Methods of Medication

Unlike with humans and companions animals, for which the treatment of bacterial diseases is invariably directed at individual patients, antimicrobial therapy in food-producing animals can be applied on either an individual or herd/flock basis. 

The concept of mass medication can hardly be accepted outside the agricultural field, but the experience of veterinary practitioners who treat large herds or flocks of animals fully supports this concept, especially in those areas of animal management where it is essential to keep all the animals at a level of optimal productivity (8). 

Farm animals being managed under intensive systems are very susceptible to disease outbreaks since they are usually of the same age, often very immature, and are in constant contact with their feces. Epidemiological studies have shown that the introduction of a highly infectious disease into a large population of animals kept in the same pen will ultimately result in a large proportion of these animals becoming infected (9). The reasonable therapeutic approach to this prob- 

A further extension of mass medication is being referred to as prophylactic or preventive medication. Again, one should differentiate between the low-level medication of healthy animals to improve feed efficiency and promote growth, and the high-level curative medication of diseased animals. 

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Certain inventions are specifically excluded by law from being the subject of a patent. At the EPO these include animal varieties, and methods of medical treatment (but compounds for use in such methods are patentable). 

In Europe, industrial applicability is required. This means, for example, that methods of medical treatment or diagnosis performed on a human or an animal are not susceptible to industrial application. Nevertheless, substances that are useful in these methods are patentable. 

Medicinal product expertise is carried out according the Order 90-1401 dated 3 September 1990 defining the methods of medical and scientific investigation on medicinal products for human use (Kallel and Bouzouita 1999). 

When used appropriately, therapeutic interchange has proven to be an extremely effective method of medication cost management. An active and well-organized P T Committee is essential to the success of any therapeutic interchange program. As the focus on the costs involved with medication therapy in health care organizations increases, P T Committees will have to become even more creative in methods used to promote, evaluate, and monitor the effects of therapeutic interchange. The evaluation of quality of life issues, pharmacoeconomics. 

Zweifach, B. W. In Methods of medical research, p. 131. Chicago Year Book Publishers Inc. 1948. 

Patentable subject matter in many countries (especially for health-related and biotechnology inventions) is often significantly restricted compared to practices in the United States. Some countries do not allow plants or animals to be patented. The United States, Japan, and the European Patent Office currently allow genetically engineered animals to be protected by patent (55). Many countries do not allow pharmaceuticals or methods of medical treatment to be patented. Each country will, of course, have its own specific limitations and exceptions for patentable subject matter (56). It is not possible in the present chapter to provide an even limited discussion of such patent-able subject matter. Moreover,any details provided could very well be out of date in a relatively short time. However, a few examples for selected countries (57) are helpful to illustrate the variations in patentable subject matter ... 

Canada. Plants and methods of medical treatment are generally not patentable (59). 

While the main foundations of chemical science, the philosophy of chemistry, must be taught to and studied by oil classes of students alike, the subsequent development of the stndy in its details must be moulded to suit the purposes to which the student will subsequently put his knowledge. And particularly in the case of medical students, in our present defective methods of medical teaching, should the subject be confined as closely as may be to the general truths of chemistry and its applications to medical science. 

As a newly identified drug progresses through chemical, pharmaceutical, and clinical development, it becomes the subject of more and more patents. They restrict themselves to newly invented chemical processes and drug formulations and to additional claims of methods of medical use. The drug would not have entered development if it were not already protected by a... 

It is indicated for the palliative treatment of endometrial carcinoma and advanced breast cancer when other methods of medication are not effective. 

As an example of a more specialized character, we should mention the case of X-ray computed tomography. This method of medical radiology generates cross-sectional images of the interior of the human body (sec Fig. 1.8). Besides the X-ray source, the key component is the detector consisting of about 1000 pieces of a lumine.scent solid (crystals or ceramics) which are connected to photodiodes or -multipliers. The... 

Mask, L, E-learning as new method of medical education, Acta Inform Med 16(2) 102-117,2008. 

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