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1 – 10 of 12Yong Lin Chan, Nurul Aini Jamalullail, Chin Ping Tan, Mohd Yazid Abdul Manap and O.M. Lai
This paper aims to discuss the limitations surrounding the yoghurt industry and challenges to producing a bio-yoghurt tablet. The paper looks into challenge facing the yoghurt…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to discuss the limitations surrounding the yoghurt industry and challenges to producing a bio-yoghurt tablet. The paper looks into challenge facing the yoghurt industry, such as manufacturing and distribution, its short shelf life, heat-sensitivity and relatively heavy weight. It further looks into the selection of strains, excipients and storage conditions with special consideration towards maintaining the viability of the probiotics inside bio-yoghurt tablets. The paper also discusses yoghurt standards and definitions across various countries and suggests a more uniform standard be embraced across countries for ease of categorization and production.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is divided into a few major sections; each exploring various aspects of the yoghurt industry. Topics discussed include challenges in yoghurt production and storage; processes involved in bio-yoghurt tablet production, e.g. maximising viability, choice of excipients and more; market trends of yoghurt consumption and potential; and various food standards in countries around the world with a focus on yoghurt.
Findings
The review finds that yoghurt is a segment of the food industry with big growth potential. Most of the problems associated with yoghurt, i.e. poor shelf life, and heavy weight, can be circumvented by transforming it into a bio-yoghurt tablet. The paper further identifies food standard variations among different countries around the world which could impede yoghurt manufacture and acceptance.
Originality/value
This paper looks the various challenges surrounding the increased uptake of yoghurt, specifically in the Asian markets and suggests a viable option to overcome this problem, i.e. the use of a bio-yoghurt tablet. Should the worldwide bodies come together and agree to a universal standard involving yoghurt, the industry may see an even bigger expansion.
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Michael A. Carrier and Steve D. Shadowen
Brand-name pharmaceutical companies have engaged in a variety of business conduct that has increased price. One of these activities involves “product hopping,” or brand switches…
Abstract
Brand-name pharmaceutical companies have engaged in a variety of business conduct that has increased price. One of these activities involves “product hopping,” or brand switches from one version of a drug to another. The antitrust analysis of product hopping implicates antitrust law, patent law, the Hatch–Waxman Act, and state drug product selection laws, as well as uniquely complicated markets characterized by buyers different from decision makers. As a result, courts have offered inconsistent approaches to product hopping.
In this chapter, we offer a framework that courts and government enforcers can employ to analyze product hopping. The framework is the first to incorporate the characteristics of the pharmaceutical industry. It defines a “product hop” to include instances in which the manufacturer (1) reformulates the product to make the generic nonsubstitutable and (2) encourages doctors to write prescriptions for the reformulated rather than the original product.
When the conduct meets both requirements, our framework offers two stages of analysis. First, we propose two safe harbors to ensure that the vast majority of reformulations will not face antitrust review. Second, the framework examines whether the hop passes the “no-economic-sense” test, determining if the behavior would make economic sense if the hop did not have the effect of impairing generic competition. Showing just how far the courts have veered from justified economic analysis, the test would recommend a different analysis than that used in each of the five product-hopping cases that have been litigated to date, and a different outcome in two of them.
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Dental caries is caused by a diet‐associated pathologic processaffecting the teeth. This is an infectious, transmissible disease, theinfecting agents being specific…
Abstract
Dental caries is caused by a diet‐associated pathologic process affecting the teeth. This is an infectious, transmissible disease, the infecting agents being specific micro‐organisms, with a streptococcal species, i.e. Streptococcus mutans (or other members of the so‐called mutans streptococci), being especially cariogenic under certain dietary conditions. The transmissibility of the disease is reflected, for example, in the fact that young children usually receive their S. mutans infection from their mothers. According to present scientific knowledge, dental caries should be fully preventable. Maximisation of preventive efforts is of fundamental importance; relying on only one prevention procedure, like a fluoride‐based method, is insufficient. Relying solely on reparative philosophy is wrong. As to dietary approaches, mere prohibition of sugar as the only educational measure is hypocritical. Maximisation of prevention automatically includes the use of sugar substitutes. Of these, xylitol, a natural, physiologic carbohydrate sweetener, has been rigorously tested in long‐term human clinical trials, and has been found to be safe and effective. An effective way to use xylitol is as xylitol‐containing chewing gum, lozenges or chewable tablets. This prevention procedure can easily be promoted in environments where children or young adults are reachable, i.e. at schools, universities, garrisons, public health centres and related institutions. Results from clinical studies suggest that less than 10 grams of xylitol per day, consumed in about five chewing episodes, significantly increases protection against dental caries. This approach, a single‐component modification of diet, can be used to complete existing prevention methods, both at individual and community level.
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John H. Parr, Colin Bradshaw, Wendy Broderick, Harold Courtenay, Martin Eccles, Eileen Murray, Joan Royle and Paula Whitty
Following a high‐profile publicity campaign across South Tyneside aimed at professionals and patients, 52.4 per cent of all patients admitted with suspected myocardial infarction…
Abstract
Following a high‐profile publicity campaign across South Tyneside aimed at professionals and patients, 52.4 per cent of all patients admitted with suspected myocardial infarction during a six‐month period received 300mg of aspirin. Twelve months later GPs’ performance had improved from 25 per cent to 52.9 per cent of patients directly admitted by GPs being prescribed aspirin when first seen. Following a definite myocardial infarction 78.4 per cent of patients were discharged taking 75mg of aspirin, with no valid reason for omission in 6.6 per cent of patients. Six months after discharge 71.8 per cent of patients were still taking aspirin. Twelve months later 90 per cent of discharged patients were taking aspirin. GP PACT data showed a marked increase in prescribing 75mg aspirin during the period. The use of a publicity campaign to disseminate the message to both professionals and patients has resulted in a beneficial increase in aspirin prescribing for myocardial infarction across the district.
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Jayashree Dubey and Rajesh Dubey
This paper aims to analyze the present trends in pharmaceutical innovation and the impact of generic competition.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to analyze the present trends in pharmaceutical innovation and the impact of generic competition.
Design/methodology/approach
A secondary research was conducted to collect data related to new drug approvals of various classes over previous years; trends of investment in research and development; and the pipeline of new drug products of pharmaceutical companies.
Findings
While the new molecular entity (NME) approval rate has not improved over previous years, innovators have been aggressively pursuing the radical innovation process. Further, there has been a significant increase in incremental innovation. Pharmaceutical companies' investment in research has gone up resulting in higher number of application for new drug approvals. In India, pharmaceutical companies have significantly increased their research investment. However, the NME pipeline is still slim though there has been a significant surge in generic filings.
Originality/value
It provides a concise understanding of trends in pharmaceutical innovation and analyzes how various factors are shaping up the innovation process. It also throws light on the evolution story of Indian pharmaceutical companies to become drug innovators.
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Pharmaceutical company Genzyme has created a new drug, Renvela, which is a phosphate binder designed to be used primarily by patients with kidney failure. Renvela is a slightly…
Abstract
Pharmaceutical company Genzyme has created a new drug, Renvela, which is a phosphate binder designed to be used primarily by patients with kidney failure. Renvela is a slightly different version of Genzyme's highly successful Renagel. Company executives must now decide how best to launch Renvela. Should it replace Renagel? Should it be a premium version of Renagel? Is it worth launching the product at all? The case appears rather simple on the surface, but the questions are challenging to work through.
This case, launched with great success in the 2009 Kellogg Biotech and Healthcare Case Competition, can be used to teach growth strategy and new product strategy. It also provides an introduction to the pharmaceutical industry. Students will be given the opportunity to think critically about the role of innovation, risk, and ethics in healthcare-related firms.
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Richard Frank Tester and Farage H. Al-Ghazzewi
This paper aims to focus on the utilisation of pre- and probiotics for oral care and the state of knowledge at this time.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to focus on the utilisation of pre- and probiotics for oral care and the state of knowledge at this time.
Design/methodology/approach
Pre- and probiotics describe beneficial carbohydrates and microbiota, respectively, for optimal gut health. Carbohydrates provide energy selectively for the gut-friendly bacteria. The use of both carbohydrates and bacteria is, however, being expanded into other areas of the body – including the skin, vagina and oral cavity – for health-related applications.
Findings
There is increased interest in both pre- and probiotics for oral care products. The importance of oral microflora and their selective substrates is discussed against a background of contemporary oral care approaches. The issues and benefits are discussed in this review.
Originality/value
It is clear that consumption of prebiotics and probiotics may play a role as potential prophylactic or therapeutic agents for reducing the presence of organisms in the mouth associated with tooth decay. To confirm a beneficial effect of pre- and probiotics further in vivo studies involving healthy human volunteers should be considered.
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Venkatesan Chakrapani, Ram Kamei, Hoineilam Kipgen and Jayanta Kumar Kh
The authors aimed to examine the incarceration experiences of injecting drug users in accessing harm reduction, and HIV‐related services inside prisons in India.
Abstract
Purpose
The authors aimed to examine the incarceration experiences of injecting drug users in accessing harm reduction, and HIV‐related services inside prisons in India.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted three focus groups with a purposive sample of 23 formerly incarcerated male IDUs and four key informant interviews with a former police official, a drug dealer and service providers. Data were analyzed using a constant comparative method.
Findings
Participants reported availability of alcohol and injectable or oral drugs such as heroin, dextropropoxyphene, and marijuana inside prisons. Inmates obtained drugs and clean syringes (one syringe bought for 2.5‐4 USD) through prison staff, and collected used syringes and needles from the dustbins in prison sickrooms. Needles and syringes were reused and shared. Prisons did not have needle and syringe programmes, detoxification, overdose management or opioid substitution treatment. Drug‐using prison inmates faced several challenges in accessing antiretroviral treatment and HIV testing.
Practical implications
The authors' findings emphasize the need to protect the health of injection drug‐using inmates by introducing harm reduction programmes and removing barriers to HIV testing and antiretroviral treatment.
Originality/value
This study illustrates, for the first time, the contexts behind high risk injecting drug use behaviours among prison inmates in India. It also highlights the lack of availability of harm reduction services such as needle and syringe programmes, drug detoxification and opioid substitution treatment inside prisons. Further, it demonstrates the difficulties faced by HIV‐positive prison inmates in getting timely and uninterrupted antiretroviral treatment.
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