Clinical Pharmacology

This is an established group, based at the Mater Hospital in Newcastle, which has been conducting research into the clinical social and economic aspects of pharmaceuticals use for several years. The group collaborates closely with researchers at the Centre for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics and with the Department of Clinical Toxicology at the Mater Hospital. The group has been regularly funded from a variety of sources, including NHMRC, federal and state governments, international agencies and industry. The Discipline is a WHO Collaborating Centre for training in pharmacology, rational drug use and pharmaco-economics

Area of research

• Prescribing and rational use of drugs
• Adverse reactions to medicinal drugs
• Pharmaco-economics / policy analysis and drug pricing/affordability.
• Impacts of trade agreements on medicines prices and affordability
• Methodological research - evidence-based medicine and use of systematic reviews and meta-analysis
• Health technology assessment
• Systematic reviews for the Cochrane Collaboration
• Consumer participation in health care decision-making
• Epidemiology and outcomes of poisoning with common drugs and envenomations

Significance

The primary significance of the major research themes is the use of evidence to inform pharmaceutical policy making in developed and developing countries. The group uses the information gathered during research to develop training programs and has conducted short courses in drug pricing and formulary development in several countries, including South Africa, India, Hungary, Iran, Latvia and Turkey.

Strategic directions

• The integration of the prescriber and pharmaco-economics themes to develop programs to improve cost awareness and cost-effectiveness of prescribing.
• The creation of significant assistance packages for developing and transitional countries to enable them to make better decisions about the listing and pricing of new pharmaceutical products on national formularies.
• The establishment of data-linkage as a basis for assessing the use, cost-effectiveness and adverse effects of medicinal drugs in the community
• Factors that affect the use and affordability of medicinal drugs to patients
• A systematic program to improve the management of poisoned and envenomated patients in developed and developing countries, based on high quality evidence and supported by comprehensive data-bases

Research performance

Standardised research reports for individual members of staff can be accessed by searching by name (on the University Pages) at http://www.newcastle.edu.au

• David Henry - http://www.newcastle.edu.au/research/expertise/135058.html
• Suzanne Hill - http://www.newcastle.edu.au/research/expertise/136189.html
• Jane Robertson - http://www.newcastle.edu.au/research/expertise/135324.html
• Geoff Isbister - http://www.newcastle.edu.au/research/expertise/137509.html
• Ian Whyte - http://www.newcastle.edu.au/research/expertise/135608.html

Media Doctor

Media Doctor is a web-based initiative of the Newcastle Institute of Public Health aimed at monitoring, rating, providing feedback on and ultimately improving the quality of reporting of new medical treatments in the Australian media (www.mediadoctor.org.au). It aims to test claims made in the press by major companies and to explode the myths associated with unlikely and untested treatments.

The primary objective of Media Doctor is to encourage journalists to report all important...

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• Media Doctor - http://www.mediadoctor.org.au