Developing a treatment for ovarian cancer - Volume 21, Issue

Ovarian cancer is a really nasty disease. Although, like most cancers, it is curable if caught early enough, in practice it is not usually diagnosed until it is too late for curative treatment. It initially responds well to treatment and patients…

Vaccines and immunotherapies - Volume 27, Issue

The use of vaccines and immunotherapies in medicine dates back to the end of the 18th century and the work of Edward Jenner, the father of immunology. Jenner, building on the observations of John Fewster in 1768, showed that inoculation with the…

European network for health technology assessment – EUnetHTA - Volume 22, Issue

In 2004, health technology assessment (HTA) was recognised as a ‘political priority’ by the EC and Council of Ministers, which led to a call to establish an effective and sustainable European network for HTA (EUnetHTA). The result was the…

Landscaping the terminology of accessible language document types - Volume 31, Issue

There are three main types of accessible language documents that medical writers and medical publications professionals may work on. These are regulatory lay summaries, publication-associated plain language summaries (PLS), and standalone plain…

Communicating the findings of health technology assessments: Considering uncertainty - Volume 30, Issue

Uncertainty is an unavoidable problem when analysing health technology assessment results, which can make decision making difficult. Whilst we have ways of presenting uncertainty for individual outcomes in a systematic review, we do not have a…

The medical writers role in health technology assessment submissions - Volume 30, Issue

Writing health technology assessment (HTA) submissions is a challenging and rewarding area of medical writing, being part of the process of giving patients access to new medicines. Submission requirements differ between countries but all require…

Medical decision making and health technology assessment - Volume 30, Issue

Medical decision making and health technology assessment - Volume 30, Issue

Many of the key decisions in our lives concern our health and well-being.These decisions are often made for us at the societal level, but as individuals we have increasing say in the management of our own healthcare and in societal decisions. Having…

Profile - An Interview with Juliane Chaccour - Writing in Mozambique - Volume 25, Issue

On her private Twitter profile, Julie (Juliane) describes herself as “freelance medical editor, mother, immunologist with an interest in tropical diseases and vaccines”. Julie works as a freelance medical writer and editor, is managing editor at…

Sluggish downloads, lagging video calls: Tips for the remote worker to tame technology - Volume 31, Issue

What are the various broadband options to consider when working from home and how can you ensure you’re getting the best from yours? Broadband failures can mean a headache for your clients and you risk looking unprofessional, so having a backup…