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Australia a new growth market for cannabis
Australia has been flagged as a growth market for medical cannabis. A company that has listed on the Australian Securities Exchange hopes to capitalise on a growing worldwide demand for medicinal cannabis. Clinical trials are currently being organised in NSW and announcements are expected around mid-2015. According to Chicago cannabis industry attorney Davis Legal, PLLC,…
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ASMI Media Releases 1.New research confirms benefits of chondroitin for osteoarthritis 2. ASMI welcomes complementary meds review
New research confirms benefits of chondroitin for osteoarthritis 27 February 2015 – The Australian Self Medication Industry (ASMI) today welcomed new research that confirmed the benefits of chondroitin sulphate for osteoarthritis. A Cochrane Review of 9,110 people across 43 randomised controlled studies revealed that chondroitin sulphate (alone or in combination with glucosamine) was better than…
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Precision Medicine – Pharmacy needs to get a move on
Primary health care teams in the US are currently being considered for the promotion of personalised medicine based on gene analysis. This has to be pharmacist territory, but given the time lag of pharmacist leadership organisations, Australian pharmacists may again miss the boat by not having decentralised training systems to be able to deliver suitable…
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Withdrawn drugs – our patients deserve better
Patients are dying because of year-long delays in withdrawing dangerous drugs from the global market, according to Oxford University researchers. They say that the danger could be reduced by better reporting of the deaths, and quicker action by manufacturers and regulators. Unbelievably, the time between the first death being reported, and the drug being withdrawn,…
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I’ve been thinking about drugs, wars, Christmases, and your hospital (the one you work in and/or the one you go to as a patient).
On my daily walks, I’ve been listening to Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption. I’m at Christmas of 1943—the year Bing Crosby’s newly recorded “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” began tugging at souls on radios across America. The tug persists. Though the bestseller’s central figure, Louis Zamperini, did…
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ASMI Media Releases – Labelling NSAIDS
ASMI welcomes TGA consultation on labelling of NSAIDs 5 February 2015 – The Australian Self Medication Industry (ASMI) today welcomed a Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) consultation on the labelling of oral over-the counter (OTC) nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Last year the TGA conducted a review of the cardiovascular safety of NSAIDs and the safety of…
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Is Chelation an ‘integrative’ SCAM?
An increasing number of medically trained ‘integrative‘ doctors are targeting older patients with offers of chelation for improved blood circulation and for other illnesses. Does this intervention reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease? Chelation is the administration of chelating agents, including vitamin C, vitamin B complex, heparin, sodium, minerals, trace elements, man-made amino acids, such…
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Pharmacy by Design – Reinventing the Dispensary
Recently, we published some work (Pharmacy by Design) carried out by some US design researchers that involved pharmacy design basic research. The company, which is called Nurture by Steelcase, conducted research over a number of differing pharmacy settings and came up with a number of principles that held true for a pharmacy in all those…
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NPS Media Release – MEDICINES CAN MAKE SKIN MORE SENSITIVE TO THE SUN: NPS MEDICINEWISE
Some medicines can make your skin more sensitive to the sun and this summer season NPS MedicineWise advises Australians to check their medicines packaging for warnings to avoid excessive skin exposure to sunlight and sunlamps. Clinical adviser at NPS MedicineWise, Dr Andrew Boyden says many people may have seen a label on their medicine packaging instructing them to avoid…
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Spread Ideas With Effective Visual Docs
While I was viewing this interesting slideshow it dawned on me that pharmacy communications had slipped badly because we had not embraced slidedoc communications with patients. Knowing the difference between a slidedoc and a slideshow presentation also helps. It also crossed my mind that patient information may be better served if it was designed in…