Uso del Registro de Solicitudes de Medicamentos no Incluidos en el Listado de Medicamentos Esenciales como Nueva Fuente de Información en los Sistemas Nacionales de Farmacovigilancia.

Objective: To describe the frequency of adverse drugs events (ADEs) as possible causes of request of drugs not included in national essential Medicines list in Colombia.

Methods: This was a descriptive study developed in a private medical insurance company in Bogota, Colombia. Data were obtained from drug request form of drugs not included in a national essential Medicines list.

[Defining generic drugs: an end or a means? Analysis of regulations in 14 countries in the Region of the Americas].

Objectives: To characterize current regulatory practices and trends relating to competing medications in 14 Latin American and Caribbean countries.

Methods: Between July 2004 and April 2005 we collected information on national regulations and policies that established or contained a definition of "generic drug" and related terms in 14 Latin American and Caribbean countries: Argentina, Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Venezuela. We also compiled information on the incentives to register and produce competing medications, promotion of the use of International Nonproprietary Names (INNs) for pharmaceutical substances, the regulation of bioequivalence studies, and the replacement of prescription medications with less expensive alternatives.