According to Health Canada

Excessive drinking of energy drinks or mixing them with alcohol can have serious health effects. Energy drinks are meant to supply mental and physical stimulation for a short period of time. They usually contain caffeine, taurine (an amino acid, one of the building blocks of protein), vitamins and glucuronolactone, a carbohydrate. Energy drinks should not be confused with sports drinks such as Gatorade® or Powerade®. Sports drinks re-hydrate the body and provide sugars, which the body burns to create energy and replenish electrolytes.

The It's Your Health article on Safe Use of Energy Drinks has been updated with new information and is now available online.

USA Today reports on "deals" between generic drug companies and brand-name pharmaceutical companies where the generic drug company delays introducing a generic in exchange for money. It's an interesting article. Legislators are planning to pass a bill preventing this in future. Could the same thing be happening in Canada?

The UK's Telegraph (8/25, Smith) reports that the UK's National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) "has said NHS patients with severe rheumatoid arthritis (RA) can move from one drug to the next as each one stops working for them." Up until now, "there had been restrictions on switching between drugs, and the 40,000 people with the condition were left without any effective treatments once their existing medication stopped working."

In addition, NICE has approved a new drug called RoActemra (tocilizumab) to be used by RA patients when all other drugs tried "have failed or cannot be tolerated." Dow Jones Newswire (8/25, Stovall) also covers the story.

The European Commission, European Medicines Agency and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently adopted a common application form for drug makers seeking orphan designation for their medicines. This will simplify the drug approval process and spur innovation by allowing companies to apply for approval of their new product in both the US and across Europe at the same time. In addition, this new process will help the regulatory agencies to better understand each other's systems. [1]

Read the article: Treatment of Rare Disorders

In contrast, patients and advocates in Canada have expressed concern that the Common Drug Review (CDR) – a government appointed agency that makes recommendations to provinces (with the exception of Quebec) regarding listing decisions for new drugs – is failing to provide patients with timely access to new medicines and failing to operate in an accountable fashion. The CDR process has recommended against reimbursement for every treatment evaluated for unmet needs.

In response to these concerns, the federal House Standing Committee on Health recently conducted a review of the CDR. The government recommendations include: [3]

• Establishing a specifically designed approach for the review of drugs for rare disorders and for first-in-class drugs;
• Creating a distinct appeal process with a separate group of experts; and
• Increasing the current level of public involvement in the CDR through public attendance at open CEDAC meetings and the creation of a public advisory body.

While these recommendations are encouraging, this review is non-binding and merely suggests that the CDR consider these suggestions. The extent to which CDR implements these, and other Committee recommendations, remains to be seen.

Rare Disorders
Despite the small numbers affected by each disease, there are up to 6,000 rare disorders which affect nearly 10% of the Canadian population, 30 million people in Europe and about 25 million Americans.

[1] http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=scienceNews&storyID=2007-11-26T183432Z_01_L2677301_RTRUKOC_0_US-DRUGS-REGULATORS.xml

[2] Biotech Canada – Presentation to the House Standing Committee on Health (April 16, 2007)

[3] House Standing Committee on Health Report on the Common Drug Review (Dec. 2007) http://cmte.parl.gc.ca/cmte/CommitteePublication.aspx?COM=13189&Lang=1&SourceId=220278