GlaxoSmithKline and Merck: private-sector collaboration for the elimination of lymphatic filariasis.

More than 1000 million people in 82 countries are at risk of contracting the tropical disease lymphatic filariasis (LF). Although the disease is wide-spread, transmission of the causative parasites can be stopped through mass drug administrations based on a combination of anti-parasitic medicines. For more than 10 years, the pharmaceutical companies GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Merck & Co., Inc., have participated in a unique private-sector collaboration to support the global efforts to eliminate LF, through donations of drugs to prevent the disease. GSK's albendazole and Merck's ivermectin (Mectizan) now reach hundreds of millions of people each year, through national LF-elimination programmes carried out in collaboration with Ministries of Health, the World Health Organization, non-governmental organizations and local communities. Working in support of the Global Programme to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis, GSK and Merck not only provide donated medicines but also offer financial, programmatic and management expertise to support LF-elimination efforts worldwide.

[Local treatment of non-suppurative otitis externa. A double-blind randomized study]. / Lokal behandling af ikkesuppurativ otitis externa. En dobbeltblind randomiseret undersøgelse.

A comparison between a plain steroid lotion and a steroid lotion with an additional keratolytic and antiseptic was conducted in order to assess the value, if any, of additives in the treatment of dry external otitis. Sixty patients with dry external otitis were treated with either a plain steroid lotion or a steroid lotion with additives. Assessments were made prior to and after one week of treatment regarding erythema, oedema, secretion, itching, pain and spontaneously reported side-effects. No significant differences in efficacy were observed between the treatments. Statistically significant differences in favour of the plain steroid lotion were found with regard to reduction of erythema and occurrence of spontaneously reported side-effects. These findings invalidate the demands of additives to steroid lotions in the treatment of dry external otitis.

Acoustic rhinometry used as a method to monitor the effect of intramuscular injection of steroid in the treatment of nasal polyps.

Acoustic rhinometry is a new method which describes the geometry of the nasal cavity and the epipharynx. The method, based on the reflection of an acoustic signal entered into the nasal cavity, can be used to evaluate the cross-sectional area of the nasal cavity as a function of distance from the nostril. The method has, together with nasal expiratory peak flow (NPF) and nasal index based upon a self assessment score, been used to evaluate, in an objective and dynamic way, the effect of systemic treatment of nasal polyps with steroids in a series of eight patients with recurrent nasal polyposis. The study shows a significant relationship between these three parameters before and after systemic treatment of nasal polyps with steroids. It is concluded that in this study acoustic rhinometry had an accurate and objective method for measuring the geometry of the nasal cavity before and after treatment for processes which block the nasal cavity.