All GLG News Analyses Filed Under: Infectious Disease

An October 3 Reuter's article widely disseminates a researcher's opinion that oseltamivir (Tamiflu) can pass, unbroken down, into sewage that wild birds might come in contact with.  As a result, the wild birds, if they had influenza virus infection, could end up with Tamiflu-resistant influenza...

I disagree with the Reuters article. Tamiflu is a safe and effective drug for the young and elderly population.

While this discovery is nice, there are several practical limitations.

-FluMist indications were just expanded, reducing the minimum age of administration to 2 years old (from 5). -This will make FluMist a desired product (by name) for parents seeking to protect their toddlers and preschoolers from flu but who also desire not to cause pain/crying/suffering. ...

The approval of the FDA for FluMist vaccine was based on the outcome of a large clinical trail involving young children of 6 -59 months. The nasal vaccine appears to be easy to administer without having any side effects for healthy young children. The article furthermore shows the cautionery...

This short news article highlights, in my mind, the importance of protecting species of plants and animals that may have, as of yet, undiscovered medical uses. Considering the rate of species extinction, there are an untold number of potential medical remedies that are forever being lost to humanity....

The formal approval for AIDS drug Celsentri, the first in a new class of oral HIV medicines by the European Commission is a welcoming news during an increasing incidence of AIDS in this part of the world.  The drug has also received approval from the FDA, hence the widespread use...

This news may reduce anxiety of parents with children suffering from Cystic Fibrosis for two years for finding the possibility of getting an economic product to treat mild lung disorder. The news is a relief for medical practitioners to safeguard the use of Ibuprofen to treat very young children's Cystic...

* Another HIV viral load assay in an increasingly crowded market. * Abbott has a reputation for recalls and recalcitrance in its diagnostics arena. 2007 has not been a good year for them. * Not clear this assay provides significant advantages over other assays recently obtaining FDA approval.

Mutations are so common in the HIV virus that it is really unclear if we will ever have a viable vaccine.