After September 11, 2001; many decision makers continued to warn against the inflow of counterfeit drugs. The justification behind these warnings was that recent anthrax attacks were a risk that the U.S government was not able to take (Richert 2013). By 2003, the FDA announced that organizations assisting individuals in purchasing imported drugs could be found civilly and criminally liable (Richert…
Agent Orange was a mixture of chemical defoliants used by the U.S. military forces during the Vietnam War to eliminate forest cover for the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops. Before Agent Orange was used, a well-known professor warned the U.S. that the herbicide would be catastrophic to the region exposed. From 1960 to 1970, England, Italy and the U.S. confirmed the dangers of the defoliant for humans and animals. The differences in human illnesses will vary, as batches of chemicals made were not likely monitored. Therefore, it is highly unlikely to have identical batches making it difficult to compare and monitor.…
In the late 19th and early 20th century people were beginning to pay attention to science and some used the science they were learning to look closer at the food and drugs that were distributed across the nation. As the scientists looked closer what they found was often deadly to whoever consumed it. These findings made people look at the industries the foods or drugs came from and found that corruption and greed was taking control. People were making shortcuts to get more money or poisoning people they needed out of their way and politicians often used this to their advantage so the companies were able to continue without fear of consequences. Eventually scientists started to fight the companies and tried to regulate the products which turned out to be harder than they anticipated.…
One, developed by the Germans during World War I, involves treating dihydroxyethyl sulfide with HCl gas. The other way was developed earlier and that involved treating ethylene with sulfur chloride and is known as the Levinstein process (Walton, 1996). Both make an oily, liquid like substance that has a distinctive odor described as being like mustard, horseradish, or garlic (Palermo, 2013). It has an LD50, or the concentration of the poison sufficient to kill 50% of the population exposed, of 10,000 mg/kg when in contact with the skin and 1500 mg/kg when inhaled (OPCW, 1992).…
Pharmacology Research Assignment Part A Mary’s Conditions Clear, concise description of each condition at a pathophysiological level (2 each) Signs and symptoms that would be seen clinically (1 each) State which meds are taken for each condition (1 each) Explanation of how the drug relieves the symptoms of each condition at a physiological level (2 each) Comments/Mark hypertension a sustained, raised blood pressure over more than one reading (equal to or greater than 140/90 mm Hg (Lewis, 2014, p. 866) Signs: truncal obesity, mental status changes, BP consistently >140 mm Hg systolic or 90 mm Hg diastolic Symptoms: dyspnea, palpitations, anginal chest pain, fatigue, intermittent claudication, muscle cramps, nocturia, dizziness, blurred vision, paresthesias, erectile dysfunction, decreased libido (Lewis, 2014, p. 884)…
September 29, 1982 was the beginning of a medical crisis that revolutionized the safety procedures that we take for granted today. “It all began when an individual(s) placed 65 milligrams of cyanide within a Tylenol capsule which is more than 10,000 needed to kill a human being. This was done after the product was on the shelf in stores and a 12 year little girl that died from taking a tainted pill. Within days of this little girl losing her life to this atrocity six more people lost their lives before the connection was discovered between the Tylenol and the cyanide poisoning (Management)”.…
Trials started only two years before the release, while most drug trials take 8 times longer than that in order to be proven as safe (CCFA, 2016). This is a “Type I error”, which means that the drug was approved as safe to use and was later found to be harmful (Philipson, 2012). Chemie Grünenthal tried to make a deal with an American company, which was rejected, and so eventually made an arrangement with the William S Merrell company in the United States. Chemie Grünenthal should have taken the rejection from the first company as a warning that the drug should not be marketed as safe for even pregnant women. This drug caused many birth defects that resulted in emotional and physical pain and displacement.…
One man who was admitted into a Philadelphia hospital for a complaint of a three month case of chronic diarrhea was treated with opium, aromatic sulfuric acid, and silver nitrate. All of these substances are harmful and toxic to the body. The man died two…
Frances Kesley, the FDA agent who was in charge of reviewing William S. Merrell, Inc.’s application to market thalidomide in the US, is regarded as a national hero whose reluctance to accept the company’s assurances of safety saved the country from experiencing the full force of the “thalidomide scare” that Europe faced during the 1960s (Daemmrich 2004). Suspicious that the drug had not been tested for teratogenicity Kesley demanded that rigorous testing be done on the drug (The New York Times, 2013). Merrell removed their application in 1962 after the “Thalidomide Scare” attained widespread media coverage for its effects overseas (Daemmrich 2004). Since then, most nations across the globe have strictly limited or banned thalidomide. In cases when the prescription of thalidomide is inevitable to treat cancer and leprosy, the Food and Drug Administration has put together an elaborate plan that doctors are supposed to enact when prescribing thalidomide to patients.…
n the documentary Orgasm Inc, the focal issue was the role of pharmaceutical companies’ overextension of involvement in the medical information around the issue their product was marketed to resolve. The original issue, prompting the documentary in the first place, was that a disorder was created out of nowhere and the results of the misleading studies created a national demand for an unnecessary – and worse, ineffective – drug. In effect, the pharmaceutical company noted the results of a survey measuring women’s sexual satisfaction in their lives. The study interpreted an extremely wide range of normal sexual behaviors (such as “have you ever been unsatisfied during sex” and “have you ever been unable to reach orgasm during sex”) as being less than…
Moynihan, Heath and Henry argue that the pharmaceutical industry capitalises on the want of consumers to eliminate undesirable conditions. They claim that pharmaceutical companies partake in “disease mongering”: that is, they fabricate new diseases by “widening the boundaries of treatable illness”. Critics such as Healy and Dossey agree with this claim. However, I will argue that, although not unfounded, the claim that pharmaceutical companies are guilty of disease mongering is not justified. I will argue that the definition of disease presented by Moynihan, Heath and Henry does not conform to the accepted definition of disease.…
Last year, pharmacist filled 4,468,929,929 prescriptions in the United States that is an 85 percent increase from just twenty years earlier (Carr, Rabkin, and Skinner 38). With these kinds of numbers, it must be obvious the process to develop drugs in America is working like a well-oiled machine, or is it? Prescription drug companies, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and independent research companies including universities all work together to develop improved medications. Each one has an unbiased, independent role to play in the process, however, over the years the unbiased independent part has become blurred. The Federal Government has made changes to regulations and health care policies, consequently, the prescription drug company’s…
"A clinical trial of hepatitis B drug had to be stopped because it caused severe liver damage in seven patients, five of whom died. It had been tested on animals first" (CFI). There have been many cases where testing has passed animal trials only to be deadly to a human. "Vioxx, a drug used to treat arthritis, was found to be safe when tested in monkeys, but has been estimated to have caused around 320,000 heart attacks and strokes and 140,000 deaths worldwide. Human volunteers testing a new monoclonal antibody treatment at Northwick Park Hospital, the UK in 2006 suffered a severe allergic reaction and nearly died.…
According to the CDC, about 8 million U.S. healthcare workers are potentially exposed to hazardous medications. Exposure can occur through all healthcare settings such as in the pharmacy, clinics, wards, logistics (shipping and receiving), research and environmental services. In addition, these exposures can occur by being exposed to these medications via air, on work surfaces, clothing, medical equipment and patient excrement or urine. Most HCPs may only consider antineoplastics, chemotherapy and nuclear medicine as hazardous medications; however it is not totally inclusive of potentially harmful medications. These medications may be either carcinogenic, tetratogenic, or genotoxic.…
Pharmaceutical synthesis involves various methods and techniques. These techniques are crucial and require profound knowledge and understanding of the chemistry and handling of drug compounds. A pharmaceutical drug (also referred to as a pharmaceutical, pharmaceutical preparation, pharmaceutical product, medicinal product, medicine, medication, medicament, or simply a drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease.[1] Most drugs are natural: collected from sources such as plants, minerals, animals etc. These drugs are extracted and refined.…