Few illnesses such as post major surgeries, oral surgeries and critical illnesses prohibit taking food orally. In these situations, the nutritional support for the patients is given externally. Enteral feeding tubes are medical devices manufactured by enteral feeding supply companies that provide nutrition directly into the gastrointestinal system of the patients. They are typically employed when…

Intermittent drug shortages are not new, but currently they have become more severe as a result of the recent global events. This is making it difficult for many patients to get the medications they require. Sometimes, the access to the medicines does not exist as the required medicines are not yet licensed in the country…

Rare diseases are rare in their occurrence and affect a small population in the community. These uncommon, usually serious, incapacitating, chronic, and lethal diseases are categorized as rare and/ or orphan diseases. Only a small portion of the population is afflicted with such rare diseases. There is no universal agreement on the threshold at which…

The definition of rare diseases or rare health conditions in different nations is based on the disease prevalence and the national population. The word rare signifies that a particular disease or an ailment is not a common occurrence. Therefore, the most common criteria i.e. frequency of the disease with respect to the population is usually…

Rare diseases, also known as orphan diseases, are medical ailments that impact fewer people in the community compared to other prevalent illnesses that are often encountered in the population. Due to rare occurrences rare diseases are defined with respect to the prevalence found in the population and varies in the various geographic areas.  In the…

Duplicate or fake medicines are called Counterfeits. Counterfeit medicines are purposely misrepresented in terms of their identification, source, or legitimacy. These duplicate medicinal products are manufactured and distributed on purpose to fool consumers by imitating real and genuine medical products.  Both emerging and developed nations are home to fake medicines, that includes prescription drugs, over-the-counter drugs, and…

Every discovery in the lab that shapes to be a drug takes various modes over several years before it appears from a lab to the medicine cabinet. A drug that is finally converted into a medicinal product is intended to address a particular ailment. In fact, a medicinal product is expected to either, prevent, treat, diagnose…

Are you wondering what to do with the expired and unused medicines lying in your medicine box? If you are throwing them in a normal household dustbin, please refrain. How to discard unused prescription medicines that have crossed the expiry date? Most of our households have unused and expired medicines at home and usually wonder what…

Intellectual property rights grant the right holder a monopoly and market exclusivity for stipulated few years. However, there are few exceptions where the right holder's monopoly is eroded and a third party can utilise the innovation for one or more legal purposes that do not come within the definition of infringement. A bolar provision is one…

Drug development and approval process in Australia The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), a division of the Australian Government Department of Health, is in charge of regulating the process for the development and drug approval process in Australia. Prior to the sale of medicines in Australia, pharmaceuticals and other therapeutic items must first be approved by the TGA…