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Biomedical subjects

J F Martin

Publications and source records attributed to J F Martin.

329 records · Page 19Linked to original sources
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Double-blind controlled trial of prostacyclin in cerebral infarction.

Thirty-two patients with acute cerebral infarction received either prostacyclin or placebo intermittently for 65 hours. Pulse and blood pressure were not altered by prostacyclin. After infusion there was no change in infarct volume or cerebral blood flow in either group. After normalisation for starting values, age and site of cerebral infarction there was a greater than 10% improvement in speech in the prostacyclin group, but minimal changes in neurological score or disability status. Age is related to neurological score at 14 days after stroke by decreasing improvement by 6.8% for each additional 10 years. This study has not been able to demonstrate that prostacyclin is effective in the treatment of ischaemic stroke, but due to the sample size the chance of proving this statistically (the power) was small. Similarly any conclusion that prostacyclin is not effective may be wrong because of the Type II error probability being high.

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PubMedDate not supplied

[Towards a new vaccine economy?].

When Jonas Salk announced in the mid-50s the availability of a new vaccine against poliomyelitis, the world had the impression that it was now controlling infectious diseases. In fact, the success of this vaccine has been considerable and although some innovations lead to the launch of vaccines against flu, measles, rubella or mumps, the world vaccine market remained remarkably stable till the mid-80s. However, since 1984 (launch of the hepatitis B vaccine) there have been very substantial changes and further change is expected in the next ten years in the world market. Today, big companies are making a concentrated supply: Pasteur Mérieux with its subsidiary Connaught, SmithKline Beecham who acquired the Belgian company RIT, and Merck & Co. who is joining its forces with Pasteur Mérieux. Medium sized and small companies remain and reflect the situation of the past, but must work hard to secure their long term existence eventhough the world demand is going to double before the year 2000. Very substantial technological innovations explain to a large extent the development of the supply: progress in molecular biology, and particularly genetic engineering, lead to recombinant vaccines of which hepatitis B is the best example with worldwide sales in the range of $600 million a year. Similarly, conjugation technologies have allowed the development of new vaccines against meningitis, particularly Haemophilus influenzae type b. More recently, an efficacious vaccine against hepatitis A has been launched and many new products will be marketed in the next years against herpes, Lyme disease, and agents of other meningitis, etc.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

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