BMJ  2008;336 (29 March), doi:10.1136/bmj.39532.436667.47

Editor's Choice

Of medicine and medicines

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

This week’s journal captures modern medicine’s ambivalence about modern medicines. On one hand, we look to new drugs to deliver us from illness and disease. On the other, we view the companies who deliver them with suspicion or disdain.

The journal has articles to buttress both viewpoints. Firstly, drugs as salvation. According to WHO, African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness) affects 50 000-70 000 people, with only two drugs available for treating the late stage of the disease. One of them, eflornithine, had a chequered production history until Aventis agreed to resume production in 2001 as part of an extraordinarily generous package to help reduce the incidence of the disease. In a large study, Priotta and colleagues (doi: 10.1136/bmj.39485.592674.BE) report that eflornithine shows acceptable safety and effectiveness, and an editorial (doi: 10.1136/bmj.39505.490544.BE) recommends it as the first choice in stage 2 disease.

Brucellosis is another infectious disease that exacts a . . . [Full text of this article]

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