Pharm House

Clinical Research outsourcing - India Shining

noreply@blogger.com (Seeji) — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 15:58:00 +0000

Recent report of RNCOS projects a huge growth for clinical trial outsourcing business in India. Their new report titled 'Booming clinical trials market in India' is very optimistic about India to emerge as the dominant destination in coming years.

According to our analysis, India is one of the most economical destinations for conducting global clinical trials. Companies can save a substantial amount in India on both staff and utilities. For instance, the salary of a clinical research associate is only 13% of that in the US and 17% and 19% as that in the UK and Germany respectively. Similarly, the cost of a biostatistician in India is only 15%, 18% and 17% as that in the US, UK and Germany respectively. Companies also save substantially on utilities and land while setting up their operations in India.

India presently occupies a very small pie of the global opportunity. The total number of clinical trials in India stood at 221 in 2007, which equates to less than 2% of the global clinical trials. With all major pharmaceutical/biotech companies and CROs establishing their presence in India, the number of clinical trials in the country is expected to grow several folds in the next five years. The country is projected to conduct nearly 5% of the global clinical trials by 2012.

DCGI halts a Wyeth clinical trial in India

noreply@blogger.com (Seeji) — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 14:48:00 +0000

In a knee jerk reaction, DCGI halts a Wyeth clinical trial in India. Probably the after effect of much-hyped AIIMS clinical trial fiasco.

Wyeth was testing their new pneumococcal vaccine (which covers more strains than the existing one, i.e. 12 Vs 7) in infants through a CRO based in Hyderabad. An infant in Bangalore site ( a medical college hospital) supposedly in control arm of the study died during the trial. It is now known that the infant had associated cardiac anomaly. Now the question is why the inclusion and exclusion criteria were not followed strictly? How this particular patient was included in the study in spite of a comorbid condition? Did Wyeth/CRO give protocol waiver for this?

Whom to blame in this tricky situation is not yet clear. Sponsor, CRO, or Principal Investigator? There is a clear indication of blame-game. Its gonna be interesting. I will come back with the updates.

Read the details here: Wyeth drug tests fall foul of watchdog

Blogger responses

Pharmalot writes India halts Wyeth vaccine trial over infant death

'Research Ethics Blog' posts 'Indian Vaccine trial halted over infant death'

A legend retires

noreply@blogger.com (Seeji) — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 15:43:00 +0000

Indian test cricket captain Anil Kumble decides to retire from international cricket. A spectacular career of 18 years comes to an end. I am not a cricket lover. I hardly watch cricket. But I love this thorough gentleman for his humility, great sportsmanship and perseverance.

Seeji

Akira Endo wins Lasker 2008, The 'American Nobel'

noreply@blogger.com (Seeji) — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 11:58:00 +0000

Akira Endo, a Japanese biochemist won the Lasker award for 2008 with four others. Akira is the scientist who discovered an LDL lowering fungi which led to the discovery of statins. He is currently acting as the director of Biopharm research laboratories.

We had written in one of our earlier post that Akira Endo deserves a Nobel. He got a Lasker today. Statistics shows 75 of Lasker awardees have gone on to win the Nobel. I am hopeful of my predictions coming true sooner.

Seeji

The AIIMS Clinical Trial 'Scandal'---Few More Points to Note

noreply@blogger.com (jhilaam) — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 07:09:00 +0000

This topic has already been dealt in the previous post....Just a few more points to help lay persons realise the nature of this 'scandal':

1.‘As many as 49 babies, many of whom hadn't even celebrated their first birthday, have died at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences while being subjected to clinical trials for testing new drugs and therapies over the last two and a half years’….and then, subsequently, ‘the AIIMS administration admitted that of the 4,142 babies — 2,728 of whom were below the age of one…’.I fail to understand the implication of these lines. Children per se are considered special groups in clinical research. Guidelines are in place to ensure trials in children are conducted ethically and these are lot more stringent compared to those for adult clinical trials. The report itself quotes AIIMS saying it had taken clearance for the trials from its own ethics committee, the health ministry steering committee (HMSC) on ethics and the national ethics committees of ICMR and DBT, leaving no doubt that ethical issues of involving children (and infants) in the trials had been taken care of adequately. Being infant and ‘not celebrating first Birthday’does not make them more vulnerable. It, however, surely makes the headline more sensational, apparently implying AIIMS doctors killed innocent babies, including many infants for the sake of trials!!!

2.The report highlights the ‘foreign-manufactured’ nature of several of the drugs tested, implying Indian children were made to be guinea pigs for testing foreign brands. Testing foreign-made drugs in Indian population is by no means a crime as long as one abides by the regulatory n ethical guidelines. It is not clear, what exactly made Mr Verma n TOI to ‘feel’ that use of these ‘foreign-manufactured’ medicines violated these guidelines. What factual data do they have anyway???

3. Mr Verma seems to have an issue with the literacy status of the parents, who are ‘unable to read n write’. He categorically mentions ‘the consent form that has to be filled by parents was read out by the treating physician for parents who were not able to read it themselves’…my question to Mr Verma, were u present during the IC procedure??? Are you sure there was no one by the designation of LAR (legally Acceptable Representative) or IW (Impartial Witness---has to be a literate person) while taking the Informed Consent of the parents (btw, do u even know what LAR n IW mean and what purpose they serve in the consent process????!!!!!)

4. AIIMS has clarified that most of the diseases on which trials were conducted were of serious nature, with death being the normal outcome and they were trying to see if a new drug can improve the mortality. With irresponsible media reporting like this you are killing all options of future research which might save our kids from hitherto incurable diseases. If you want to ‘save’ Indian children from becoming guinea-pigs to foreign made drugs, first get us the facts and figures so we know that they were really exploited. And till the time you don’t have evidence to support your ‘noble’ cause please keep mum and let the doctors of AIIMS to their bit towards developing new medicines for potentially incurable diseases.

5. Lastly, the concern Mr Verma has expressed in the report (‘I doubt if they even understand what a clinical trial is and what their children are being subjected to’) is a valid one. Only, this is rather more generalized than being confined to AIIMS. Several unethical trials have been conducted in India, thanks to the high illiteracy rate of our population. However, more important than illiteracy per se is the fact that majority of Indian population is ignorant of the basic issues of clinical research and clinical trial. It is an uncomfortable fact (and often a challenge faced by any responsible clinical research professional) that mostly subjects agree to participate in trials because of the assurance of free medicines and more attention from the treating physician that they get by virtue of being enrolled. I see only two options: let the state of ignorance continue and stop all trials altogether on Indian population (who are usually unable to take an informed decision, and thus will always remain vulnerable), or, take some initiative to make our population ‘clinical trials literate’ so they are not deprived of the opportunity of getting better drugs of tomorrow!!

I strongly recommend Times of India should, hereafter regularly publish details of clinical trials, including potential risks of participation, participants’ rights, ethical and GCP related issues to enlighten our common people and protect them from ‘exploitation’ in the hands of ‘White-Coat Murderers’!!!!

Irresponsible media and the route to 5 minutes fame

noreply@blogger.com (Seeji) — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 18:04:00 +0000

Times of India, leading daily, flashed one front page news today. “49 babies die during clinical trials at AIIMS”. My first response was of complete shock. What the hell ! Any unsuspected person who is unaware of the mortality, demographics and current statistics of India will jump to the conclusion that AIIMS doctors killed 49 babies overnight for the sake of clinical trials. It was evident when I reached workplace in the morning. Many people were talking about this news. TOI made some quick bucks at the expense of a sensational headline and story.

Only when you go through the news article, you will understand that

1. This data is of last 2.5 years.
2. Out of 4142 babies enrolled in trials 49 died. (comes to 1.18% mortality or 11.8 per thousand)
3. Only half of them are infants (and the rest I presume to be under-five age group).
4. There is no data on what is the current institutional mortality rate in infants, under-5 age group children otherwise with the standard of care.
5. There is no data on how many of these deaths were attributed to the study medication of clinical trials.

The intention is clear here. Someone by name Mr Verma needs a 5 minute fame on TV channels and TOI needs to sell some thousands copies more today. This amounts to suppression of essential information and giving a false impression. I feel he should be prosecuted for creating distrust in people towards AIIMS and clinical trials in general.

Let us look at the statistics in India at 2006 (the TOI published data starts at 2006)

Under-5 mortality rate at 2006 – 76 per thousand
Infant mortality rate (2006) – 57 per thousand [32.31 in 2008]
[ref: UNICEF]
11.8 per thousand is comparable to the present data. But we can not comment on this, unless we know the institutional mortality rates in children on standard of care.

We don’t have the data for AIIMS in particular. No analysis has been done to compare between mortality rates in children on clinical trials and on standard of care. No attempt has done by Mr Verma, to know the disease specific mortality in these trials. Article does mention some of the trials where the diseases in question are chronic focal encephalitis, Gauchers etc which deemed to have a high mortality.

I would advise Mr Verma to go through all these analysis first and still if he finds a significant rise in mortality associated to clinical trials, with our entire support let him take AIIMS to gallows.

Mr Verma has a valid point in saying that, seriously ill patients are denied admission to accommodate clinical trial patients. This is a serious offense and should be looked into. Community healthcare is the primary objective of any public funded institution like AIIMS. Research comes later. There are issues about informed consent process, which should be carefully monitored. But the approach to these concerns by giving a headline like “49 babies died….” is unacceptable. It has clearly misled people and has given a wrong signal. He should instead concentrate on more serious issues in clinical research in India and contribute to health care constructively.

On personal note, I am aware of the stature of AIIMS. I know of the stringent ethical guidelines their IRB specifies before accepting a clinical trial.

Please do remember that all the generic medicines what we comfortably use today have been tested in western population before. We pop in a 'lipitor' today without giving a thought about thousands of US nationals, who underwent clinical trials to get that wonder drug in market. But we raise a huge cry when a MNC performs a clinical trial in India. Only then we think of ‘guinea pigs’.

Seeji, Pharm House

Back in 'Pharm House'

noreply@blogger.com (Seeji) — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 15:48:00 +0000

Hi,

I was out of blogging for a while. I was absolutely busy with my personal and professional life.

I completed my specialization in 'clinical pharmacology' and started working for an innovation driven pharmaceutical company. I changed my location. In addition, lot of other things kept me busier.

Now I am back in 'Pharm House'. I want to mention that, all the views expressed in 'Pharm House' are solely mine and do not necessarily represent the views of my employer.

Seeji.

At the brink of a takeover ; The Orchid - Ranbaxy saga

noreply@blogger.com (Seeji) — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 06:35:00 +0000

When Mr Raghavendra Rao of Orchid Pharmaceuticals completed the formalities of its new subsidiary Orchid Japan KK and started relaxing, he was in for a shock. A particular syndicate of investors led by Solrex Pharmaceuticals had started gathering the Orchid shares and Orchid was at the brink of a takeover.

Solrex is believed to be backed by the promoters of Ranbaxy. A look into the recent trading of Orchid shares showed conclusively the way Solrex is buying in last 3-4 months. Solrex bought close to 3.5% recently when a major institutional promoter (Bear Stearns) of Orchid liquidated its holdings in March. That buy-out ups the total holdings of Solrex close to 12%.

Soon everyone figured out the happenings in backdrops and entered the frenzy in market. This resulted in Orchid witnessing 52 week high and lows in less than a month. The price of Orchid on March was a 52-week low of Rs 127.30, and on April 16, it closed at Rs 319.70, after scaling a 52-week high. But the silence from Ranbaxy about the takeover rumours, made the shares to loose the recent gains and it was around Rs 280 on April 19th. A high volatility observed in intra-day trading for the last couple of days.

All Ranbaxy had to say was “We don’t believe in hostile takeovers”. Ranbaxy states this as just another strategic investment like the ones they have in Jupiter Biosciences, Krebs Biochemicals and Zenotech laboratories.

This acquisition will, in all probability lead to a spate of acquisitions in the coming days. Unlike the western countries, Indian Pharma market is widely distributed in tens of thousands of small, family-owned companies, with no monopoly whatsoever. This is going to change soon with biggies entering the market with acquisitions & mergers.

Ranbaxy has lot to gain with this acquisition by taking control of impressive API cephalosporins market of Orchid, FDA approved manufacturing facilities and R&D centers. Orchid has more than 25 FDA approved ANDAs and many in the process. Highly experienced Mr.Rao is less likely to yield to pressure. In all probability he will look out for strategic investors to tide through the crisis.

Graph courtesy: moneycontrol.com

Local Central Lab Model in Clinical Trials

noreply@blogger.com (Seeji) — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 05:21:00 +0000

To overcome the problem with biologic sample logistics in multicentric clinical trials, a new model of 'local central lab' is coming up.

The local lab will conduct the trial in its region. In addition to the sample analysis, it will support the clinical sites and take care of the inbound and outbound samples and kit logistics. The data will be transferred to the global data manager according to the global central lab's specifications

The recent issue of 'Applied Clinical Trials' has an article on this upcoming model.

What a week for Indian doctors !!!

noreply@blogger.com (Seeji) — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 10:28:00 +0000

Last week was eventful, at least for the Medical professionals in India.

Dr Horror (Dr.Amit Kumar), the alleged mastermind of India's biggest illegal kidney transplant racket, was arrested in Nepal and brought to India.

Dr Sex (Dr.Prakash from Chennai, India) got 'Life imprisonment' in a Pornography racket.

An intern and a final year medical student were arrested on charges of terrorism in Karnataka, India.

Where are we heading ???

Morphine, Ice cream, Tears: Tales of a City Hospital

noreply@blogger.com (Seeji) — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 05:20:00 +0000

Last night, caught hold of this book from my dusty cupboard while updating 'my library' at 'the library thing' (A random list of books from my library are displayed in left sidebar). I could not resist giving a quick revision. Wanted to share this part,

Somebody should have told me, way back when I made the decision to become a doctor, somebody should have sat me down and said, "Kid, think twice. It ain't what it seems to be from the outside, this medical business. It has nothing to do with the hype, or the status, or the media image, or Ben Casey, or Marcus Welby, or any of that crap. The fact is that it can get very ugly and very uncomfortable, so give it a good long think before you get involved."
---- Joseph Sacco MD in Morphine, Ice cream, Tears: Tales of a City Hospital

No comments

Racial disparities in Clinical Research

noreply@blogger.com (Seeji) — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 06:47:00 +0000

Lack of minority physician clinical investigators in Industry funded clinical trials.

........9.3% of all white physicians actively participate as principal investigators in industry-funded clinical trials, only 3.7% of minority physicians do.

Read more at Tackling Racial Disparities in Research

Subscribe for RSS / E-mail for regular updates

Related:
Racial/Ethnic disparities in health care
Scientists & Racism

FDA office in India ?

noreply@blogger.com (Seeji) — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 07:38:00 +0000

FDA is likely to open an office in India. As we know, India exports a significant quantity of food and drugs to USA. US Health and Human Service Secretary Michael O.Leavitt and Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Andrew Von Eschenbach are in India now.

Read more at US planning to set up FDA office in India

Hat tip: Pharmalot

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Mind over matter

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 12:37:00 +0000

Dear Friends,

Wish you all a very happy new year :)

I am taking part in this blog as a guest blogger to add some 'eccentricity'. You can expect more posts soon over next few months.

I would also like to inform you of a few more websites coming up which would focus primarily on the mental health in India. I would be soon publishing these websites and would value your contributions. (www.eccentric.in and www.eccentric.co.in ) :) .

With help from Seeji and Max(of Docnook forums) , I would be launching another website www.placebo.in which would be focussed on current research in medicine and allied specialities.

If you require any further information please feel free to contact us.

Thanks and once again wishing you a prosperous new year

regards,

Zodiac

Help Us Go To School (HUGS India)

noreply@blogger.com (Basanth) — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 10:37:00 +0000

This is a group of and for enthusiasts, interested in making the world a better place, one little step at a time. Talking of little steps, we currently distribute footwear for our little children (in India) ..........

(1) in a bid to encourage them in attending school (How often have we seen children skip along the hot roads to school, many on empty stomachs!) and........

(2)with an aim to promoting better health, in general, and reducing the impact of soil borne infections, in particular.

We also impart health education at the various points of contact with the target population. Medical camps will be conducted. We will diversify according to needs, as and when resources permit. Our Trust is registered with the Government of Tamil Nadu, India (2004/2007).

For a mere 50 rupees (around 1$) per child, we realized that we could make a significant difference. If you are interested to know more about the organization or would like to contribute by donating your money, time or expertise -

visit HUGS India

Basanth (For the HUGSINDIA team)

PS: I will be writing for 'Pharm House' as a Guest blogger for next few months.

Cheers to a New Year !!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Seeji) — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 16:22:00 +0000

Dear readers,

"Of all sound of all bells, the most solemn and touching is the peal which rings out the Old Year"– Charles Lamb

We at ‘Pharm House’ wish you all a very happy new year. We wish every one of you abundant peace, health and happiness in the coming year.

Due to some other important assignment, I am not updating the blog for a while now. I will resume, soon after I get freed from my doctoral dissertation obligations. In the meantime a guest writer will be writing for ‘Pharm House’. If you are visiting for the first time, we request you to sign up for RSS feeds/E-mail for regular updates.

Thank you everyone for all the support given in 2007. ‘Pharm House’ got a mention at ‘Top 100 healthcare blogs’, ‘Pharma blogosphere’ and ‘Medblogs’. Few of the posts were picked by ‘Desipundit’ and ‘The Hindu’. Visitor counter is approaching 9000. Google page rank has increased to 4 from 0 over the year. Guys, thank you for everything.

In the coming year, ‘Pharm House’ will continue to bring you, the world of Pharma, the booming Indian Pharma, Clinical research, ethics and many more things.

Have fun!!!

Seeji

Jhilaam

Medscape's 'Top 10' articles in 2007

noreply@blogger.com (Seeji) — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 05:10:00 +0000

Medscape has released its top 10 most read articles in 2007. Have a look. Some of which have been blogged (about) here before.

1.		Pergolide Withdrawn From US Market (in Pharm House: Parkinson's drug pulled out in US over concerns of Cardiac valvulopathy)
2.		Imaging X-rays Cause Cancer: A Call to Action for Caregivers and Patients
3.		Applying New NIH Guidelines for Pediatric Asthma: An Infant Who Has Failed Previous Asthma Therapy
4.		The Rosiglitazone Aftermath: Legitimate Concerns or Hype?
5.		New Limits to Ketek Use, FDA Says
6.		Guidelines Updated for Adult Immunization Schedule
7.		Marketing of Zelnorm Suspended; Drug Linked to Slight Increase in CV Events (in Pharm House: Novartis discontinues Zelnorm over safety concerns)
8.		AAP Recommends Autism Screening for All Infants
9.		Comparative Effectiveness of Second-Generation Antidepressants in the Pharmacologic Treatment of Adult Depression: AHRQ Executive Summary
10.		Raising High-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol: What Are We Learning From the Torcetrapib Experience? (in Pharm House: 'ILLUMINATE' trial fails to illuminate Pfizer's hopes)

November summary

noreply@blogger.com (Seeji) — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 14:29:00 +0000

Well, here is a list of popular posts during last month (based on feedburner data). Check if you have missed any.

1. Doctors who made it big outside medicine

2. Doctors can get green card to migrate to USA

3. Plagiarism ; Anna University's turn?

4. Takeda's Rozerem; International bad product award

5. Clinical Trial Registry of India (CTRI) launched

Seeji, Pharm House

Need a pill? Run to nearby Post office!

noreply@blogger.com (Seeji) — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 14:02:00 +0000

If the initiatives of OPPI (Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India) work out, soon you (if you are in India) can get your pills (OTC only) at your post office.

Economic times reports

Over-the-counter (OTC) drugs may soon be available in post offices across the country if an initiative by the drug makers and the government fructify. In a bid increase the access of essential drugs to consumers, pharma companies are in talks with the government to use post offices to sell OTC drugs.

Drug makers are obviously looking at the wide reach of post offices, which have a presence in nooks and corners of the country. Post office is struggling to maintain the dwindling revenues after reduced postal use among Indians. Do you see a win-win situation here??

Seeji, Pharm House

Docs who made it big outside medicine

noreply@blogger.com (Seeji) — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 07:38:00 +0000

I came across this list in one of the RxPG forums posted by Omlakhani, who (or someone) has enlisted the physicians who branched out of medicine field and made it big outside. I was pleasantly surprised to see the big names in the list whom I never knew to be physicians. List is here for you.

Add to the list if you know anyone who is not here, by entering them in the comments section.

Physicians famous as writers

Among the better known writers:

Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) - Russian playwright

Robin Cook - American author of bestselling novels, wrote Coma

Michael Crichton (born 1942) - American author of Jurassic Park
.
A. J. Cronin (1896-1981) - Scottish novelist and essayist, author of The Citadel.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) - British author of Sherlock Holmes fame.

John Keats (1795-1821) - English poet

W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) - British novelist and short story writer, wrote Of Human Bondage.

Alfred de Musset (1810-1857) - French playwright, discovered sign of syphilitic aortitis

François Rabelais (1483-1553) - French author of Gargantua and Pantagruel.

Friedrich von Schiller (1759-1805), German writer, poet, essayist and dramatist.

William Carlos Williams (1883-1963) - American poet and essayist

And others:

John Arbuthnot - author

Patrick Abercromby (1656 - ~ 1716) - historian

Janet Asimov - (born 1926) (née Janet O. Jeppson). American psychiatrist, wife of Isaac Asimov.

Arnie Baker - cycling coach

Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682) - British writer

Georg Büchner - German dramatist

Ludwig Büchner - German philosopher

Thomas Campion - poet, composer

Deepak Chopra - Indian/American writer of self-help and health books

Alex Comfort (1920-2000) - British writer and poet, author of The Joy of Sex.

Michael Cook - American writer of suspense novels

Ctesias (5th century B.C.) - Greek historian

Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802). British poet, grandfather of Charles Darwin

Georges Duhamel (1884-1966) - French writer, dramatist, poet and humanist

Havelock Ellis (1859-1940) - British writer and poet, author of The Psychology of Sex

Victor Frankl (1905-1997) - Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist, author of Man's Search for Meaning

Samuel Garth (1661-1719) - British author and translator of classics

Atul Gawande, surgeon and New Yorker medical writer.

H. Richard Hornberger author of M*A*S*H

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809-1894) - American essayist

Arthur Johnston (1587-1641) - poet

Ronald Laing - Scottish writer and poet, leader of the anti-Psychiatry movement.

Stanisław Lem (1929-) - Polish author of science-fiction (Solaris)

Carlo Levi (1902-1975) - Italian novelist and writer

David Livingstone (1813-1873) - Scottish medical missionary, explorer of Africa, travel writer

Adeline Yen Mah - Chinese-American author.

Jean-Paul Marat (1743-1793) - French writer, a leader of French Revolution, assassinated in bathtub

Paolo Mantegazza (1831-1910) - Italian writer, wrote a science fiction book, L'Anno 3000

Silas Weir Mitchell (1829-1914) - American writer

João Guimarães Rosa - Brazilian writer

Sir Ronald Ross (1857-1932) - British writer and poet, discovered the malarial parasite.

Oliver Sacks (1933-). British essayist (e.g. The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat)

Albert Schweitzer(1875-1965) - German theologian, philosopher, organist, musicologist

Frank Slaughter (1908-2001) American bestseller author, wrote (Doctor's Wives)

Tobias Smollett (1721-1771) - author

Lewis Thomas (1913-1993) - American essayist and poet

Sir Henry Thompson, British surgeon and polymath.

Vladislav Vančura (1891-1942) - Czech writer, scriptwriter and film director

Francis Brett Young (1884-1954) - English novelist and poet

Physicians famous as politicians

Bashar Al-Assad - President of Syria

Ibrahim Al-Jaafari - Prime minister of Iraq

Iyad Allawi - interim Prime Minister of Iraq

Salvador Allende (1908-1973) - Chilean president

Emilio Alvarez Montalván - Foreign Minister of Nicaragua

Arnulfo Arias - Panaman President

Michelle Bachelet - Current Chilean President

Hastings Kamuzu Banda (1898-1997) - Prime Minister, President and later dictator of Malawi

Louis Blanqui - French revolutionary socialist

Frederick William Borden - Canadian MP and minister of the Militia

Bob Brown - parliamentry leader of the Australian Greens

Gro Harlem Brundtland (born 1939) - first Norwegian female prime minister and Director-General of the World Health Organization

Georges Clemenceau (1841-1929) - French statesman

Margaret Chan - Director General of the WHO and former Director of Health of Hong Kong

York Chow - Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food of Hong Kong

Tom Coburn (born 1948) - U.S. Senator

Howard Dean (born 1948) - American politician

François Duvalier (1907-1971) - also known as Papa Doc - President and later dictator of Haiti

Antônio Palocci Filho - Brazilian politician, Finance Minister

Christian Friedrich, Baron von Stockmar - Anglo-Belgian statesman

Bill Frist (born 1952) - United States Senate Majority Leader

Hedy Fry (born 1941) - Canadian politician, member of parliament

Che Guevara Latin American revolutionary leader

George Habash - founder of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

John Pope Hennessy - former Governor of Hong Kong

Juscelino Kubitscheck - Brazilian president

Jean-Paul Marat - French revolution leader

Mahathir bin Mohamad - Malaysian prime minister

Agostinho Neto (1922-1979) - MPLA leader and president of Angola

David Owen - British politician

Ron Paul (born 1935) - American politician

Navin Ramgoolam - Prime minister of Mauritius

José Rizal (1861-1896) - Filipino revolutionary and national hero

Théodore Robitaille - Lieutenant Governor of Quebec, Quebec MNA and Senator

Hélio de Oliveira Santos - Brazilian politician, mayor of Campinas

Tabaré Vázquez - Current Uruguayan President

Bette Stephenson - Ontario MPP and former Minister of Labour, Minister of Education and Minister of Colleges and Universities

Sun Yat-Sen (1866-1925) - Founder of republican China

Donald Matheson Sutherland - MP and former minister of National Defence

Sir Charles Tupper (1821–1915) - Prime Minister of Canada (1896) and Premier of Nova Scotia (1864-1867); High Commissioner in Great Britain (1884-1887)

Ali Akbar Velayati (born 1945) - Iranian Foreign Minister from 1981 to 1997.

William Walker (soldier) (1824-1860) - ruler of Nicaragua

Dave Weldon - US congressman and autism activist

Ray Lyman Wilbur (1875-1949) - United States Secretary of the Interior, president of Stanford University

Thomas Wynne (1627-1691) - Physician to William Penn, speaker of the first two Provincial Assemblies in Philadelphia (1687 & 1688)

Yeoh Eng-kiong - former Secretary for Health and Welfare of Hong Kong

Physicians famous for other activities

Abd-el-latif — traveller

Anderson Ruffin Abbott

Jane Addams - social activist

Georg Agricola — mineralologist

David Alter - inventor

Ali Bacher — cricketer

Josiah Bartlett - American statesman and chief justice of New Hampshire

Herman Boerhaave — humanist

Thomas Bowdler — censor

Lafayette Bunnell — explorer of Yosemite Valley

Graham Chapman — British comedian of Monty Python fame

Laurel B. Clark (1961–2003), American Astronaut, killed in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster
Arthur Dee
Sextus Empiricus (2nd–3rd century C.E.) - philosopher

Pierre Gassendi (1592–1655) — philosopher

William Gilbert (1544–1603) — physician and physicist

W. G. Grace — cricketer

Nehemiah Grew — botanist

Samuel Hahnemann — founder of homeopathy

Armand Hammer — entrepreneur

Samuel Gridley Howe — abolitionist

Hermann von Helmholtz — physicist

Jan Baptist van Helmont (1577–1655) — physiologist

Mae Jemison (b. 1956) — astronaut

Stuart Kauffman (b. 1939) — biologist

John Harvey Kellogg

Cesare Lombroso (1835–1909) — based his system of criminology on physiognomy

John Lovelock (1910–1949) — Olympic athlete

John McAndrew (b. 1927) — All-Ireland Gaelic Footballer

June McCarroll — inventor of lane markings

James McHenry (1753–1816) — signer of the United States Constitution

Archibald Menzies — naturalist

Franz Mesmer (1734–1815) — proponent of mesmerism and the idea of animal magnetism

Jonathan Miller — television presenter and stage director

Paul Möhring (1710–1792) — zoologist, botanist

Maria Montessori — educator

Boris V. Morukov — cosmonaut

Lee "Final Table" Nelson — professional poker player

Haing S. Ngor (Oscar winning film actor)

Nostradamus — French esoterist.

Heinrich Wilhelm Matthäus Olbers (1758–1840) — astronomer

Caspar Peucer

Christian Hendrik Persoon -South African botanist

Claude Perrault — architect

Philippe Pinel

Pope John XXI

Mowaffak al-Rubaie — human rights advocate, member of the Interim Iraqi Governing Council

John Ray plant taxonomer

Peter Mark Roget — English lexicographer

Jacques Rogge — sports official

Benjamin Rush — signer of the United States Constitution

Daniel Rutherford (1849–1819) — chemist

Felix Savart - physicist

Alfred Schopenhauer — philosopher

Albert Schweitzer — humanist

Michael Servetus (1511–1553) — burnt at the stake by Calvinists for heresy

Rob Sitch comedian

Sócrates — football (soccer) player

L.Subramaniam - violonist

James Hudson Taylor (1832 - 1905) - British missionary to China and founder of the China Inland Mission.

Norman Earl Thagard — astronaut

Debi Thomas (b. 1967) - Olympic figure skater

William E. Thornton — astronaut

Nasiruddin al-Tusi astronomer

William Walker Latin American Adventurer

John Clarence Webster — Canadian historian

Wilhelm Weinberg — with G.H. Hardy, developed the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium model of population genetics

Michael Welner - Forensic psychiatrist

JPR Williams — rugby union player

Thomas Young — scientist

Ayman al-Zawahiri Al-Qaeda leader

Thats a long list....

Like to add some more...?? Use the comments section

Seeji, Pharm House

Drug Action Forum – Karnataka (DAF-K) Award

noreply@blogger.com (Seeji) — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 11:39:00 +0000

DAF-K has invited entries for their annual award. Drug Action Forum – Karnataka is an independent, voluntary, non profit, non government organization (NGO), campaigning for Rational Drug Therapy and Policy.

The topic for the essay is "Imatinib mesylate - the controversy surrounding it"

Entry is restricted only for medical students (under graduates, post graduates and internees) in India. Interested can contact them at

57, Tejaswinagar,
Dharwad 580 002
Karnataka, INDIA.
Telephone 0836-2461554
drdabade [at] gmail [dot] com

Wiser Wiki ; A medical wiki site

noreply@blogger.com (Seeji) — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 11:12:00 +0000

Elsevier has launched a medical wiki website, in similar lines to the acclaimed wikipedia. This wiki site will be catering to the needs of Practicing Physicians and students. There is a need for a platform for medical personnel to collaborate and contribute medical information.

WiserWiki is a wiki that will allow accredited physicians to comment, collaborate and update medical information online and is viewable by everyone. The site was originally seeded with content from John Noble’s “Textbook of Primary Care Medicine” (3rd Edition).

Wiserwiki is online currently in its beta version. The provisions of registering and editing the contents are restricted only to the registered medical practitioners. Such restrictions make the contents more authentic and reliable.

We congratulate the Elsevier team for this initiative.

Seeji, Pharm House

PS:

When Wikipedia is a complete no-advertisement site, I did observe the google ads in WiserWiki. (Wikipedia is currently, desperately looking out for donations) May be the ads are essential to run the site without financial constraints and will help the people if the ads are contextual.

WiserWiki team explains

"We do not currently expect to generate a significant amount of revenue on WiserWiki and hope to use the proceeds to recover the costs of operating and managing the site. The advertising is meant to be unobtrusive and of value to users who are interested in the content of the wiki."

Related :

Wikis For Dummies

Happy Diwali

noreply@blogger.com (Seeji) — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 09:59:00 +0000

Pharm House wishes all its readers a 'Happy Diwali' .

Diwali, a Festival of Lights.

Lessons from Intel Boss

noreply@blogger.com (Seeji) — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 05:30:00 +0000

Newsweek published an interview with the former CEO of Intel Corp Andrew S Grove. This interview was done before his speech in annual meeting of Scociety of Neurosciences. There he challenged big pharma companies, many of which haven't had an important new compound approved in ages, and academic researchers who are content with getting NIH grants and publishing research papers with little regard to whether their work leads to something that can alleviate disease, and asked them to change their ways.

In this publication-driven-research practice age, there are lot of missing links which retard the growth. Mr Grove observes the fact that, in the same time span when there were amazing discoveries in his area of semiconductors, the treatment of Parkinson’s (Grove suffers from Parkinson’s) moved from L-Dopa to L-dopa.

Grove questions, why the successful experiments in animal models hardly translate to human treatments.

Very insightful interview which gives different dimensions,

Newsweek : In what way does the semiconductor industry offer lessons to pharma?

Grove: ......... It [semiconductor industry] has done a bunch of unbelievable things [ in last 40 years of his involvement there], powering computers of increasing power and speed. But in the treatment of Parkinson's, we have gone from levodopa to levodopa. ALS [Lou Gehrig's disease] has no good treatment; Alzheimer's has none.

But again, Pharma & Semiconductor industry are completely different ballgames. Though one can draw some similarities between them, they have unique limitations and obstacles.

The things which worry me are

1. The low quality of translational research in academics where it is more publication driven.

2. Emphasis given to the ‘me-too’ drugs in industry R&D, than going in to the new lead (which involves more risks).

Read the complete interview here

Seeji, Pharm House

Generics ; India Scores Over China

noreply@blogger.com (Seeji) — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 15:56:00 +0000

When it comes to generic drug market in US, Indian companies show the way. They are consistently ahead of China in number of ANDAs amd DMFs.

Business Line has an article. India scores over China in US generic drug market

India’s DMF filings in the US increased from 187 in 2004 to 252 in 2005 to 357 in 2006. Comparatively, China’s DMF filings in the US increased from 48 in 2004 to 87 in 2005 to 128 in 2006

One in four abbreviated new drug applications (ANDA), filed to be able to sell the medicine in the US, is from an Indian drug company.