There was an email from a Group ,of which I am a member, this morning that the Delhi Police that the soft drink Froot is contaminated with HIV Virus and
The story supposed to be an important message from Delhipolice states that a worker from Frooti company has added his blood, contaminated with HIV (AIDS), and so, you should not drink any product of Frooti for the next few weeks. The story also claims that this public warning was shown on NDTV. However, all this is complete hoax.
“HIV does not live long outside the body. Even if small amounts of HIV-infected blood or semen was consumed, exposure to the air, heat from cooking, and stomach acid would destroy the virus. Therefore, there is no risk of contracting HIV from eating food.”
Therefore, it is quite clear that this message of Frooti containing HIV is yet another hoax to scare people in the name of health. This is in fact another version of an old hoax talking about HIV in Pepsi. The message need not be shared”
Drug Companies arbitrarily fix rates and when an indigenous manufacturer is ready to supply at a fraction of the cost, these Drug companies hide behind patents.
A sample.
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India‘s patent appeals office has rejected Bayer AG‘s plea to stop the production of a cheaper generic version of a patented cancer drug in a ruling that health groups say is an important precedent for getting inexpensive lifesaving medicines to the poor.
Last year, India’s patent office allowed local drug manufacturer Natco Pharma Ltd. to produce a generic version of Bayer’s kidney and liver cancer drug Nexavar on the grounds it would make the drug available to the public at a reasonably affordable price. It was the first use of compulsory licensing under Indian patent laws passed in 2005.
The Intellectual Property Appellate Board rejected the German drug maker’s appeal of the 2012 ruling on Monday. It also ruled that under the license Natco must pay 7 per cent in royalties on net sales to Bayer.
Bayer sells a one month supply of the drug for about $5,600. Natco’s version would cost Indian patients $175 a month, less than 1/30th as much.
Western pharmaceutical companies have been pushing for stronger patent protections in India to regulate the country’s $26 billion US generics industry, which they say frequently flouts intellectual property rights. However, health activists and aid groups counter that Indian generics are a lifesaver for patients in poor countries who cannot afford Western prices to treat diseases such as cancer, malaria and HIV.
Bayer said Tuesday it “strongly” disagreed with the appeal panel’s decision and would pursue the case in the high court in India’s commercial capital Mumbai
A: Medicines produced by generic companies in India are among the cheapest in the world. That is because, until 2005, India did not grant patents on medicines. India is one of the few developing countries with production capacity to manufacture quality-assured generic medicines.
By producing cheaper generic versions of medicines that were patented in other countries, India became a key source of affordable medicines, such as antiretroviral medicines (ARVs) to treat HIV and AIDS. Eighty percent of the medicines MSF uses to treat 170,000 people living with HIV in its projects today are sourced from Indian generic drug companies, and over 80 percent of all HIV and AIDS medicines bought by donors also come from India. In the case of treatment for pediatric AIDS, Indian generic producers supply over 90 percent of medicines used in developing countries. This is why India is known as the “pharmacy of the developing world.”
Q: What is the relationship between patents and affordable medicines?
A: When a pharmaceutical company has a patent in a country, it means it has a monopoly in that country for a certain amount of time. This means it can prevent other companies from producing, selling, or importing the medicine in that country for the duration of the patent term, which, according to World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, is a minimum of 20 years. This in turn allows companies to charge high prices because there are no competitors in the market.
In the absence of patents, multiple generic producers produce medicines, further driving the price down. Competition among different producers is the tried and tested way to bring prices down. Competition among generic manufacturers is what helped bring the cost of HIV and AIDS treatment down from over US$10,000 per patient per year in 2000 to $150 today. The absence of patents in India has also helped in the development of three-in-one HIV/AIDS medicines called fixed-dose combination pills, and formulations for children.
Q: Aren’t patents needed to stimulate innovation for new drugs by pharmaceutical companies?
A: An increasing number of studies have shown that while patent protection has increased over the last 20 years, the innovation rate has been falling, with an increase in the number of “me-too” drugs of little or no therapeutic gain. This undermines the case that is often made by the pharmaceutical industry that more patent protection would result in more investment in medical innovations.
A study published in 2005 concluded that 68 percent of the 3,096 new products approved in France between 1981 and 2004 brought “nothing new” over previously available preparations. Similarly, the British Medical Journal published a study rating barely 5 percent of all newly patented drugs in Canada as “breakthrough.” And a breakdown of over 1,000 new drugs approved by the US Food and Drug Administration between 1989 and 2000 revealed that over three quarters have no therapeutic benefit over existing products.
In addition, the 2006 report of the World Health Organization’s Commission on Intellectual Property, Innovation, and Public Health also found that there was no evidence that the implementation of WTO rules on patents in developing countries significantly boosts research and development in pharmaceuticals for diseases affecting developing countries.
Q: Does India not grant patents on medicines at all?
A: As a WTO member, India has to comply with trade rules set by the WTO. One of these is the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, or TRIPS, which obliges WTO member countries to grant patents on pharmaceuticals. To comply with this international obligation, India amended its patent law in 2005 and started to grant patents on medicines. As a result, when patents are granted in the country, Indian generic manufacturers are not able to produce cheaper generic versions of these medicines.”
I have a friend in Bangalore whose close relative is a distributor for Cancer drugs.
He sells a medicine at Rs 8000 to Patients ans he makes a profit of 22% if he sells it Rs.1800!
next time your Doctor recommends you a Cancr Drug, as him show the combination, check the information at the Link below and confront him to prescribe an an equivalent Indian Drug or ask him to give you details of other drugs available in the market.
Please remember these Drugs will not arrest Cancer immediately and you have some time to buy them.
Cancer Drugs.
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This list includes more than 100 cancer drug information summaries from NCI. The summaries provide consumer-friendly information about cancer drugs and drug combinations.
Summaries for individual cancer drugs cover the uses of these drugs, research results, possible side effects, approval information, and ongoing clinical trials. The list includes brand and generic names for the drugs.
Summaries for cancer drug combinations are listed by abbreviation or common name and are shown in capital letters. Each summary gives a list of the drugs that make up the combination and explains what the combination is used for. It also has links to summaries for individual drugs in the combination.
The Guardian Africa has disclosed that VOICE( Vaginal and Oral Interventions to Control the Epidemic) that women ‘refusing to take the HIV Pill or Tablet which could reduce the chances of ContractingHIV Disease.
Is this women’s instinctive feeling that these Pills ot Gel are nothing but a Sales gimmick by Pharma Comapnies?
The disappointing results of the Vaginal and Oral Interventions to Control the Epidemic (Voice) trial this week — that most participants had willingly not taken a potentially life-saving anti-HIV pill or used a protective vaginal gel — left researchers with the million-dollar question: Why would young, single African women not take free drugs that could potentially save them from contracting a life-threatening infection?
The Voice study tested whether a daily antiretroviral pill that contained either tenofovir or Truvada (a combination of tenofovir and emtricitabine), or a once-a-day vaginal gel consisting of 1% tenofovir, were effective in protecting South African, Ugandan and Zimbabwean women against HIV infection. Previous studies have shown that the medication shields HIV-negative people from contracting HIV, depending on how regularly they use it.
The American government‘s iPrEx study, conducted among men who have sex with men, found that men who took a daily Truvada pill 90% of the time had a 72.8% lower chance of HIV infection than those who did not take it.
Further, the Partners PrEP study of Washington University revealed that the HIV-negative partners in heterosexual, discordant couples — where one person has the virus and the other one does not — were up to 75% less likely to get infected with HIV if they took a Truvada tablet once a day.
In the Partners PrEP trial, eight out of 10 participants took their drugs correctly, and more than half did so in the iPrEx study. But, in the Voice trial, less than a third of women used their pills consistently and fewer than a quarter used their gel. Single African women younger than 25 were the least likely to use their products and the most likely to contract HIV, the study showed.
The iPrEx and Partners PrEP studies were, however, conducted on different populations — gay men and discordant couples — where the incentive to take the medicine might have been higher, said Kevin Rebe of the Anova Health Institute’s Health4Men clinic in Cape Town.
“When an HIV-negative person is sexually involved with an HIV-infected person, the negative person is likely to perceive his or her risk of getting infected as pretty high which may motivate them to take treatment regularly,” he said.
The “predictability” of someone’s life
According to Rebe, who has five HIV-negative patients on preventative antiretrovirals, the “predictability” of someone’s life closely relates to how well they adhere to their HIV medication regimen.
It is a known fact that in India, one can go to almost any pharmacy and ask for any medicine and they will sell it without a doctor’s prescription.who buy Valium, Restyl,Lexotanil,Lomotil ,ResteclinCCortisone, Oestrogen, Testosterone, Novalgine, Chloroquine, Ativan, Serenace halcion ,Imogesic (Brufen is a banned Drug),any other broad spectrum Anti-Biotic.
Self medication
Not a single pharmacy keeps records of prescriptions.
Worse still some these drugs are sold in small shops selling Cigarettes,Provisions,where , in most of these cases, the shopkeepers are illiterate or can not read English!
Many people also abuse prescriptions:
Commonly used drugs for self medication include: pain killers, sedatives, sleeping pills, anti depressants, anti- inflammations, antibiotics, skin bleach creams, eye drops, diet tablets, sex stimulants, hormone tabletsand heartburn tablets. Very few people including many doctors and nurses are aware of drug interactions. For example: Clozapine is an antipsychotic drug. It is from the benzodiazepine family of tranquilizers. If Clozapine is used with Lithium or Valium, or even Heparin, Digoxin or alcohol, it can trigger Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome which is characterized by high fever, convulsions, irregular heart beat, B.P, fainting, coma and even death.
Ciprofloxacin, a common new antibiotic should not be taken with milk or other dairy products for at least two hours. The same is true of other tetracycline .
Antidepressants with Alcohol may cause Coma or Death!
Vitamin maniacs are also getting more and more common.
There are many types and combinations of vitamins, with and without minerals as well as other trace elements so it is best to be sensible and not jump from one to another.
There is also a school of thought which says that Vitamin tablets are a waste of money unless taken from Natural resources, Food.
There is also a craze to get vitamin B Complex and calcium injections.
It is important to measure the level of vitamin B and calcium existing in blood.
AIDS and Hepatitis is fairly common and few really need vitamin injections form, so why run the risk of unnecessary injections?
Many people do not have a proper record of the medications that they are allergic to, and most only vaguely point it out to doctors.
Before taking the next tablet, syrup, injection or medication in any form, making note of the following factors might come in handy:
Effect on other medicines and special precautions for use.
Effect on food.
Storage methods.
What to do if a dose is missed.
Less expensive generic varieties available with the same potency.
Usage instructions during pregnancy.
Expiration date.
My advice is do not take medicines on your own.
In an emergency check out the Drugs at any Link below, which would tell you what would happen, the composition , the side effects and additional details.
On the 25th World AIDS Day, a woman afflicted with AIDS shares her experience.
25 World AIDS Day
“The Public Health Agency has just published figures showing the number of people diagnosed with HIV in Northern Ireland rose by 3 percent in 2011. There are now 522 people living with HIV infection in Northern Ireland. The PHA released the figures to mark World Aids day which is this Saturday’
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