Consequences of Drug Abuse among Female and Male Population of Karachi: A Statistical Surveyed Approach

Drugs are chemicals. Different drugs, because of their chemical structures, can affect the body in different ways. The most obvious effects of drug abuse which are manifested in the individuals include ill health, sickness and ultimately, death. The social life is also not spared by the hazardous impacts of the problem. Whereas the load at health department is increased, rise in crime rate is also a perilous effect faced by the society related to the growth of abusers in the country. The following study highlights the different effects that can influence male and female drug abusers to get rid of their drug misuse habits. Abusers age, level of awareness about drugs adverse effects, their encounters to health ailments including the life threatening infection HIV, and involvement in crimes were included in the survey which was carried out in Karachi in order to assess the magnitude of this problem

Bioequivalence Study of Two Commercial Products of 3mg Dinoprostone Vaginal Tablets

A randomized, parallel, active control, in vivo bioequivalence study (with clinical endpoint) determining the bioequivalence of two brands of dinoprostone 3 mg vaginal tablets was conducted in pregnant women at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center, Karachi. 3mg Dinoprostone vaginal tablet was administered with a second dose repeated after six hours if clinically prescribed. The bioequivalence was assessed by clinical endpoints and a safety analysis was also conducted for all dosed subjects. Maternal bishop score, CTG and neonatal APGAR score were noted. 90% Confidence Intervals for per protocol population was found well within the ±0.20 range. Test product (Glandin E2) and reference product (prostin E2) were found to be bioequivalent

Efficacy and Safety of Megafer® Injection versus Venofer® Injection in Pregnant Women with Iron Deficiency Anemia

Anemia is the most commonly found blood disorder worldwide in the pregnant women and most frequently it is brought on by nutritional deficiencies giving rise to the typical Iron Deficiency Anemia (IDA). Intravenous administration of iron sucrose, provides a rapid mean to treat this condition by fulfilling the increased body demand of iron. Various alternate brands of iron sucrose injections are now available in the market place but a rationale is to be developed for a preferred product, based on its safety and efficacy. This retrospective comparative analysis is designed to compare two different brands, Megafer® injection and Venofer® injection, containing the same generic compound of Iron Sucrose, in Asian pregnant women with Iron Deficiency Anemia. The outcome measure for efficacy was targeted as the increase in levels of hemoglobin (Hb) after the drug administration, as per the approved protocol. The Hb levels were evaluated through hematological parameters while safety was analyzed by measuring the vital signs and any adverse event reported during the whole study period. Megafer® Injection was found to be as effective and safe as Venofer® Injection, for the short term treatment of IDA in pregnant women

Physiologically based pharmacokinetic modeling for predicting irinotecan exposure in human body

Colorectal cancer is the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States. Treatment of colorectal cancer remains a challenge to clinicians as well as drug developers. Irinotecan, a Camptothecin derivative, is successfully used for the treatment of this rapidly progressing malignancy and finds its place in the first line of therapeutic agents. Irinotecan is also effective in treating SCLC, malignant glioma and pancreatic adenocarcinoma. However, its adverse effects limit its clinical application. Mainly metabolized by hepatic route, and excreted through biliary tract, this dug has been found to possess high variation in patients in its pharmacokinetic (PK) profile. Physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) models using compartmental approach have attained their position to foresee the possible PK behavior of different drugs before their administration to patients and such models have been proposed for several anticancer agents. In this work, we used WB-PBPK technology to develop a model in a population of tumor patients who used IV irinotecan therapy. This model depicted the concentration of drug and its pharmacologically active metabolite in human body over a specific period of time. Knowledge about pharmacokinetic parameters is extracted from this profile and the model is evaluated by the observed results of clinical study presented in literature. The predicted behavior of the drug by this approach is in good agreement with the observed results and can aid in further exploration of PK of irinotecan in cancer patients, especially in those concomitantly suffer from other morbidity