Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Naming biologics—biosimilars

To recap. Medicines are given International Nonproprietary Names (INNs) by an expert panel of the World Health Organization, using principles that are not uniformly adhered to. When the names are confusable medication errors can occur. Consider monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). Apart from the first, muromonab, they all end in the stem -mab. Substems are formed by […]

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William Cayley: What’s in the future for US family medicine?

Once again, after waiting with bated breath, hope, and anxiety, medical students and residency programs alike have received the results of the annual residency “match.” After months of seemingly endless interviews and paperwork, and the submission of preference lists to the computer based algorithm at the National Residency Matching Program (NRMP), we finally know what […]

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Daniel Sokol: The messiness of medicine

Last week I attended a conference for surgeons. In the hall, a poster described the case of a neurology patient who had, literally, inhaled a chicken sandwich. The surgeon, with great ingenuity, combined instruments to suction the mushy chicken embedded in the patient’s lungs. Next to the poster stood a timid medical student, one of […]

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Richard Smith: Is the NHS finally going to start taking patient safety seriously?

Jeremy Hunt, secretary of state for health, is embroiled in battles with junior doctors, GPs, and consultants over contracts and patient safety. He thinks that he will improve safety by reducing excess weekend deaths. The doctors think that he’s endangering patient safety through obliging them to work unsafely. Ironically, he’s the first secretary of state […]

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Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Naming biologics—principles and practice

Last week I discussed how drugs get their International Nonproprietary Names (INNs). The World Health Organization’s expert panel that assigns INNs has nine principles to guide its decisions, two primary and seven secondary. Here they are in abbreviated form: 1. The names should be distinctive in sound and spelling. They should not be inconveniently long […]

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Jeff Aronson: When I Use a Word … Naming biologics—rINNs and pINNs

This week I went to Harrogate to take part in the Royal College of Physicians’ (RCP’s) annual conference “Medicine 2016”, to contribute to a session on biological medicines (biologics). It included talks on micro-RNAs by John Warren, interleukins and dermatology by Richard Warren, CD receptors and haematology by Anthony Goldstone, epidermal growth factor receptors and […]

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Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Value and fulfilment

Some think that the current dispute between the UK Government and the junior hospital doctors is about money. Some think it’s about patient care. Both are only partly right. What it’s really about is feeling valued and fulfilled. The doctors don’t. The Indo-European root UAL meant power or strength. The Latin derivative valere meant to […]

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Julian Sheather: Extremity piled upon extremity—where next for medical neutrality?

In times of war, said Cicero, the law falls silent. Afghanistan. Iraq. Syria. Yemen. Somalia. Ukraine. Libya. Chad. An irregular patchwork of violent conflict lies across great swathes of the globe. Many of these are new kinds of conflict. The clash of opposing armies has given way. Splinter groups, proxies, irregular forces, insurgents, paramilitaries. It […]

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