Biosimilar development – an overview - Volume 28, Issue

Biosimilars are biological drugs that are similar to, and cheaper than other biological drugs (called “reference originator biologics”) that are already in use. They share an identical amino-acid sequence but, given the inherent variability of…

Registration and ethics committee approval for observational studies: Current status and way forward - Volume 26, Issue

Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) have always been recognised as the highest level of evidence in medical research. However, they cannot address the questions that one comes across in real-world clinical practice. Observational studies can answer…

So, you want to be a medical journalist? - Volume 26, Issue

What are the differences between medical journalism and medical writing? To find out, the authors reviewed several health-related publications and online resources, and interviewed two senior medical journalists. We learned that medical journalism…

English Grammar and Style - Volume 21, Issue

Good Writing Practice As an editor, I have been battling against verbosity, redundant modifiers, and ‘buzz’ words for many years. New terms and turns of phrase or new meanings for words pop up all the time. Many of them have come with the…

The need for registration of preclinical studies - Volume 22, Issue

In contrast to controlled clinical trials, findings of preclinical studies are not available. The road from laboratory discovery to usable therapy is still long and windy. Many preclinical studies have not been replicated by the pharmaceutical…

Good Writing Practice - Volume 26, Issue

Conceptual component omission is a distraction to a content expert who expects specific argumentative conceptual components in the various sections of a journal article. As evidence, some of the components have become standardised in structured…

How the EU Medical Device Regulation is affecting the medical device landscape. An interview with Suzanne Halliday, the Regulatory Head of BSI, Medical Devices Notified Body - Volume 31, Issue

Suzanne Halliday, D.Phil., is the Vice President for Regulatory within the Notified Body BSI with extensive experience in compliance to the Medical Devices Directive (MDD), ISO 13485, risk management, clinical evaluations and investigations, meeting…

Out On Our Own - Volume 24, Issue

Editorial

All of us are aware by now that we can't live without technology and not only at work. With advice, aids, appliances and apps in abundance, we are at the point where we can't see the wood for the trees. Thank goodness we have advice from M…

European Science Editing: May 2015 picks - Volume 24, Issue

In the ironically titled ‘The increasing pseudodignification of medical prose’, retired consultant Neville W. Goodman bemoans the failure of medical writers (by which he means people who write scientific papers) to use simple words.1 Goodman…

Patient-reported outcomes: How useful are they? - Volume 26, Issue

Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) are any report on the status of a patient’s health condition as told by the patient him or herself or through an interview, without any interpretation by a clinician or anyone else. They generate information on those…