Drug utilisation

Thiazolidinediones (TZDs) (e.g. pioglitazone and rosiglitazone), known insulin sensitiser agents for type II diabetes mellitus, exhibit controversial effects on cardiac tissue. Despite consensus on their association with increased heart failure risk, limiting TZD use in diabetes management, the underlying mechanisms remain uncharacterised. Herein, we report a comprehensive in vitro investigation utilising a novel toxicoproteomics pipeline coupled with cytotoxicity assays in human adult cardiomyocytes to elucidate mechanistic insights into TZD cardiotoxicity...

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 pandemic widely disrupted health services provision, especially during the lockdown period, with females disproportionately affected. Very little is known about alternative healthcare sources used by women when access to conventional health services became challenging. This study examined the experiences of women and adolescent girls regarding access to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services during the COVID-19 lockdown in Nigeria and their choices of alternative healthcare sources...

OBJECTIVE: Glucose dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) is well established as an incretin hormone, boosting glucose-dependent insulin secretion. However, whilst anorectic actions of its sister-incretin glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) are well established, a physiological role for GIP in appetite regulation is controversial, despite the superior weight loss seen in preclinical models and humans with GLP-1/GIP dual receptor agonists compared with GLP-1R agonism alone. METHODS: We generated a mouse model in which GIP expressing K-cells can be activated through hM3Dq Designer Receptor Activated by Designer Drugs (DREADD, GIP-Dq) to explore physiological actions of intestinally-released GIP...

DESIGN: This study is a randomised, placebo-controlled, triple-arm, phase IIA clinical trial with double masking which investigates the effectiveness and safety of Cannabidiol (CBD) as an analgesic for acute dental pain. The intervention drug, Epidiolex is an FDA-approved CBD oral solution (100 mg/ml) derived from the cannabis plant. The psychoactive ingredient tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is not included. The maximum recommended daily dose of Epidiolex is 20 mg/kg. 64 patients with moderate-severe odontogenic pain participated in the study and REDCap software was utilised to randomly assign participants into groups: CBD10 (10 mg/kg), CBD20 (20 mg/kg) and placebo...

In this study, several approaches were tested to optimise the production and recovery of the widely used anticancer drug Taxol® (paclitaxel) from culturable vascular stem cells (VSCs) of Taxus baccata, which is currently used as a successful cell line for paclitaxel production. An in situ product recovery (ISPR) technique was employed, which involved combining three commercial macro-porous resin beads (HP-20, XAD7HP and HP-2MG) with batch and semi-continuous cultivations of the T. baccata VSCs after adding methyl jasmonate (Me-JA) as an elicitor...

BACKGROUND: Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a rare, progressive, neuromuscular disorder. Recent advances in treatment require an updated assessment of burden to inform reimbursement decisions. OBJECTIVES: To quantify healthcare resource utilisation (HCRU) and cost of care for patients with SMA. METHODS: Cohort study of patients with SMA identified in the Swedish National Patient Registry (2007-2018), matched to a reference cohort grouped into four SMA types (1, 2, 3, unspecified adult onset [UAO])...

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a highly aggressive and uncommon subtype of breast cancer with a poor prognosis. It is crucial to prioritise the creation of a nanotherapeutic method that is highly selective and actively targeting TNBC. This study explores a new nanosystem, Cu9 S8 -SNAP@PM (C-S@P), composed of Cu9 S8 -SNAP coated with a platelet membrane (PM). The purpose of this nanosystem is to cure TNBC using multimodal therapy. The utilisation of PM-coated nanoparticles (NPs) enables active targeting, leading to the efficient accumulation of C-S@P within the tumour...

BACKGROUND: There is increasing interest in utilising two-drug regimens for HIV treatment with the goal of reducing toxicity and improve acceptability. The D3 trial evaluates the efficacy and safety of DTG/3TC in children and adolescents and includes a nested pharmacokinetics(PK) substudy for paediatric drug licensing. METHODS: D3 is an ongoing open-label, phase III, 96-week non-inferiority randomised controlled trial(RCT) conducted in South Africa, Spain, Thailand, Uganda and the United Kingdom...

BACKGROUND: The use of routinely collected health data for secondary research purposes is increasingly recognised as a methodology that advances medical research, improves patient outcomes, and guides policy. This secondary data, as found in electronic medical records (EMRs), can be optimised through conversion into a uniform data structure to enable analysis alongside other comparable health metric datasets. This can be achieved with the Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership Common Data Model (OMOP-CDM), which employs a standardised vocabulary to facilitate systematic analysis across various observational databases...

BACKGROUND: Medication review with follow-up is essential for optimising medication utilisation among the older adult population in primary healthcare. AIM: This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of implementing medication reviews with follow-up for older adults in community pharmacies and examined potential outcomes on medication use. METHOD: A pilot randomised controlled trial was conducted with 4 cluster-randomised community pharmacies to assess the feasibility of the intervention...

Diseases related to the central nervous system (CNS) are major health concerns and have serious social and economic impacts. Developing new drugs for CNS-related disorders presents a major challenge as it actively involves delivering drugs into the CNS. Therefore, it is imperative to develop in silico methodologies to reliably identify potential lead compounds that can penetrate the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and help to thoroughly understand the role of different physicochemical properties fundamental to the BBB permeation of molecules...

OBJECTIVES: Potentially harmful non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) utilisation persists at undesirable rates worldwide. The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on interventions to de-implement potentially harmful NSAIDs in healthcare settings and to suggest directions for future research. DESIGN: Scoping review. DATA SOURCES: PubMed, CINAHL, Embase, Cochrane Central and Google Scholar (1 January 2000 to 31 May 2022)...

OBJECTIVES: Pain management for infants undergoing cardiothoracic surgery primarily utilises opioid analgesics. There is a paucity of data available for the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications such as ketorolac in this patient population. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective study evaluated patients between 30 days and 6 months undergoing cardiothoracic surgery. The primary endpoint evaluates ketorolac on reducing post-operative opioid use. RESULTS: Of 243 evaluated patient, 145 met inclusion...

The aim of this study was to investigate how the propensity for aerosolisation in binary adhesive mixtures was affected by the drug load, and to determine whether these findings could be linked to different blend states. Binary blends of two different lactose carriers, each with varying size and morphology, were prepared together with budesonide. In vitro aerosolisation studies were conducted at four different pressure drops, ranging from 0.5 to 4 kPa, utilising a Next Generation Impactor. Several dispersion parameters were derived from the relationship between the quantity of dispersed API and the pressure drop...

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin disease. Vitamin D analogues are the first-line topical agents for the long-term management of psoriasis. Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) bath therapy is commonly employed for psoriasis. However, the effects and safety of CHM bath therapy compared with topical calcipotriol for psoriasis vulgaris remain inconclusive. Furthermore, the combination of herbs, a distinctive feature of CHM, is essential for its therapeutic effects due to the individual and synergistic properties of the herbs involved...

We successfully prepared mercury sulphide nanoparticle hydrogels by physical encapsulation method. The successfully prepared mercuric sulphide nanoparticle hydrogel was a zinc folate hydrogel, which showed an obvious porous structure with interconnected and uniformly distributed pores and a pore size range of about 20 μm. The maximum drug loading of the hydrogels was 3%, and the in vitro cumulative release degree was in accordance with the first-order kinetic equation Mt = 149.529 (1 - e-0...

OBJECTIVE: Calcitonin gene-related peptide monoclonal antibodies (CGRP mAbs) are novel high-cost treatments for the prevention of migraine. This study presents data on utilisation, expenditure and treatment patterns with CGRP mAbs available under a managed access protocol in Ireland, to a cohort of treatment refractory patients (failed three or more previous treatments) with chronic migraine. METHODS: Data was extracted from the Primary Care Reimbursement Service (PCRS) High Tech claims database and special drug request online system, and analysed using Microsoft Excel and SAS...

Human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) have the potential to produce desired target cell types in vitro and allow for the high-throughput screening of drugs/chemicals at population level thereby minimising the cost of drug discovery and drug withdrawals after clinical trials. There is a substantial need for the characterisation of the iPSC derived models to better understand and utilise them for toxicological relevant applications. In our study, iPSC (SBAD2 or SBAD3 lines obtained from StemBANCC project) were differentiated towards toxicologically relevant cell types: alveolar macrophages, brain capillary endothelial cells, brain cells, endothelial cells, hepatocytes, lung airway epithelium, monocytes, podocytes and renal proximal tubular cells...

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) can result in morbidity, mortality, and higher healthcare costs. Given the limited information available on ADRs associated with antirheumatic medications, this study aims to analyse and compare ADR reporting for these drugs in the pharmacovigilance datasets of Western Australia (WA) and the United States (US). METHODS: Therapeutic Goods Administration provided WA pharmacovigilance data of selected antirheumatic drugs to from 1995 to 2015...

AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: We conducted a systematic review and network meta-analysis to compare the efficacy and safety of s.c. administered tirzepatide vs s.c. administered semaglutide for adults of both sexes with type 2 diabetes mellitus. METHODS: We searched PubMed and Cochrane up to 11 November 2023 for RCTs with an intervention duration of at least 12 weeks assessing s.c. tirzepatide at maintenance doses of 5 mg, 10 mg or 15 mg once weekly, or s.c. semaglutide at maintenance doses of 0...