Pharma Veterans

Generic vs Brands: Media Hype and Facts V – Blog Post #478 by Asrar Qureshi Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans Blog Post #478. Pharma Veterans welcomes sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. Continued from Previous…… In this last part, we shall see the arguments against generic prescriptions. Here are some arguments. Confusion about Generics and Branded Generics There is a difference between generics and branded generics. Generics are marketed by their chemical name, such as Paracetamol, Aspirin etc. But when we talk about branded generics, these become Panadol and Loprin etc.. In many countries, generics do not carry any brand name at all. The doctor would just write the chemical name, such as omeprazole, and the pharmacist may give any omeprazole from any manufacturer. ...

Generic vs Brands: Media Hype and Facts IV – Blog Post #477 by Asrar Qureshi Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans Blog Post #477. Pharma Veterans welcomes sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. Continued from Previous…… Going in sequence, we move on to look at arguments for and against generics.  Here are some arguments in favor of using generic names for prescriptions. Ease of Use The number of ‘brands’ registered at DRAP has crossed over 110,000. For each formula/composition, numerous brands are available. For some common products such as antibiotics, pain medicines, gastrointestinal drugs, the number of brands for each one crosses 200 may be. This makes it simply impossible for any physician to remember so many brand names. Practically, doctors prefer to remember fe...

Generic vs Brands: Media Hype and Facts III – Blog Post #476 by Asrar Qureshi Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans Blog Post #476. Pharma Veterans welcomes sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. Continued from Previous…… In the previous part, we looked at some arguments in favor of brands. Logically, we should see the arguments against brands now. Here are some reasons why brands should be discouraged. Brand Power Brands carry power in all segments, not just pharmaceuticals. Among consumer products and in fashion line, brands hold ultimate power. The customers are actually hostage to the brand. Buy shoes, clothing, accessories of any big brand, and the name of the brand shall be printed all over the article. The customer who wears or carries their articles is a live, walkin...

Generic vs Brands: Media Hype and Facts II – Blog Post #475 by Asrar Qureshi Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans Blog Post #475. Pharma Veterans welcomes sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. Continued from Previous…… After having examined the DRAP document, we now take up the matter of Generics and Brands in more detail. First a few basic things.  A generic drug is a later version of a drug originally developed by the innovator company. It resembles the innovator drug in many respects but differs in finer details. The efficacy and safety profile are considered to be similar.  Generic drugs are sold all over the world and they have become mainstay of common people’s treatment owing to their prices which may be anywhere 20 – 80% lower than the innovator drug. Eve...

Generic vs Brands: Media Hype and Facts – Blog Post #474 by Asrar Qureshi Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans Blog Post #474. Pharma Veterans welcomes sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. Our media is abuzz with another breaking news: “DRAP has mandated that all drugs shall be prescribed by generic names by doctors”, say the media leads shown in red to maximize the impact. We shall look at it in three ways. One, on the merit of the available information; two, the arguments for it; and three, the arguments against it. These are the available details. • There is a memo from Drug Regulatory Authority Pakistan – DRAP, dated – nil – signed by Director Pharmacy Services, Dr. Abdul Rashid who has unusually put the date of 16 April below his signature. • The reference at the...

Ramadan – The Month of Extraordinary Commercial Blessings – Blog Post #473 by Asrar Qureshi Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans Blog Post #473. Pharma Veterans welcomes sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. Ramadan is here once again. For some, Ramadan comes too soon and for some, it is awaited to come. Among the latter category, the primary motive for waiting for Ramadan is the desire to have ‘Extraordinary Blessings’ which are not possible in usual days. For the ordinary believers, Ramadan marks the time when fasting brings more control and piety in the self. Prayers become regular among those who may otherwise be irregular. Additional prayers are offered as Taraweeh and for the more zealous ones, there are other prayers also. Recitation of the Holy Qua’an becomes a dai...

Mannerism in Organizations III – Blog Post #472 by Asrar Qureshi Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans Blog Post #472. Pharma Veterans welcomes sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. Continued from Previous… We have discussed several reasons for undesirable manners in the organizations in the last two blogs. In this last part, we shall summarize and conclude with some suggestions to improve the situation.  Sum Up History of class discrimination, Lack of education, Lack of social development, Acceptance of foul language in social settings are some of the major contributors towards poor mannerism in general. The work life is not entirely separated from personal life, and we are not two different people at work and home. The fact is that as a community, we have lost whatev...

Mannerism in Organizations II – Blog Post #471 by Asrar Qureshi Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans Blog Post #471. Pharma Veterans welcomes sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. Continued from Previous… We are tracing the reasons for undesirable manners in the organizations. We discussed class-based social system and lack of literacy in the previous blog. We go on to see more factors. Lack of Social Development The access to education, quality of education and the impact of education contribute to social development.  In our case, access to education is limited, restricted and highly variable. Government does not take responsibility for educating all children, even at cost. The schools are insufficient, many schools do not have proper buildings, do not have furnitur...

Mannerism in Organizations – Blog Post #470 by Asrar Qureshi Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans Blog Post #470. Pharma Veterans welcomes sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. Couple of years ago, a candidate was brought to me by his would-be reporting officer for final interview. The position was an officer level (read ‘entry level’) one. The candidate had few years’ experience in a similar position. He had spent two years in one organization who are a very well-known manufacturer of tents and tarpaulins. Apparently, they have a huge export business also. Incidentally, his would-be reporting officer also had had a stint there. The candidate mentioned that the owners regularly abused employees verbally, in the dirtiest possible local language. The other person also endors...

Understanding Kindness – Blog Post #469 by Asrar Qureshi Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans Blog Post #469. Pharma Veterans welcomes sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. I had had the good fortune to do several of those things which I wanted to/ loved to do. Travel was one of them. I could travel not only to many countries but highly variable ones. From the most developed US and Europe to least developed nations in some parts of Africa, and all the shades in between. I met a lot of people, many of them simply wonderful. Most of all, I have received a huge amount of Kindness from so many, and many times more than what I have given in my entire life. I have experienced a lot of kindness among so-called poor people. People with no material riches are extremely rich in...

Society Development through Media – Blog Post #467 by Asrar Qureshi Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans Blog Post #467 Pharma Veterans welcomes sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. Media has always played a significant role in the development of society throughout the world. It is used by governments and public alike to float, discuss and debate various social and political drives, which lead to influencing of public opinion in certain directions. Political parties and leaders use media relentlessly to promote their manifestos and agendas. The biggest example was telecasting of Altaf Hussain’s speeches on all channels for quite some time which ran for hours. Pressure groups of all kinds use media to get their presence known and exert pressure on whosoever it is intended ...

Impacts of COVID19 Pandemic on Pakistan III – Blog Post #466 by Asrar Qureshi Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans Blog Post #466 Pharma Veterans welcomes sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. Continued from Previous…… Agriculture and food security was also affected by COVID19 pandemic. This might have been ignored by general public in relation to impacts of COVID19. [Quote] The farming sector of Pakistan has not only served as a backbone for food security but has always been a major sup- port to the economy, being the highest contributor to GDP. Pakistan is the 8th largest producer of wheat, 10th largest of rice, 5th of sugarcane and 4th largest producer of milk in the world. Even with this standing, only 63.1% of the population has adequate supply of food sources to be c...