Out, out, mosquito

Bed nets coated with a long-lasting chemical — called piperonyl butoxide (PBO) — combined with pyrethroid insecticide reduced the prevalence of malaria in children by 44 per cent over one year, and 33 per cent over two years, compared to the bed nets currently used, according to a randomised controlled trial published in The Lancet . Based on this evidence, the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends increasing coverage of PBO bed nets in areas where resistance to pyrethroids is developing.

The US Food and Drug Administration has permitted marketing of the first medical device to use artificial intelligence to detect greater than a mild level of diabetic retinopathy in adults who have diabetes.

The device, called IDx-DR, uses an artificial intelligence algorithm to analyse images of the eye taken with a retinal camera. A doctor uploads the digital images of the patient’s retinas to a cloud server on which IDx-DR software is installed, and appropriate readings are given to the doctor, the FDA said.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) and its European and international partners have successfully strengthened their interactions to improve the oversight of active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturers worldwide, as highlighted in the International API inspection programme report for 2011-2016. APIs are the substances responsible for the activity of a medicine.

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