Prescription drugs

This article shares experiences of immigrant women undergoing therapy. Identifies some immigrant women's expectations, treatments and disillusions with therapy. 

PharmaWatch’s blog seeks to shed light on some of the most significant policy, research, legislative and program issues related to the safety and efficacy of prescription drugs, vaccines and medical devices in Canada. They believe that the Canadian public, patients, physicians, policy analysts, researchers, academics, authors, politicians and the media have a right to know how our drug approval and monitoring system works, how it compares to other international jurisdictions, the factors influencing decision making and whether Health Canada is protecting our health and safety.

Finds that testing for safety and effectiveness of prescrption drugs in Canada takes place almost exclusively before medications are approved and that there are “few regulatory obligations once a product reaches the market.”Assesses the Canadian post-market systems of drug surveillance -  “pharmacovigilance” - and finds that there is no national system to test drugs for safety after they reach the market.

A collection of information and advice gathered at the policy symposium "Safe and sound: optimizing prescribing behaviours" held in Montreal in 2007 to assist in the continued development of Canada’s National Pharmaceuticals Strategy (NPS).

Examines medication use among the elderly using both sex and age disaggregated data, finding that older women are more likely than older men to use medication.

A site that is operated by Public Citizen out of Washington DC. Provides a limited amount of information on each drug without having to subscribe to the service. Also produces a book which is updated periodically. Free fact sheets available on the site with such topics as “Ten Rules for Safer Drug Use.”

This site claims to “provide free, peer-reviewed, accurate and independent advice on more than 24,000 prescription drugs, over-the-counter medicines & natural products.” It is funded by the Drugsite Trust which is “a privately held Trust administered by two New Zealand Pharmacists.” You will see ad banners. One useful function on this site is a “pill identification” ability.

Powerpoint presentation on some of the work of Women and Health Protection, including research into the effects of Direct-to-Consumer Advertising (DTCA) of prescrption drugs, the CanWest Charter Challenge, a public forum on silicone gel breast implants, and women and statins.

Online discussion with The Push to Prescribe (Women’s Press, 2009) editor Anne Rochon Ford and contributors Colleen Fuller and Abby Lippman on how drugs are produced, regulated, marketed, and used in ways that affect many aspects of everyday life, and the extent of these effects, and their special meaning for women.