Health economic evaluation of the Lund Integrated Medicines Management Model (LIMM) in elderly patients admitted to hospital.

To evaluate the cost effectiveness of a multidisciplinary team including a pharmacist for systematic medication review and reconciliation from admission to discharge at hospital among elderly patients (the Lund Integrated Medicines Management (LIMM)) in order to reduce drug-related readmissions and outpatient visits

Brand image and customers’ willingness to pay a price premium for food brands

Purpose – The aim is to understand customers' willingness, or unwillingness, to pay a price premium in the market for consumer packaged food and what kind of images brands can use in order to achieve a price premium. Design/methodology/approach – The study is based on a quantitative survey of brand images found in food and branding literature and their impact on loyalty as well as customers' willingness to pay a price premium for consumer packaged food. Findings – The survey shows that quality is a significant determinant of price premium, but adding other image dimensions doubles the predictability and understanding about price premium. The strongest determinants of price premium are social image, uniqueness and home country origin. Other significant determinants are corporate social responsibility (CSR) and awareness. Practical implications – The results help brand managers to recognise the importance of incorporating price premium and to develop a better understanding of what drives price premium in addition to more traditional dimensions as quality and loyalty. Originality/value – In grocery retailing, the competition for customers, margins and price premiums between manufacturer and private labels is fierce. Traditionally, the literature on this competition has focused on quality and product improvements as the main tool for creating distance to low priced competition. This study looks into other more branding related dimensions to distance from price competitio

Exposure to benzylpenicillin after different dosage regimens in growing pigs

BackgroundPenicillin is important for treatment of pigs, but data on its absorption and disposition in pigs are sparse. This is reflected by the variation in recommended dosages in the literature. Inadequate dosage may lead to treatment failure and selection of resistant bacteria. To optimize treatment regimens, plasma exposure to benzylpenicillin for two sustained release formulations of procaine benzylpenicillin for intramuscular administration was studied in growing pigs by means of tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS). One formulation was an aqueous suspension, Ethacilin (R) vet (ETH), and the other an oily suspension, Ultrapen vet (UPA). Benzylpenicillin exposure after intravenous administration of potassium benzylpenicillin was also explored. Exposure profiles were first studied after single administrations of the approved dosages in healthy pigs and then after repeated administration of different dosages in pigs inoculated intranasally with an Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae serotype 2 strain.ResultsAfter intravenous administration of benzylpenicillin (n=6), maximum plasma concentration (C-max), 1860-9318 mu g/L, was observed after 15 min. At four h, plasma concentrations decreased to 15-76 mu g/L. After intramuscular administration of ETH (n=6) C-max, 1000-4270 mu g/L, was observed within one h (t(max)) in 5 pigs but at four h in one pig. C-max for UPA (n=6), 910-3220 mu g/L, was observed within one h in three pigs, but at four or 24 h in three pigs. For both ETH and UPA, the terminal phase was characterized by slow decline compared with intravenous administration. Repeated administration of different dosages of ETH and UPA in pigs inoculated with A. pleuropneumoniae (n=54) showed that the approved dose for UPA (30 mg/kg, qd) but not for ETH (20 mg/kg, qd) gave adequate plasma exposure for bacteria with a penicillin MIC of 500 mu g/L. However, more frequent dosing of ETH (bid) or increased dosage gave an adequate exposure.ConclusionsThe approved dosage of ETH provided insufficient plasma exposure for adequate therapy of infections caused by A. pleuropneumoniae or other bacteria with a penicillin MIC of 500 mu g/L. More frequent ETH dosing (bid) or an increased dosage would improve exposure. The approved dosage of UPA however provided adequate exposure