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Recovered Covid Patients Send Their Leftover Meds to Those in Need

Priti Salian

June 08, 2021 |

Reasons to be Cheerful |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: India, Mumbai

Volunteers with India’s Meds For More initiative (MFM) collect leftover unused medications from recovered Covid-19 patients by canvassing their apartment buildings, offices, student clubs, schools, and other locations. Once collected, MFM distributes them to NGOs licensed to work in the health sector, who transport the medicines to marginalized communities in urban and rural areas. Medical professionals sort and pack the medicines and give them to local hospitals and health care centers, who distribute them to patients. The success of the program has inspired similar initiatives in several other cities.

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Addiction treatment drug buprenorphine easier to prescribe under Biden

Dave Miller Allison Frost

May 04, 2021 |

Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) |

Radio Talk Show |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: United States

Bupreneophine (also known as Suboxone) is a highly effective medication to treat opioid use disorder and addiction. It is life-saving, both in reducing the risk of fatal overdoses and helping people function better as they get treatment for their disorder. But prescribing and dispensing it is in many ways more highly regulated than the prescribing and dispensing of opioids themselves. A researcher who surveyed pharmacies found that many refuse to dispense the medication out of fear of regulatory sanctions or because of misplaced moral objections to medication-assisted treatment.

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The resistance: can viruses save us from drug-defying superbugs?

Rosa Ellis

March 28, 2021 |

The Times |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United Kingdom

Bacteriophages, or phages, are viruses that kill bacteria by latching on to and entering target cells and then multiplying and killing the host cell. Phages only attack bacteria, they can’t enter human cells, but the phage must be specific to the bacteria's DNA, which presents an obstacle because most health systems lack the capacity for such testing. To overcome this, researchers are developing phage cocktails that could be applied more widely, similar to antibiotics. A few locations around the world currently use phage treatment, particularly to treat the six most virulent antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

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How Germany lowered prescription drug costs

Ali-Asghar Abedi

December 15, 2020 |

America First? |

Video |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: Germany

To keep prescription drug costs affordable in Germany, there are limits in place for how much patients can be asked to pay for their medication, and insurers are required to cover the cost of new drugs whenever they become available. With this methodology in place, new drugs are kept accessible for all, and drug spending in the country has decreased.

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Patients Struggle to Find Prescription Opioids After NY Tax Drives Out Suppliers

Anastassia Gliadkovskaya

November 17, 2020 |

Kaiser Health News |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, New York

To "punish major drugmakers for their role in the opioid epidemic and generate funding for treatment programs," the state of New York implemented a new an excise tax on opioids. Since going into effect, though, the tax has failed to bring in the expected revenue and many opioid manufacturers and wholesalers have stopped selling their drugs to the state which has negatively impacted those who have been prescribed opioids for ailments such as pain management.

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How South Korea Solved Its Face Mask Shortage

E. Tammy Kim

April 01, 2020 |

The New York Times |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: South Korea

To combat a shortage of protective masks caused by the onset of the coronavirus outbreak, the South Korea government implemented "significant market interventions." The government began purchasing masks from manufacturers, allocating a certain number primarily to pharmacies to distribute, and informed the public that they were to "buy two masks per week on an assigned weekday, depending on their year of birth."

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The pharmacists fighting high drug prices

Charlotte Horn

January 07, 2020 |

BBC |

Podcast |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: Netherlands

Some Dutch pharmacists combat high drug prices by making small batches of drugs themselves, which they sell to patients at a fraction of the cost. Drug companies get a 10-year monopoly on new drugs but many simply re-registered old drugs for new diseases and significantly raise prices. Doctors at Erasmus Medical Center have used a drug to treat a rare cancer for many years, but after it fell back under a drug company monopoly, the price increased and insurance companies stopped covering it. In response, hospital pharmacists made the drug themselves so that they can continue to treat patients.

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Rwanda avoids US-style opioids crisis by making own morphine

Cara Anna Claire Galofaro

December 25, 2019 |

Associated Press |

Multi-Media |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Rwanda, Bushekeli

The Rwandan government is on a mission to get palliative care to everyone who needs it by creating their own morphine instead of being beholden to pharmaceutical companies driven by profit. Using Uganda's simple recipe for morphine, the government partnered with nonprofits to produce and distribute morphine for free and under close watch. The drug costs pennies to make and is hand-delivered by community workers to those who need it, no matter how far. Although fear and uncertainty remain over the possibility of opioid addiction, many patients are greatly relieved to now live pain-free.

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The Cost of Regulating Pain

Anastassia Gliadkovskaya

December 20, 2019 |

Secret Structures |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States

The CDC's 2016 guidelines on prescribing opioids for chronic pain attempted to address the opioid-addiction crisis by restricting the supply of the drugs at their source. The guidelines discouraged their use when possible and suggested strategies to taper patients off of them. Since then, thousands of people have lost access to necessary medications and to their doctors, thanks to overreactions to the CDC guidelines that unintentionally led to deaths by street drugs or withdrawal.

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A Sip Of Morphine: Uganda's Old-School Solution To A Shortage Of Painkillers

Nurith Aizenman

November 25, 2019 |

NPR |

Radio |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: Uganda, Kampala

Liquid morphine offers a low-tech, low-dose alternative to other opioids when it comes to pain management. Uganda has taken steps to increase palliative care by allowing nurses to prescribe doses of morphine to patients, due to the shortage of doctors. The drug is affordable or free to some patients, and the low doses in liquid form prevents patients from developing addictions associated with other opioid drugs.

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