In the Bookstores - Volume 22, Issue

The Spirit Level

Ever had a ‘ping’ moment? This book might have been mine. I'm not a natural pessimist, but Western society today seems less cohesive and people more materialistic, stressed, unhealthy, and unhappy than in times gone by. Wealth and s…

Out On Our Own - Volume 22, Issue

The EMWA autumn conference is always so well placed in November, giving us the chance to meet friends and colleagues before the onslaught of traditional end of year festivities. Barcelona's conference was no exception. We were pleased to welcome new …

Good pharma - Volume 22, Issue

Drugs companies publish only a fraction of their results and keep much of the information to themselves. Drug companies are ‘debasing’ drug trials whose publication in journals can apparently confer scientific approval. Merck had fought for years to …

Medical Gems - Volume 25, Issue

Every discipline employs its own secretive words – jargon that allows initiates to communicate with one another in a way that excludes others. The world of medicine is no exception. The idioms used by doctors and surgeons range from the humorous to…

Package leaflets for medication in the EU: The possibility of integrating patients’ perspectives in a regulated genre? - Volume 24, Issue

Package leaflets (PLs) have been legally required to accompany medicines in the EU since 1999. Despite the best intentions and efforts, however, they are generally not well-received by the public for whom they are intended. This paper picks up on…

Medical Communications - Volume 27, Issue

In a follow-up to the excellent article from Douglas Fiebig on how to use your review cycle effectively, this issue presents an extremely insightful article from Diana Radovan on how to help reviewers to communicate better with writers. Diana…

Regulatory Writing - Volume 22, Issue

The European Medicine Agency's draft policy on the publication of clinical trial data for consultation (POLICY/0070, EMA/240810/2013) is causing quite a stir. The draft policy provides for the publication of large parts of the clinical study reports…

Medical Communications - Volume 25, Issue

Anyone working in pharmacovigilance (PV) will already have spent many months working their way through the ever changing updates and reforms to the Risk Management Plan (RMP), and the newly legislated RMP summary. Those not working in PV will…

Preventing biomedical research waste - Volume 31, Issue

An estimated 85% of efforts in biomedical research are wasted due to inefficiencies. This wastage represents a global financial loss of greater than US$200 billion per year, a barrier to practicing evidence-based medicine, and a considerable amount…

Social Media - Volume 30, Issue

Social media

“For many people, the internet can feel like a lonely place. It can feel like… a big, endless, expansive void where you can constantly call out to it but no one’s ever listening. But… I found, in sharing my feelings with the void, event…