News a glance
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《加拿大医疗协会学报》
TB test: A new blood test for tuberculosis has been approved for use by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The QuantiFERON-TB Gold test is made by an Australian company and will be used instead of the 100-year-old tuberculin skin test. The new test detects interferon-gamma (IFN-) in the blood of sensitized people when it is mixed with two antigens specific to Mycobacterium tuberculosis. QuantiFERON-TB Gold will be used to test contacts of patients with tuberculosis, new immigrants and health care workers. — Sally Murray, CMAJ
No Bextra: Following a review of safety information, Health Canada has decided that valdecoxib (Bextra), a COX-2 selective inhibitor used to treat arthritis and pain, will not return to the market. Pfizer pulled the drug in April 2005 (CMAJ 2005:172;1299) becaue of a potential increased risk of cardiovascular events (including myocardial infarction and stroke) in patients taking valdecoxib for short-term pain relief after high-risk heart surgery. There is also an associated risk of rare but severe skin reactions (e.g., toxic epidermal necrolysis, Stevens–Johnson syndrome, erythema multiforme). Health Canada set up an expert advisory panel to review all COX-2 selective inhibitors after rofecoxib (Vioxx) was voluntary pulled from the market in September 2004. The panel found that the "overall risk versus benefit profile for Bextra does not support the marketing of this drug in Canada under its current conditions of use."
Luck of the draw: The 8000 residents of Yarmouth, NS, who don't currently have a family physician are eligible to enter a draw that may gain them admittance to a new clinic. When it opens this spring, the Ocean View Family Practice, consisting of 4 family physicians and 1 resident, will accept 1500 patients. Each applicant is assigned a number, and a computer program will randomly select the winners in April. It's an experiment to solve a "very long-standing" physician shortage that's "growing progressively worse as our current population of physicians begin to retire," said Blaise MacNeil, CEO of the local health authority.
Malaria therapy problem: WHO asked 17 drug companies in January to stop selling artemisinin as a stand-alone therapy for malaria because of the potentially huge increase in drug-resistant strains. The use of artemisinin as a monotherapy weakens but does not kill the parasite. When used correctly in combination with other antimalarial drugs in artemisinin combination therapies (ACTs), artemisinin is nearly 95% effective in curing malaria, and the parasite is highly unlikely to become drug resistant. ACTs are currently the most effective medicine available to treat malaria. Dr. Arata Kochi, head of the WHO malaria department, said he is trying to prevent the emergence of rare strains that are resistant to all drugs. The "potential risk is tremendous," he said. — Compiled by Barbara Sibbald, CMAJ
No Bextra: Following a review of safety information, Health Canada has decided that valdecoxib (Bextra), a COX-2 selective inhibitor used to treat arthritis and pain, will not return to the market. Pfizer pulled the drug in April 2005 (CMAJ 2005:172;1299) becaue of a potential increased risk of cardiovascular events (including myocardial infarction and stroke) in patients taking valdecoxib for short-term pain relief after high-risk heart surgery. There is also an associated risk of rare but severe skin reactions (e.g., toxic epidermal necrolysis, Stevens–Johnson syndrome, erythema multiforme). Health Canada set up an expert advisory panel to review all COX-2 selective inhibitors after rofecoxib (Vioxx) was voluntary pulled from the market in September 2004. The panel found that the "overall risk versus benefit profile for Bextra does not support the marketing of this drug in Canada under its current conditions of use."
Luck of the draw: The 8000 residents of Yarmouth, NS, who don't currently have a family physician are eligible to enter a draw that may gain them admittance to a new clinic. When it opens this spring, the Ocean View Family Practice, consisting of 4 family physicians and 1 resident, will accept 1500 patients. Each applicant is assigned a number, and a computer program will randomly select the winners in April. It's an experiment to solve a "very long-standing" physician shortage that's "growing progressively worse as our current population of physicians begin to retire," said Blaise MacNeil, CEO of the local health authority.
Malaria therapy problem: WHO asked 17 drug companies in January to stop selling artemisinin as a stand-alone therapy for malaria because of the potentially huge increase in drug-resistant strains. The use of artemisinin as a monotherapy weakens but does not kill the parasite. When used correctly in combination with other antimalarial drugs in artemisinin combination therapies (ACTs), artemisinin is nearly 95% effective in curing malaria, and the parasite is highly unlikely to become drug resistant. ACTs are currently the most effective medicine available to treat malaria. Dr. Arata Kochi, head of the WHO malaria department, said he is trying to prevent the emergence of rare strains that are resistant to all drugs. The "potential risk is tremendous," he said. — Compiled by Barbara Sibbald, CMAJ