Press review from 11/18/08 to 11/20/08
Lombardy: a register for health managers(Il Messaggero: page 10 – 20 November 2008)
The Councilor for Health of the Lombardy Region, Luciano Bresciani, announced that a register will be set up "for the transparency of managers at the head of public and private health structures. These will have to appoint their own managers within the context of this register and it will be obligation for the private individual to appoint from here also the Medical Director ".
http://www.aboutpharma.it/notizia.asp?id=18314
Lombardy: 5,000 deceased loved ones still being treated by doctors
(Corriere della Sera Milan: page 1 – 20 November 2008)
In Lombardy there would be around 5,000 deceased people who have not yet been canceled from the lists of general practitioners, to whom 38 euros are paid for each patient. The scandal involves both the ASL and Lombardia Informatica, a public capital company that pays the salaries of family doctors. The problem would be due to the fact that the lists do not always take account of the municipal registry office.
http://www.aboutpharma.it/notizia.asp?id=18313
"Stem cells, first trachea transplant"(Il Messaggero: page 1, Il Sole 24 Ore: page 14, Libero: page 30, International Herald Tribune: page 8, la Repubblica: page 22, Corriere della Sera: page 30 – 20 November 2008)
A 30-year-old Colombian patient with tuberculosis successfully underwent the first trachea transplant in the world, performed at the Hospital Clinic in Barcelona by an Italian-English team. Paolo Macchiarini, head of Thoracic Surgery at the University of Barcelona, explains that the innovative aspect of the surgery was the use of "adult stem cells, taken from the patient's own bone marrow and therefore perfectly compatible with her immune system" grown on the structure of a donor trachea. This technique made it possible to avoid the use of anti-rejection drugs" to improve the patient's quality of life and reduce costs. The research was published in The Lancet.
http://www.aboutpharma.it/notizia.asp?id=18312
EU: milder rules for repackaging(The Financial Times online - November 20, 2008)
The European Commissioner for trade and industry, Gunter Verheugen, eliminated some parts of the repackaging law proposal designed to limit the counterfeiting of medicines in parallel trade. The decision was made following protests from industry operators. Approval by the Commission is now awaited. In Europe it is estimated that the parallel drug market is worth 1% of the sales of medicines available on prescription.
http://www.aboutpharma.it/notizia.asp?id=18311
UK: incentives for doctors who prescribe innovative drugs
(The Financial Times online - November 20, 2008)
The British government has decided to grant economic incentives to doctors who will prescribe innovative, more expensive drugs to their patients. The goal is to accelerate the pace of use of new medicines, slower than in other European countries. The plan is part of an agreement between the government and pharmaceutical companies to remunerate innovation in exchange for cutting the prices of medicines already on the market.
