Capsules

INITIATIVES

Dialogue on paediatric medicine

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has launched an initiative that offers free-of-charge early paediatric interaction meetings with developers of medicines to stimulate early dialogue on the developing their drugs for children. A one-year pilot phase has commenced. The new initiative aims to encourage discussions on the paediatric needs that could be addressed with a specific medicine well before the submission of a paediatric investigation plan (PIP).

BREAKTHROUGH

New Ebola test

A new test can accurately predict within minutes if an individual has Ebola Virus Disease (EVD). The study, published in medical journal The Lancet is the first to show that a point-of-care EVD test is faster than and as sensitive as a conventional lab-based molecular method used for clinical testing during the outbreak in Sierra Leone. This new rapid diagnostic test (RDT) could cut back on the lengthy process required to confirm if a patient has EVD, help identify case contacts, and ultimately curb the spread of Ebola.

INNOVATIONS

To ‘see’ with the tongue

The FDA has allowed marketing of a new device that can aid visually challenged people process visual images with their tongues. The BrainPort V100 is a batterypowered device that includes a video camera mounted on a pair of glasses and a small, flat intra-oral device containing a series of electrodes that the user holds against their tongue. With training and experience, the user learns to interpret the signals to determine the location, position, size, and shape of objects, and if objects are moving or stationary, the FDA said.

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