September 30, 2004
£219m pledged for drug treatment
More money is to be invested in the treatment of drug misusers in England, the government has announced.
Health Secretary John Reid pledged £219m for drug treatment services by 2008. He said drug action teams' budgets would increase by 55% .
Mr Reid added that the funding would mean more specialist drugs workers and more in-patient treatment centres.
The National Treatment Agency said the extra funding would enable local services to be improved.
Continue reading "£219m pledged for drug treatment"Herbal remedies 'do work'
Scientific tests on a range of traditional remedies have shown they have "real benefits", researchers say.
Experts from King's College London said the treatments from around the world had properties which may help treat conditions such as diabetes and cancer.
The remedies included India's curry leaf tree, reputed to treat diabetes.
However complementary medicine experts said full clinical trials would have to be carried out to confirm the treatments' benefits.
The researchers examined Indian diabetes treatments, Ghanaian wound healing agents and cancer treatments used in China and Thailand.
They suggest their findings will help local people identify which plants to recommend and could lead to potential new compounds pharmacists to study.
Viagra bought online 'often fake'
Dr Nic Wilson from the University of London tested Internet-sold samples using a new technique that accurately spots the ingredients of tablets.
She told the British Pharmaceutical Conference in Manchester how many authentic-looking tablets were fakes.
Drug giant Pfizer, which manufactures Viagra, is conducting its own investigations into the fake copies.
Continue reading "Viagra bought online 'often fake'"