Charles Craig, who helped develop Georgia Bio into a prominent player in the health and science sectors of the state, is stepping down as the group’s president at the end of the year. Under the leadership of Craig, who became its president in 2005, Georgia Bio has expanded membership to include 200 life sciences-related organizations….
Caroline Kulinski was diagnosed five years ago with multiple sclerosis, and she went from working as a software trainer to being in constant pain, needing a cane to walk. “I could no longer tie my shoes,’’ she recalls. But a drug that she tried, after four others proved unsuccessful, had an almost miraculous effect on…
The Georgia Department of Public Health has asked EMS providers to reserve certain medications for the most critically ill patients, amid a shortage of drugs to treat people in emergency situations. The state agency is also exploring whether extending expiration dates on medications can serve as a remedy for the EMS drug shortages, which are occurring nationwide. Public…
Earlier this week, I reached into a bathroom drawer and dug out a half-dozen prescription vials. These were drugs from long ago, and looking at them was like taking inventory of past medical problems: Two prescriptions for painkillers that eased episodes of lower-back pain. A muscle relaxer for the spinal agony. Another pain prescription for…
Georgians applying for welfare will have to pass a drug test to receive benefits under legislation approved Tuesday by the state Senate. Opponents warn that the bill, if signed by Gov. Nathan Deal, will lead to a lawsuit. They point to a similar law in Florida. Opponents there sued, and a federal judge has halted…
Patients with a common form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma will soon be involved in a clinical trial at three sites in Georgia. They’ll be part of a large trial by the manufacturer Roche/Genentech, testing a promising new drug to treat the disease, which is a form of cancer. The trial is one example of the growing…
Seven years ago, Ed Levitt received what he considered a death sentence. He was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer. For a nonsmoker who had seemed “fit as a fiddle,’’ the diagnosis came as a shock. He had worked for a Fortune 500 company, and he believes the chemicals involved in his work led to…
I wasn’t expecting trouble when I arrived at the drugstore. We were out of town on a quick trip over the Fourth of July weekend, and my wife was ill and running low on a regular medicine. Her physician had phoned in a prescription to the pharmacy, which was part of a national chain and close…
As demand for health care grows, pharmacists are providing services that stretch the historical boundaries of their profession. The era of pharmacists simply dispensing pills into child-safe bottles is over. Now they’re just as likely to be found administering preventive vaccines against everything from influenza to shingles, or having detailed discussions with customers about how…
The state’s waiting list for people with HIV to get government drug assistance is steadily growing — intensifying concerns that patients won’t get the medications they need. More than 1,100 Georgians are on the waiting list for the state’s AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP). That’s the second-longest list in the country behind Florida’s, says Jeff…