| Nepal cabinet, jaundiced in body and in view?
Kathmandu, Feb 2 (IANS) A jaundiced outlook could be behind Nepal's troubles, says the kingdom's columnists, literally. Currently, five ministers in Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala's cabinet are down with jaundice, hepatitis and other illnesses. Deputy Prime Minister K.P. Oli, who has toured an enviable number of foreign countries in his capacity as foreign minister since May, is now confined to a hospital bed at Kathmandu's Maharajgunj Teaching Hospital, where he has been diagnosed with hepatitis. Four of his cabinet colleagues are also on sick bed. Commerce, Industry and Supplies Minister Hridayesh Tripathi, who hit the headlines last week with his resignation to protest against the government's ignoring of the demands of protesters in the Terai plains for an autonomous state, did it from his sick bed.
Drug-coated stents can cause clotting
Christa Butler's drug-coated stent may have saved her life, but it's forced her to continue taking an anti-clotting drug for at least the next six months or risk arterial clotting, a heart attack or even death. Because Butler, a 58-year-old Victoria woman, was implanted in August with that drug-coated stent, she must continue paying $100 a month for Plavix, and that's with insurance. In August, Butler's doctor recommended she take Plavix for about a year, and other doctors nationwide have been instructed to offer similar advice. That's because studies show almost 29 percent of patients who stop using anti-clotting drugs after having a drug-coated stent implanted will have arterial blood clotting, according to the American Heart Association, among others. A drug-coated stent is a tiny, wire-mesh tube that helps to keep arteries open, while emitting a drug.
Consumer Reports Reviews TV Advertised Drugs
(CBS4) BOSTON The pharmaceutical industry spends billions of dollars a year advertising drugs directly to people like you, but as you're about to see, you need to beware. Consumer Reports says the most highly promoted drugs aren't necessarily your best choice.TV Commercial: You'd have to have been in a deep sleep to.Have you missed commercials with the Lunesta butterfly?TV Commerical: "Lunesta helps you fall asleep quickly."Lunesta is the most heavily advertised prescription drug, but plenty of others get air time, like the acid reflux drug Nexium.TV Commercial: "Want to just feel better? I am better."And the asthma medication AdvairTV Commercial: "Advair is the one controller that treats the two main causes of asthma symptoms."Those ad campaigns are reaching their target audience, says Dr.
(AFX UK Focus) 2007-01-29 15:13 GMT: Schering-Plough 4Q profit up 75 percent
KENILWORTH, N.J. (AFX) - The drugmaker Schering-Plough Corp. said Monday its fourth-quarter profit surged 75 percent as strong sales of its Remicade and Nasonex treatments helped offset rising costs. Net income totaled $182 million, or 12 cents per share, up from $104 million, or 7 cents per share, a year ago. The latest quarter includes a charge of 4 cents per share to streamline the company's manufacturing operations and a charge of a penny per share to license an over-the-counter heartburn treatment. Excluding items, the company posted profit of 17 cents per share, in line with Wall Street's consensus estimate, according to a Thomson Financial poll. Sales grew 14 percent to $2.65 billion from $2.32 billion a year ago, beating analysts' forecast of $2.53 billion. The company said results were helped by a 34 percent rise in sales of anti-inflammatory Remicade to $337 million.
|
