Archive for month: April, 2024

A recent comprehensive study unveiled the real-world evidence of the effectiveness and safety of a biological drug, tildrakizumab, in treating patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis. The key highlights of this study were published in the recent edition of Drugs in Context journal.

This multicentric, prospective, observational study marks a significant stride forward to help understand the treatments performed outside the controlled environment of clinical trials in patients with this chronic skin condition. This study followed a total of 54 adult patients who were administered tildrakizumab over the course of 52 weeks.

The primary measure of the efficacy of the drug was the change in the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) which is a widely recognized metric for assessing the severity of psoriasis. The patients received an initial dose of 100 mg of tildrakizumab at the outset and at week 4, followed by a maintenance dose every 12 weeks thereafter.

The crucial findings of this study were;

From an average PASI score of 17.8 at the onset of the study, the participants observed their scores plummet to an average of 1.3 by week 52, which translates to an overall improvement of 93%.

This significant reduction of the symptoms underscored the potential of tildrakizumab as a very powerful treatment option. Notably, by the study’s end, over 85% of patients achieved a PASI of 5 or less, with nearly 60% reaching an even more remarkable milestone of PASI 1 or less.

The safety profiles were equally encouraging where only 9.3% of participants experienced infections and a singular case required hospitalization. The retention rate of this study further emphasized the tolerability of tildrakizumab, with nearly 89% of patients continuing the treatment throughout the year-long observation period.

This study represented a real-world population, including patients with various comorbidities where psoriatic arthritis was the most common. This diversity, along with the inclusion of individuals both new to and experienced with biologic treatments which enhanced the generalizability of the findings. Overall, this study affirms the efficacy and safety of tildrakizumab in the real-world clinical setting and elucidates the crucial role of real-world evidence in validating the effectiveness of biologic drugs beyond the constraints of randomized trials.

Reference:

Torres, T., Varela, P., Mendes Bastos, P., Magina, S., Henrique, M., & Ferreira, P. (2024). Tildrakizumab for the treatment of moderate-to-severe psoriasis: a 52-week, real-world Portuguese multicentric study. In Drugs in Context (Vol. 13, pp. 1–10). BioExcel. https://doi.org/10.7573/dic.2023-12-5

While considering the issue of non-payment of stipend to Foreign Medical Graduates (FMGs) during the compulsory internship, the Supreme Court has said that the FMGs cannot be treated differently and should be paid stipends during their internship like their counterparts who have done MBBS from the Indian medical colleges.

The National Board of Examination in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) has declared the result of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for Master of Dental Surgery NEET MDS 2024. NEET-MDS 2024 was conducted by the NBE on March 18, 2024 in a single session through a computer-based platform at various examination centres across the country.

Pune: In violation of the Nursing Home Act and other regulatory norms governing hospitals, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) Health Department has taken strict action against 23 private hospitals by issuing them a show cause notice on Friday. 

The notices were issued after the PMC health department found that several private hospitals in the city had not renewed their nursing licenses and violated various acts like Maharashtra Nursing Home Registration Act 1949 and Regulations 2021, Bio-Medical Waste Disposal Rules 2016 and Fire Safety Compliance among others.

Therefore, the violations prompted the authorities to inspect private hospitals in the 23 villages that had recently been merged under their jurisdiction. Over 100 hospitals were assessed, leading to 23 private hospitals receiving notices from the department.

Also read- Pune: Show-Cause Notice To KEM Hospital For Non-Compliance With Acts

Furthermore, they have asked all hospitals that have received the notice to promptly either complete the required compliance measures or stop admitting patients.

The PMC oversees 899 hospitals that are registered under the Maharashtra Nursing Home Registration Act 1949 and Regulations 2021.

Speaking to HT, a senior doctor from PMC on condition of anonymity, said, “Over 100 hospitals in these 23 merged villages like Wagholi, Mhalunge, Sus, Bavdhan Budruk, Kirkatwadi, Pisoli, Kondwe–Dhawade, Kopare, Nanded, Khadakwasla, Manjri-Budruk, Narhe amongst other villages were inspected.”

“The inspections were done by the respective Ward Medical Officers (WMO) and eventually notices were issued to the errant facilities. All these hospitals have been asked to complete the compliance at the earliest or stop admission of patients,” the doctor said.

Dr Bhagwan Pawar, Health Officer of PMC, told The Daily, “All these hospitals are in the newly merged villages and were found operating despite irregularities and violations of various acts like Maharashtra Nursing Home Registration Act 1949 and Regulations 2021, Bio-Medical Waste Disposal Rules 2016 and Fire Safety Compliance amongst other.”

Dr Pawar further said as these hospitals were earlier located in rural Pune most of them took the rules and regulations lightly. Now after these villages are merged into PMC, they must strictly follow the norms.

“We have decided that the renewal of nursing home licenses to these hospitals won’t be given unless the compliance is completed. Apart from the nursing home norms they must follow other rules of Pollution control, Biomedical waste management and Fire safety compliance,” he added.

Also read- Violation Of PC PNDT Act: Licence Of Three Ultrasound Centres Suspended, Show Cause Notice Issued