When waiting is not an option

I have an article published in The Economist's Babbage blog about how some patients with a terminal diseases are second-guessing pharmaceutical companies and medicating themselves. Here's the blurb:

It takes eight years on average for a drug to receive approval from America’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) after clinical trials have been successfully completed. Some patients of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), with a life expectancy of two to five years after diagnosis, do not want to wait that long. Since September 2011 some of those diagnosed with the fatal disease have taken to injecting themselves with a substance whose chemical identity they deduced from published literature, and which they claim is currently being clinically tested.... read more.

Here is a set of main references:

1. Neuraltus Pharmaceuticals press release
2. James Heywood et al. Nature Biotechnology, 2011
3. Eric Valor's conjecture
4. ALS Study Shows Social Media's Value as Research Tool - The Wall Street Journal
5. Frustrated ALS Patients Concoct Their Own Drug -  The Wall Street Journal
6. PatientsLikeMe - Lithium and ALS, sodium chlorite, NP001
7. ALS Chlorite

Is India's new antimalarial drug worth the hype?

I have an article published in Chemistry World today discussing the hype around this drug launch. I've already written about Ranbaxy's new antimalarial drug Synriam on this blog in the two previous posts, but there are a few new pieces of information in the recent article.

Here is a full set of references for the article:

1. Ranbaxys' press release
2. Ranbaxy's Synriam brochure
3. Ranbaxy, Cipla unveil malaria combo drugs - DNA
4. Daiichi to buy Ranbaxy stakes for $4.6 bn - The Financial Express
5. Malaria deaths are down but progress remains fragile - The WHO
6. Jonathan Vennerstrom et al. Nature 2004
7. Jonathan Vennerstrom et al. J. Med. Chem. 2010