[Medicines withdrawn in other countries due to safety concerns: should they continue to be available in the Argentine pharmaceutical market?].

Introduction: Numerous medicines have been withdrawn from the market because of the risks of serious adverse effects. The objective of this study was to identify in the Argentine pharmaceutical market (APM) the presence of medicines withdrawn in other countries due to safety problems, to analyze the information on their risks and to propose recommendations.

Method: observational, descriptive study that explored the presence in the APM, until May 2021, of 462 medicines withdrawn in other countries.

Therapeutic value and price of the new pharmaceuticals commercialized in Argentina: Are they worth what they cost?

In Argentina, new drugs can be authorized by presenting the drug's certificate of approval in at least one of 15 countries considered to have rigorous health surveillance, without needing to carry out a local evaluation of the efficacy, safety or added therapeutic value of the new product. In this article, we evaluate the new drugs commercialized in Argentina in 2016 using different approaches: their approval by other regulatory agencies, the demonstration of their efficacy in randomized clinical trials, types of outcomes studied, rating of their added therapeutic value using two widely recognized scales, and their sale price to the public. It is concluded that, as a reflection of what occurs in developed countries, new drugs enter the market at exorbitant prices, but the majority do not represent a significant therapeutic advancements.

[Cardiovascular risk of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs].

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatories (NSAIDs) are among the most commonly used drugs in clinical practice. They block cyclooxygenases (COX) enzymes, but the degree of inhibition of COX-1 and COX-2 varies between them. In general, NSAIDs are classified in selective COX-2 or coxibs and non-selective or traditional NSAIDs.