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Read our latest stories on the people and scientific innovations making a difference in patients’ lives.
Data Doctors: How Biostatisticians Play a Critical Role in Discovering and Developing Medicine
When you think of a statistician, you may picture a math whiz hastily scrawling formulas on a white board in the halls of academia or the trading floors of finance. But statisticians—specifically, biostatisticians—play a critical role in discovering and developing new medicines. “If we want to get the most from the data, analysis, and experiment, more often than not, it requires early partnership between scientists and biostatisticians in the design and analysis plan,” says Vice President...
The Phases of a Clinical Trial
Understanding the Phases of Clinical Trials Prescription drugs don’t just show up on pharmacy shelves one day. Each one is first subjected to thorough scientific testing during what are known as clinical trials. Clinical trials are conducted in phases, each of which is designed to assess a treatment or drug’s safety as well as answer different questions researchers may have about a drug or treatment. Clinical trial phases range from phase 0 to phase 4.
Taking Prescription Pain Medicine Safely
Prescription opioid pain medications such as oxycodone and codeine are some of the most commonly abused prescription drugs. And there has certainly been a lot of talk in the media about the very real problem of pain medicine addiction. Unfortunately, all of that news coverage can sometimes overshadow the fact that these medicines are important tools in treating pain. For many people, opioid medicines—which work by reducing pain signals that are sent to your brain—can be extremely helpful...
How to Safely Buy Medicine Online
There’s no limit to the types of products you can purchase online. You can even purchase prescription medicine over the Internet. Ordering your prescription online does provide some degree of ease because the medicine is delivered to your home. However, this convenience can come at a cost. In the United States, it is believed that the majority of counterfeit medicines are purchased online. Counterfeit—or fake—drugs can be dangerous because they can have the wrong ingredients, no active...
Exploring the Manufacturing and Testing Processes of Pharmaceuticals
When a doctor prescribes you a medicine, how does she know it could be helpful? Your doctor relies on experience, medical knowledge and training, but also on information and conclusions drawn from clinical trials. Clinical trials are research studies that test a medical intervention aimed at treating, diagnosing, or preventing a disease or health condition in human volunteers. The intervention could be a drug, a medical procedure or device, or a behavioral therapy, such as diet or exercise. Some...
Is It Rheumatoid Arthritis? Ask a Rheumatologist
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What You Need to Know about Antibiotic Resistance
What is Antibiotic Resistance? Put simply, an antibiotic is a medication that will kill bacteria (or stop them from dividing) helping the body treat an infection. Antibiotic resistance occurs when an antibiotic loses its ability to stop bacterial growth and/or kill the bacteria. Because the bacteria continue to multiply despite the antibiotic, an infection can get worse even when taking an antibiotic. The more an antibiotic is used, the more likely resistance will develop. Use of an...
What Do You Really Know About Metastatic Breast Cancer?
As a public health initiative, breast cancer awareness has been generally successful. Patients, families, physicians, and advocates have worked diligently to make the disease better understood and synonymous with strength, survivorship and scientific breakthrough. With improved screening efforts and increasing numbers of available therapies, breast cancer is often discovered and treated in early-stage; as a result, a steady increase has occurred over the past 30 years in survival rates for...
Taking Medication During Pregnancy
The reality is that some women get sick and are diagnosed with serious diseases during pregnancy. Or they may have a chronic illness that needs to be managed while pregnant. Sometimes making the decision whether to take medication during pregnancy is not so easy. It is difficult to study new medications in pregnant women, and even more difficult to assess the effects of medication on the developing fetus. Pregnant women are considered a vulnerable group by regulatory agencies and ethics...
Taking Medication and Breastfeeding
A breastfeeding mother may find herself in a difficult and complex situation when faced with making medical treatment decisions, especially when she is managing or becomes diagnosed with a health concern or chronic illness. As with pregnancy, much remains to be known about the effects of many medications on the breastfeeding infant. Often the mother and her healthcare provider are left to discuss treatment options with limited information available to them. There are very few large...
Pediatric Dosing—Giving Your Child a Safe Dose of Medicine
When your child gets a cough or runny nose, do you pick up a bottle of medicine at the pharmacy and give them a dose with a kitchen spoon? Don’t. Giving medicine with that old kitchen spoon may mean that your child may be receiving a larger or smaller dose than directed. In fact, the Department of Health and Human Services asks that you ditch the kitchen spoon and use the dosing device that comes with the over-the-counter (OTC) medication because the dosing spoon or cup that comes with the...
Caregiver’s Guide for Parkinson’s Disease
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a complex neurodegenerative motor disorder, meaning there are many features of the disease that will change over time—slowly in most people. And, while no two people experience the disease the same way, there are a number of common symptoms caregivers can look out for that may help prepare them for the changes likely to occur during early-stage, mid-stage, and advanced-stage Parkinson’s disease. As PD progresses, patients may have increased difficulty walking...
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