Objectives:The study was aimed to evaluate collected drug promotional brochures for accuracy, consistency, and validity of the information presented in it, using World Health Organization (WHO) criteria for ethical medicinal drug promotion. Drug promotional brochures were evaluated for the type of claims and pictorial content presented in it and for references cited in support of these claims.Material and Methods:This observational, cross-sectional study was conducted in the outpatient department of Government Medical College and Hospital, Nagpur, India. In addition to the fulfillment of “WHO criteria, 1988,” we examined 513 promotional brochures for the type of claims and pictorial content presented in it and references quoted in support of claims to check their retrievability, type, and authenticity.Results:None of the promotional literature fulfilled all WHO criteria. Majority (92%) brochures claimed about the efficacy of product, and a few about safety (37.8%). Out of 1003 references given in support of various claims, 84.4% were from journals and only 28.5% were validly presented researches. Brochures presenting irrelevant pictures were 41.3%, whereas brief prescription information (BPI) of the promoted drug was given only by 8.8% brochures.Conclusion:Pharmaceutical industries did not follow the WHO guidelines while promoting their products, thus aiming to satisfying their commercial motive rather than fulfill the educational aspect of promotion.

Objective:To compare three treatment modalities in scabies for safety, efficacy, and economy in a local population of Nagpur.Materials and Methods:This was a prospective, randomized, comparative clinical trial conducted in 103 participants, randomly allocated to three groups. First group received benzyl benzoate (BB) 25% lotion, second group received permethrin 5% cream, whereas third group received tablet ivermectin 200 μg/kg as a single dose. The participants were recalled after one week for follow-up evaluation. If there were no signs of cure, the same intervention was repeated. The participants were followed up for two weeks for cure rate, adverse drug reaction (ADR) monitoring, and postintervention observation. The follow-up was stopped after two weeks.Statistics:Fischer's exact test using Graph pad Instat v 3.05.Results:Ivermectin showed 100% cure rate after two weeks of treatment. Permethrin decreased pruritus by 76% at the end of one week and had significantly better cure rate than ivermectin. At the end of two weeks treatment, this finding was reversed, that is, cure rate in ivermectin group was 100%. For cost-effectiveness analysis, treatment regimens were formulated hypothetically for comparison from Markov population tree for decision analysis. It was found that BB and ivermectin each consecutively for two weeks were most cost effective regimens giving complete cure in four weeks, while ivermectin was the fastest regimen giving the same results in two weeks.Conclusion:Benzyl benzoate as first line intervention and ivermectin in the remaining gave best cost-effective results in the study patients of scabies.

Background: Contaminated eyedrops are considered as serious risk factor for many iatrogenic ocular infections. Apart from the risk of infection, microbial contamination may alter the pH of the solution thereby reducing the efficacy of drugs. Presently many preservatives are added to these eye drops preparations to extend the duration of use. Hence authors aimed this study to find the contamination rates in such eye drop preparations.Methods: This was a prospective observational research conducted at Ophthalmology OPD, of tertiary care teaching hospital for the period of 2 months. Total fifty five used eyedrops were collected.Results: Authors found that 25.45% of the collected eye drops were contaminated with various organisms, viz. E. coli (10.90%), Staphylococcus aureus (9.09%), Pseudomonas aerugenosa (1.81%), Bacillus subtilis (1.81%) and Candida albicans (1.81%). Among various eyedrops, mydriatic (60%) eyedrops had the highest rate of contamination. We also found that, different preservatives in the eye drops were presents with different level of microbial contamination.Conclusions: The present study showed that there is a definite co-occurrence between eyedrop contamination and ocular infections irrespective of preservatives. This research raises a concern about questionable efficacy of preservatives.

1In a previous research Satish Kumar BP et al, showed that the mean number of drugs per prescription was 6.66 with a range between 3 to 15 drugs. The majority (67.32%) of ABSTRACT Background: Rational prescribing is an essential skill for every prescriber. However many times it seems a difficult task for various reasons. Such practices ultimately increase the mortality, morbidity and financial burden on the patient. Hence, we aimed our study to evaluate appropriateness of prescription pattern according to WHO drug prescribing indicators, few complementary indicators and classify prescription errors. Methods: A retrospective observational study, conducted in medical record section of tertiary care teaching hospital of Maharashtra during the period of 6 months. Total 400 randomly selected prescriptions from Medicine inpatient wards were scrutinized. Results: Average number of drugs per prescription was 5.20 trending towards polypharmacy. Drugs prescribed by generic name were 13.88%, injectable drugs were part of 93.50% prescriptions, 78.25% prescriptions contained an antimicrobial agent and Percentage of drugs prescribed from NELM 2011 was 72.36%. Illegible handwriting in 68% cases was the important cause of prescription errors. These errors found in 73% of prescriptions. Conclusions:The present study showed that the practices were trending towards irrational prescribing. Polypharmacy and illegible prescriptions were dominated. Regular prescription audit will help to rectify such practices. Also, there is an urgent need of sensitization of prescriber through new treatment guidelines, seminar, presentations and discussions on regular basis.

INTRODUCTIONIn a government hospital on an average about one third of its annual budget is spent on buying medicines and medical related items. 1 The pharmacy is the place where, a big amount of money is spent to purchase medicines. This emphasizes the need of planning for the efficient clinical and medical services.2 The goal being to maintain adequate stock of all required essential medicine to provide interrupted medical services to the population.A study conducted by the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms in India has revealed that not only does the quantity of medicines received fall short of the requirement but also the supply is often erratic. Even common medicines are out of stock and remain so for a considerable period.3 A study from a 1,500-bedded statefunded hospital has claimed that, there was approximately 20% savings on expensive drugs by control measures. 4 Role of inventory control is very important in a developing country like India.5 Inventory control system helps us to know what, when and how much to order, and how much to stock depending upon purchasing costs and storing costs. It also helps to maintain balance in terms of supply and demand. 5 ABSTRACTBackground: Substantial amount of money need to be spent on medicines. The ABC-VED matrix is an attempt to evolve on proper inventory control systems. Methods: The study was conducted at medical store of tertiary care hospital in FY 2016-2017. The annual drug consumption and expenditure incurred on each medicine were collected. The data were subjected to ABC and VED analysis. For a management purpose ABC-VED matrix was formulated by combining results of both the analysis.