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US
scraps ban on Canadian drug imports
WASHINGTON —
Americans can now buy their drugs in Canada, with some
restrictions. US senators and congressmen have hammered
out a compromise that will apply to Americans physically
travelling to Canada to purchase drugs. The new rules,
which were tacked onto an unrelated Homeland Security
funding bill, prohibit US Customs agents from seizing
filled-in-Canada scripts, provided the stash is for
personal use (which they define as 90-days' worth or
less). On the heels of the new rules, Homeland Security
officials announced they would also be more lenient
towards mail-order drug purchases from Canada (see "QC
docs fined for net scripts", left). Instead of seizing
these drugs, they'll randomly test them for safety.
Sick
guests leave hotel rooms filthy
SAN FRANCISCO
— Common cold-causing rhinoviruses make
themselves at home in hotels, according to a new study
presented at the meeting for the American Society for
Microbiology on September 29. Investigators had 15 subjects
with rhinovirus-related colds stay overnight in hotel
rooms. After checkout, the researchers tested a number
of commonly used items and found that one-third of them
were teeming with germs. Exactly half of the doorknobs
they looked at contained the virus, as did six out of
15 light switches. "We were surprised to find so many
[objects contaminated]," said lead author, Dr Birgit
Winther, an ear nose and throat specialist based at
the University of Virginia. Curiously, only 10% of toilet
handles were found to be contaminated.
Fix
makes MRIs safe for pacemakers
BALTIMORE —
Patients with pacemakers and implanted defibrillators
can now safely be sent for an MRI, according to research
out of Johns Hopkins University published in the September
18 issue of Circulation. The electrical disruption
caused by magnetic resonance imaging made meltdowns
and misfires a grave concern for these patients' doctors,
but the team has found a way to hack the MRI to reduce
the risk. Reprogramming the devices and lowering the
amount of energy used in the scan was all it took to
protect patients implanted with any modern heart device.
The lower energy usage didn't affect the clarity of
the images.
First
once-daily PD drug hits shelves
MONTREAL —
Rasagiline, the first new treatment for Parkinson's
Disease (PD) to come to market in more than five years,
is now available at a pharmacy near you. The once-daily
treatment is indicated for initial PD therapy and as
an add-on to gold standard levodopa as the disease progresses.
Rasagiline got the nod from Health Canada back in August,
based on three multicentre trials that counted more
than 1,500 patients (see "Rasagiline
helps Parkinson's patients shake off symptoms",
April 15, 2005 Vol 2, No 7, Page 10). This should be
good news for many of the more than 100,000 Canadians
with PD, however the potential side effects alone or
in tandem with levodopa can be quite serious.
Measles
jab-autism link disproved — again
MONTREAL —
A team of McGill researchers has discredited two recent
studies that attempted to draw a link between autism
and the Measles-Mumps-Rubella vaccination. Two studies,
one from 2000 and the other from 2002, claimed to have
found increased presence of the measles virus in autistic
children. But in the McGill study, published in the
October edition of Pediatrics, investigators
weren't able to reproduce those results. The authors
said they hoped to "put a quiet end" to the MMR vaccine-autism
theory.
RNA
interferers nab Nobel Prize
STOCKHOLM —
Doctors Andrew Fire and Craig Mello were awarded
the Nobel Prize in Medicine on October 2 for their discovery
of RNA interference (RNAi) which has triggered a paradigm
shift in the way we discover drugs. Back in 1998, the
two Americans first noted that certain types of RNA
could turn genes off, and in less than a decade a number
of RNA(i)-based therapies have already entered clinical
trials. Researchers have high hopes that one day RNAi
will lead them to cures for diseases as varied as diabetes,
HIV, influenza, age-related macular degeneration and
cancer.
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