Author | Charlotte LoBuono

March 19, 2007

Hospitals and other healthcare facilities of the future will look more like hotels or office buildings and less like the institutional and often inconveniently designed buildings that many think of today, said Greg Lasker, an assistant professor of building construction management at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. According to Lasker, Clarion North Medical Center in Carmel, Ind., is a precursor of what hospitals of the future will look like.

March 05, 2007

The Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality (AHRQ) recently released guides for clinicians and consumers on the use of analgesics for treating pain associated with osteoarthritis (OA). The guides draw on a report, called "Comparative Effectiveness and Safety of Analgesics for Osteoarthritis," based on a review of 351 published research studies. It represents the most comprehensive analysis to date of analgesics for osteoarthritis pain.

February 05, 2007

The Food & Drug Administration recently proposed regulatory changes to make investigational drugs more widely and easily available to seriously ill patients with no other treatment options. The proposal also clarifies the circumstances and the costs for which a pharmaceutical company can charge for developmental drugs. The proposed regulations were published in the Dec. 14 issue of the Federal Register. They are described in detail at http://www.fda.gov/cder/regulatory/applications/IND_PR.htm and are open for comment for 90 days.

February 05, 2007

President George W. Bush recently signed into law H.R. 6344, The Office of National Drug Control Policy Reauthorization Act of 2006. The law raises from 30 to 100 the number of patients a physician may treat for opioid addiction with buprenorphine (Subutex, Reckitt Benckiser Pharmaceuticals) C-III sublingual tablets or buprenorphine/naloxone (Suboxone, Reckitt Benckiser Pharmaceuticals) C-III sublingual tablets. Buprenorphine is the only controlled medication to receive Food & Drug Administration approval for this indication.