Minimizing the Risks of Medicine

THE CHALLENGES SURROUNDING healthcare are likely to affect all of us at some time during our lives. Whether from lack of preventive care, inadequate quality of care, adverse reactions to medications, treatment with less-effective medicines or even the possibility of being treated with a counterfeit drug, the risks are worrisome. The good news is that new legislation aims to ensure better access to care, scientists are diligently researching new and improved treatments, and organizations worldwide are implementing safeguards to reduce the trafficking of compromised medicines. In this safety-themed issue of BioSupply Trends Quarterly, we take a look at some of these spiraling risks of healthcare.

Despite the availability of interventions, deaths from preventable illnesses continue to increase. This is especially true for men. As our article “Proactive Screening for Men’s Health” points out, more men than women die of preventable causes due to lifestyle factors and because they “tend to wait until their condition is serious, even life-threatening” before they seek medical care. More men than women die of cancer, heart disease, accidental injury, respiratory disease, stroke, diabetes and suicide.

Of course, seeking treatment doesn’t always result in good quality of care. The recent changes brought about by the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) should leave some patients wondering “whether the days of the kind and patient doctor are on their way out,” says the author of our article “Practicing Medicine: A New Quality of Care.” The intentions of the ACA’s policies seem noble: to ensure thorough patient care and, ultimately, better coordinated care. But, the administrative burden imposed often results in physicians finding themselves with limited time for “real doctoring.”

When it comes to safety and best manufacturing practices, medicines have come a long way, especially in the last several decades. For high-cost therapies like immune globulin (IG), this is markedly important. Manufacturing methods for IG have significantly improved, resulting in much lower incidences of severe adverse effects. But, as our article “Adverse Effects of Human Immunoglobulin Therapy” outlines, less common but more serious delayed reactions do still occur. What causes these adverse events and how to prevent and manage them are discussed.

As any experienced physician will tell you, it’s not always a clear-cut decision which medicines should be used to treat patients. This is certainly the case for human albumin in the treatment of septic shock. Our article “Surviving Sepsis: It’s Time to Put Albumin to the Test” looks at some tantalizing research that strongly suggests use of human albumin to resuscitate patients in severe sepsis may cut mortality risk relative to saline, which is cheaper and very appealing to hospital pharmacists.

Finally, counterfeiting continues to plague the medical world, posing a dangerous threat to unsuspecting consumers. Our article “Supply Chain Safety: Where Are We Now?” examines the global impact of counterfeit medicines, estimating sales at $431 billion in 2012. Domestically, the U.S. has implemented new legislation to help track and trace drugs. Globally, INTERPOL is partnering with the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies to combat the problem.

As always, we hope you enjoy this issue of BioSupply Trends Quarterly and find it both relevant and helpful to your practice.

Helping Healthcare Care,

Patrick M. Schmidt

Publisher