Formula 1 technology in drug trials

Doctors are using Formula 1 technology to test the effectiveness of experimental medicines.

Smart sensors used by McLaren to track the performance of their cars on the track are being used for the first time in clinical trials of new drugs.

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) hopes that by precisely tracking the movements of patients they will get earlier feedback on whether a drug helps to get them back on their feet.
Currently doctors try to estimate a patient's response to a drug by asking how far and how often they walk.
But sensors that are taped to the neck can monitor patients day and night, providing a far more objective - and accurate - measure of activity.

The accelerometer gives detailed data on a patient's physical activity

Dr Caroline Hargrove, technical director at McLaren Applied Technologies, is adapting the sensors and the software used to analyse the data for human use.
"Rather than how fast you have gone round a lap, it's how many minutes of walking you have done," she said.
"A simple, small sensor gives you so much context to go on. It captures something quite subjective - the level of activity you do.
"It's something difficult to get out of people."
Sky News was allowed to test one of the sensors over several days.

McLaren's Dr Hargrove is adapting the F1 technology for a new purpose

The 3D accelerometer is so accurate that scientists were able to differentiate periods of relative inactivity while working, from general movements around a home or office.
They can even tell how often people move while in bed to give an indication of their sleep quality.
GSK is using the sensors to in drug trials on patients who have rheumatoid arthritis or have suffered a stroke.

The data can even give an idea of the quality of someone's sleep

Dr Ravi Rao, a consultant rheumatologist and medicines development leader at the company, said the data can be analysed to determine the duration of an arthritis patient's stiffness in the morning.
"These quality of life measures, in terms of how a patient is functioning with a disease, are incredibly important - more important sometimes than a blood test or a physical examination."
The pharmaceutical company hopes the technology will speed up drug development.
Currently, it takes 10 years and hundreds of millions of pounds for a medicine to go from lab bench to clinic.

The sensors can help people who have arthiritis, says GSK's Dr Rao

Dr Steve Mayhew, leading GSK's partnership with McLaren, said: "By getting an early understanding of whether our medicine is behaving as we expect, it allows us to make a decision on whether to continue to develop it.

"Crucially we won't recruit patients to an experimental study where we don't think there will be any benefit to them."

from: sky news

Impact of Indian Pharma Industry on Pakistan

Biocon marketing head quits

 Biocon, a leading biotechnology company, has announced that its marketing head Rakesh Bamzai had quit the company. The company, in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange made on Wednesday evening said Mr. Bamzai, President, Marketing, who had been associated with the company for 19 years, “has decided to leave the organisation and accept a new leadership role”.

Biocon Chairperson and Managing Director Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw said Mr. Bamzai had played a “pivotal role in Biocon’s evolution from a leading enzymes company to a global biopharmaceutical enterprise”. She credited Mr. Bamzai as being “instrumental” in developing Biocon’s “global footprint”.

Ms. Shaw said Mr. Bamzai had decided to take up a “very senior and challenging assignment” after leaving Biocon. Despite his departure, Mr. Bamzai would remain a “strong brand ambassador for the company”, she said.

Mr. Bamzai said he hoped to “remain engaged with Biocon in the future”, and that he was confident that the team he leaves behind at the company would “ensure Biocon’s continued success” 

-The Hindu

Free medicine and diagnostic services in West Bengal Government hospitals

 The West Bengal government on Saturday announced that it will provide free medicine and diagnostic services in its hospitals and health centres to benefit a large section of people dependent on state healthcare.

“Henceforth, all vital and essential medicines and all available diagnostic services (except those run on PPP mode) will be provided free to all patients in government-run health centres and hospitals,” Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee told reporters at the secretariat.

Free medicines and diagnostic services would also be provided to patients in free beds in block primary health centres and rural health centres run by the government, the Chief Minister said dubbing it a “landmark” decision.

“Moreover, all expecting mothers and all children up to one year of age will get all vital and essential medicines and all available diagnostic services free in all health centres and hospitals run by the government in the state,” she said.

The Chief Minister also announced the upgrade of three medical college and hospitals in the western and 

northern parts of the state.

They would now have specialised facilities which will spare patients the hassle of coming down to Kolkata for treatment at a government facility, she said.

“Bankura Medical College and Hospital, Malda Medical College and Hospital and North Bengal Medical College and Hospital will be upgraded soon,” she said.

Trauma care, specialised services in areas like oncology, nephrology, endocrinology, paediatric surgery and more would be provided at these hospitals, she said.

The upgrade would cost the state exchequer Rs 450 crore, she said.

-The Hindu