"Medicine"

Information sharing on medicine by social media influencers is unwittingly leading Malaysians to hoard medications, and worsening the medicine shortage, pharmacists say.

Following June 29-July 3 visits, Cambodian Minister of Foreign Affairs Prak Sokhonn, in his capacity as the Asean special envoy on Myanmar, said his second trip to the crisis-hit country was “somewhat fruitful” while cautioning that he has no “divine medicine” for Myanmar’s crisis.

The Sangha Supreme Council (SSC) has banned Buddhist monks and novices from smoking or growing cannabis but permitted them to use it to treat illness.

Amid concern over the low rate of Covid-19 vaccination among Thailand’s elderly, a lung specialist has revealed stark evidence of the dangers for unvaccinated old people.

The anti-viral medication, Favipiravir, may not offer much protection to Covid-19 patients in the high-risk group, a respiratory specialist warned on Saturday.

The Department of Thai Traditional and Alternative Medicine advised people to consume herbal foods and go in for aromatherapy and Thai massage to relieve stress amid a gloomy situation.

Dr Manop Pithukpakorn, professor of Medicine and clinical staff at the Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital.

As many as 10 medicines and vaccines to combat Covid-19 have been approved by the Thai Food and Drug Administration (FDA), with Covavax, Novavax, Lagevrio, Olumiant, Paxlovid and Recyrona currently under consideration.

The pharmaceutical industry is expected to see 3-5 per cent growth in 2022, with 233 billion to 238 billion baht revenue, despite the Covid-19 situation, Kasikorn Research Centre has forecast.

The Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO) has developed new Aids drugs that are both anti-retroviral formulations containing Dolutegravir and medication to treat complications such as anti-HCV that reduces drug resistance, deputy managing director Sirikul Matevelungsun said on Wednesday.

“We can’t do anything about it,” Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said after criticism that Thailand was not one of 95 countries scheduled to receive Pfizer’s technology transfer for its Paxlovid antiviral pills.

The Public Health Ministry has signed a memorandum of understanding with Rx Leaf World Medica on setting up an unparalleled international medical cannabis research centre.