QDIS Blog

Pipe Bombs in Salem, OR

by Ed Vawter @ 12:13 pm. Filed under Asides

Just wanted to let anyone concerned know that I am fine here in Salem OR where four pipes bombs were found yesterday. They were exploded without injury and no one was hurt. None were anywhere near where I live.

• Police Busy With Pipe Bombs In Salem Area
• Bomb Squad Called To Third Location In Salem
• Four pipe bombs found, destroyed in Mid-Valley: Three incidents occur in the Salem area; one in Dallas

• Timeline of events for Aug. 10

This on the same day as the airline bombing plots from Britain made the news. This means that this situation was not widely reported but it was indeed unnerving to have four pipe bombs found all in the same day spread across the city.

Luckily, the hospital called and cancelled my wife’s outpatient treatment or she would have gotten caught in all the confusion.

There are no reported leads at his point so it will be unnerving not knowing if another pipe bomb will turn up.

Here is a list of all the news stories from Google News

salem oregon pipe bomb - Google News

Technorati Tags: pipe bomb, Salem

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AIDS Drug Manufacturers to Help Generic Manufacturers

by Ed Vawter @ 8:13 am. Filed under Health News, Drug Development

I find it very different and quite interesting that several AIDS drug manufacturers have said they are actually going to help generic manufacturers in India to make generic versions of some AIDS drugs.

Gilead offers secrets to AIDS drug - Marketplace by Bloomberg - International Herald Tribune:

I’d be interested to hear what the details are as I’m sure they aren’t doing this without some sort of compensation (upfront payment or royalties?).

Hear is a quote from Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Bristol-Myers says it will assist two manufacturers, the India-based Emcure Pharmaceuticals and Aspen Pharmacare in South Africa, in making copies of its AIDS pills. “We didn’t just send them the owner’s manual, but we also sent them our technicians to work in their labs,” said Donne Newbury, director of global HIV access programs at Bristol-Myers.

I think this sort of cooperation should be encouraged for just these sorts of situations. Making affordable medications for the rest of the world is going to be a major challenge in the 21st century.

Technorati Tags: aids drugs, BMS, Bristol-Myers Squibb, drug development, Gilead

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Potential Blockbuster Drugs to Watch

by Ed Vawter @ 7:22 am. Filed under Drug Development

In some recent publications I’ve been reading, I came across a list of some compounds that may become blockbusters (sales of more than $1 billion a year). I found it interesting and wanted to post the list here. These are all already filed or in late phase III trials.

Potential Blockbuster Drugs
Drug	Company	Indication	Type
Acomplia	Sanofi-Aventis	weight-loss	small molecule
Actemra	Roche	rheumatoid arthritis	biologic
CERA *	Roche	anemia	?
Galvus	Novartis	type 2 diabetes	small molecule
Paliperidone	Johnson & Johnson	schizophrenia	small molecule
Panitumumab	Amgen	colorectal cancer	biologic
Prasugrel	Eli Lilly	antiplatelet agent	small molecule
Rasilez	Novartis	hypertension	small molecule
TAK-390MR	Abbott	night time hearburn (GERD)	small molecule
Torcetrapib/atorvastatin	Pfizer	cholesterol	small molecule combo