effects or health risks at all.

I know I am not going to get the swine flu, bottom line. And I live in New York City and I am not even worried. Not even worried a bit. So the question is how to prevent the flu and block swine flu? Here is the answer.

It is such a trip as you see so many people here in New York wearing these surgical mask to prevent themselves from getting the swine flu and you know the swine=e flu is only the beginning. There are going to be so many other flu’s out in the coming years. Why?

Why, because it is business. Whether you believe that or not it is true. It is business and it is big business at that. The more people who are sick the more people who have cancer the more people who have this disease and that disease the more people who have swine flu the more money the pharmaceutical companies make in the United States and around the World.

It is a trillion dollar business. Trillions of dollars World Wide, this is a huge, this is global. So here I am riding the subway, I am from New York City born and raised and lived in Europe for a while and lived on the West Coast of the United State for a while and been to many places in the world and let me tell you one thing.

We are all the same and that is so represented in New York City and it is unbelievable and yet believable the biggest outbreak of the swine flu is right here in New York City.

People are scared and people are dying and people are wearing masks and people are staying away from each other and this will happen in your town or city in your part of the world also because this is a fact, if it is happening here it will happen in your town also, in your part of the world whether you are in Spokane Washington or Mumbai India it just does not matter.

So it is kind of funny to me the whole thing. Not funny in the sense that people are actually dying and getting sick and that this thing is spreading and that this swine flu is real and growing and that there will be other out breaks of this flu strain or the next flu strain soon this summer early next year and that peoples families are devastated, non of that is funny to me, my heart really goes out to everyone.

What is funny to me is that I walk and hangout out amongst these people wearing the masks and coughing or sneezing next to me on the pack train subway car on the street in a park wherever and I don’t even mind because I know I am safe. How to prevent the flu and block swine flu? I am not even worried about as I have taken these steps that I am sharing with you here.

I’m living my life and I know I will not and never get the Swine Flu because I am informed and studied and researched and I eat healthy and drink plenty of water and I make sure I take the right supplements to boost my immune system so that swine flu or any thing for that matter gets smacked once it enters my body by my cells which are happy dancing healthy fighters of toxic disease including swine flu.

That is the bottom line. I also found this product Baniflu after doing all the research to find out what is the best thing out there that I can take now or buy now and put on the shelf until I need to take it to totally protect myself from getting the swine flu on the next big flu and I found it. You can check it out at the link below.

That is it, period, and end of story as to how to prevent the flu and block swine flu. Don’t go around worrying as worry will only deplete your immune system anyway, get prepared remain healthy and get yourself a flu blocker just in case and as I said I take and recommend Baniflu and I am in the center of this swine flu epidemic.

With this plan you and your family and your friends and kids, will be safe and you not only have a full proof plan but you also have a back up plan. You are 100 % percent covered right now starting today and there is no need to worry just go about your life as it was intended to be.

You need to be proactive and not wait until it is to late until you find yourself waiting on Tamiflu which you cannot get your hands on because there is no supply and it takes a prescription to get to you or you get it after you are sick, you need to just not get sick to prevent the flu and you can with Baniflu which you can get now and have ready at a moments notice and it is healthier and better than Tamiflu anyway.

It works for me, so go and check it out at the link below howtopreventflunow.com and answer the question to how to prevent the flu and block swine flu today, now and forever. Enjoy be happy love smile!