The IAOMC is committed to peer evaluation of the education provided by individual medical schools anywhere in the world. It is a non-stock, not for profit association. Its goal is to serve society and those with an interest in the evaluation of the quality of undergraduate medical education to enhance medical education/practice through a wide range of medical fields, from general practitioners to cardiologists, to urologists, to obstetricians, to surgeons. The standards and process will be transparent and the evaluation results available to the public to inspire confidence in integrity of the process and findings. The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (ECOSOC) granted the IAOMC Special Consultive status as a Non Government Organization (NGO).
Cialis
The United States spends 20 percent of its GDP (an estimated $2.8 trillion in 2013) - on health care system. This makes the US the most expensive on the planet. The United States has a life expectancy of 78.4 years at birth. The U.S, ranks 50th among 221 nations and 27th out of the 34 industrialized OECD countries, down from 20th in 1990.
President’s Advisory Counsel on Medicine should consider:
- The US Department of Education recognize an International Accreditor.
- Ways to reduce the cost of Medical Education.
- Authorizing Studies on Medical Malpractice and required curriculum.
- Require openness and transparency in the medical accreditation process.
Permitting the continued restriction or delay of the numbers of licensees while witnessing an aging population this shortage is certain to become worse.
The field that seems to take the heaviest blow is urology, with the cost of medical treatment and pharmaceutical help of the so-called lifestyle drugs on the rise. One can argue though that having a healthy and fulfilling sexual life is as integral a part of general health as any other. Oftentimes, these treatments are necessary for helping couples overcome infertility. Still, the cost of the drugs is prohibitive, and the initiatives that help find cheaper solutions are scarce.
Healthy sex is at the base of the pyramid of needs, falling into that position that includes breathing, nutrition, sleep, and homeostasis, or those needs that must be satisfied first, which must be given priority over safety needs, belonging, esteem and self-realization. But it is equally important for men to remain sexually active for the physical health; for instant, to avoid problems with prostate. All of this raises the ethical question about the validity of calling medications for sexual health "lifestyle drugs" and set higher prices and impose higher deductibles on them.
The IAOMC launches an information campaign on the safety and effectiveness of the use of equivalent and generic drugs for male health, since this pharmaceutical cluster is the most affected by disproportionate price-making. For many years, in fact, IAOMC - an association that protects the rights of citizens and which has among its priorities the education for informed and aware consumption - has been engaged in campaigns, projects and activities to promote the spread of the use of equivalent drugs (also known as "generics").
We are convinced that their use, in place of the corresponding branded drug, containing the same active ingredient, in the same form and measure, as guaranteed by FDA and Ema (European Medicines Agency), has equal therapeutic efficacy, allows significant savings to citizens and contributes to the economic sustainability of the national health system. On this page you will find news, information materials on the subject of equivalent drugs and qualified answers to the most common questions.
Generic drugs and how they increase savings nationwide
Original drugs and their generics are interchangeable. What makes drugs bioequivalent and interchangeable? Two products are in fact considered interchangeable if their bioavailability, that is the quantity of drug that passes into the general circulation after administration by any route, and the speed with which this passage occurs, given the same dose administered, are so similar that that their effects, in terms of efficacy and safety, are essentially the same.
These drugs are no less effective or less safe than the original, "branded" ones. The only difference is that they have a different name and cost less because they are no longer patented. What matters in drugs is in fact the active ingredient and generic drugs have the same active ingredient as their branded "twins".
A so-called generic or equivalent drug appears when the patent expires (the exclusive trademark of the manufacturing pharmaceutical company). By dropping this exclusivity, the conditioning on the price falls and the equivalent drugs are marketed at much lower prices.
This mechanism has an inevitable chain reaction: the diffusion in generic drugs induces pharmaceutical companies to lower the prices of the original ones as well. The use and dissemination of generic / equivalent drugs means savings for the community, additional economic resources that can be used to finance research on the one hand and to offer citizens more services on the other.
Men's health generics
Medications for male health and their generic versions deserve a separate mentioning. To begin with, these drugs are mostly uncovered by insurance plans as the so-called "lifestyle drugs". What does it mean? Medications used to treat conditions that are not essential for general wellbeing of the patients are categorized as "lifestyle".
There is a lot of politics behind this, because it is the price-makers that get to make that call of what conditions patients can leave untreated. It becomes very clear that these solutions are not taking by experts in medicine when we consider that sexual potency and its objective effect on the health of other systems in the body.
Quite to the contrary, scientists agree that poor sexual function breeds other forms of ailment. Thus, as our colleagues confirmed in the course of SIMETAP-ED study, the prevalence rates of metabolic diseases, heart problems, fatigue, and energy levels in population with erectile dysfunction were higher than population without erectile problems, to say nothing of depression that is a common companion of impotence.
The prices for original oral medications against erectile dysfunction remain unaffordably high and uncovered by most insurance plans, and this is why the use of their generic versions is an economically sound alternative.
Generic Viagra
Viagra (sildenafil) was a real breakthrough, the first-ever molecule that could at a flick of a wrist reverse the damage to erectile function. The tablet went through multiple studies and researches that proved its safety and efficacy. The price of the blue pill was arguably its only downside: the cost reaching almost a hundred dollars per pill, it could hardly be expected to be affordable for rank and file users.
The patent for the original Viagra expired first outside of the U.S. where it had been discovered, a milestone that brought a tremendous relief to the market price of sildenafil, finally making it available for anyone in need of erectile dysfunction treatment. For several years now, generic Viagra has been produced by companies that operate in the sector of economical pharmaceuticals of high quality, Ajanta Pharma and Cipla Ltd. being the most known of them.
For full details on IAOMC’s Letter to the President click here