February coverage 2008
23 February 2008 Pharmaceutical Journal
Do orphan medicines benefit patients?
In November 2004, NICE considered access to orphan medicines. NICE then made recommendations on the appraisal of these medicines in March 2006, suggesting that there would only be problemss with the appraisal of "vary rare diseases". Para 15 PDF [more]
20 February 2008 Pulse
NRT may be advised for cutting down
GP's may be expected to give nicotine replacement therapy to all smokers, regardless of whether or not they intend to quit, after a systematic review found it was still cost-effective even in these patients. [more]
11 February 2008 Clinical Discovery
The key to successful recruitment
The STEPS study was the first to look at how successful recruitment could be achieved in a multicentre clinical trial. What the study highlighted is that clinicians are still paying insufficient attention to management issues. [more]
11 February 2008 The Clinical Services Journal
Research evaluates newborn screening test.
New research commissioned by the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) programme, a programme of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), is investigating whether the use of pulse oximetry as a screening test for congenital heart disease, could help save the lives of more newborn babies. [more]
7 February 08 MediLexicon and Medical News Today
Research targets best treatments for childhood asthma, UK
Asthma affects one in eight children in the UK. New research projects commissioned by the National Institute for Health Research's Health Technology Assessment (NIHR HTA) programme, costing more than £1million, will investigate the best treatments for children with both long-term asthma and severe acute attacks of asthma. [more]
4 February 08 Medical News Today
Research investigates friendly bacteria for babies, UK
New research commissioned by the National Institute for Health Research's Health Technology Assessment (NIHR HTA) programme will investigate whether giving premature babies 'friendly bacteria' (probiotics) decreases the risk of bacterial infections. Over 42,000 premature babies are born a year, and they have an increased risk of picking up infections which can cause long term complications or even be fatal. [more]
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