Health trends

Recall of anti-blood-clotting tablets

Bristol-Myers Squibb initiated a voluntary recall of one lot of 1,000-count bottles of Coumadin (warfarin sodium) Crystalline 5mg tablets. Company testing of tablets from a returned bottle found a tablet to be higher in potency than expected. The lot number affected in the US is 9H49374A with an expiry date of September 30, 2012.

A decrease of active ingredient may increase the risk of clots which could lead to heart attack or stroke, and if there is too much active ingredient, there is an increased risk of bleeding. Coumadin is prescribed to treat or prevent blood clots. Patients who may have 5mg tablets should not interrupt their therapy but should seek advice from their pharmacist to see if they have tablets originating from the affected lot and, if so, should consult their physician for appropriate medical advice.

Source: The US Food and Drug Administration

New treatment for pancreatic cancer

The US Food and Drug Administration approved Afinitor (everolimus) to treat patients with progressive neuroendocrine tumours located in the pancreas (PNET) that cannot be removed by surgery or that have spread to other parts of the body (metastatic). Neuroendocrine tumours found in the pancreas are slow-growing and rare. It is estimated that there are fewer than 1,000 new cases in the United States each year.

"Patients with this cancer have few effective treatment options," said Richard Pazdur, MD, director of the Office of Oncology Drug Products in the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. "Afinitor has demonstrated the ability to slow the growth and spread of neuroendocrine tumours of the pancreas."

The safety and effectiveness of Afinitor was established in a clinical trial in 410 patients with metastatic (late-stage) or locally advanced (disease that could not be removed with surgery) disease.

Source: The US Food and Drug Administration

NHF increases benefits

Effective May 2, 2011, the National Health Fund (NHF) is increasing the subsidies on 836 items on its Individual Benefits List. The list of items, including pharmaceuticals and supplies, has been revised to improve the average subsidy rates for active ingredients and supplies that are currently below 45 per cent of the average retail price of these drugs and to bring their subsidies to this level.

Hugh Lawson, CEO, NHF, says the increase in subsidies is expected to cost the NHF $300 million during the current financial year.

The list of revised drug subsidies has been posted to the NHF website to allow the general public, including NHF providers, health-care professionals and beneficiaries to view the revised list under Individual Benefits. All residents of Jamaica, regardless of age, income or health status, suffering from any of the 15 chronic diseases covered by the NHF are eligible to enrol for benefits on the NHF card. There are about 268,000 Jamaican residents enrolled with the NHF.

The 15 diseases covered by the NHF are: arthritis, asthma, breast cancer, prostate cancer, diabetes, epilepsy, enlarged prostate, major depression, psychosis, glaucoma, high cholesterol, hypertension, ischaemic heart disease, rheumatic heart disease and vascular disease.

Source: National Health Fund