University Pharmacy: from the foundation to the Pandemic times of Covid-19

Abstract The University Pharmacy Program (FU), from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), was created based on the need to offer a curricular internship to students of the Undergraduate Course at the Faculty of Pharmacy. Currently, it is responsible for the care of about 200 patients/day, offering vacancies for curricular internships for students in the Pharmacy course, it has become a reference in the manipulation of many drugs neglected by the pharmaceutical industry and provides access to medicines for low-income users playing an important social function. Research is one of the pillars of FU-UFRJ and several master and doctoral students use the FU research laboratory in the development of dissertations and theses. As of 2002, the Pharmaceutical Care extension projects started to guarantee a rational and safe pharmacotherapy for the medicine users. From its beginning in 1982 until the current quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic, FU-UFRJ has been adapting to the new reality and continued to provide patient care services, maintaining its teaching, research, and extension activities. The FU plays a relevant social role in guaranteeing the low-income population access to special and neglected medicines, and to pharmaceutical and education services in health promotion.

O Regimento dos preços dos medicamentos... na farmácia brasileira oitocentista / Regulation of drug prices in nineteenth-century Bazilian pharmacy

Resumo Em 5 de novembro de 1808, dom João de Bragança promulgou um alvará sobre o exercício dos boticários e o preço das drogas e ordenou a criação de um regulamento para taxar o custo dos medicamentos comercializados no Brasil. Publicado pela primeira vez em 1809, o Regimento dos preços dos medicamentos... ganhou novas edições nos anos subsequentes e tornou-se um indispensável instrumento de trabalho para os envolvidos com a feitura e o comércio dos remédios. Este texto situa historicamente e destaca esse documento brevemente explorado pelos pesquisadores da história da farmácia brasileira, visto ter sido uma das primeiras iniciativas do governo luso-brasileiro condizentes com a atividade farmacêutica no Brasil no século XIX.

Abstract On November 5th, 1808, D. João de Bragança issued a license about the practice of druggists and the price of drugs and ordered the creation of a regulation to tax the cost of medicines marketed in Brazil. First published on 1809, the Regimento dos preços dos medicamentos... gained new editions in the following years and became an indispensable working tool for those involved in the making and trading of drugs at this time. This paper situates historically and sheds light on a document briefly explored by the researchers of the history of the Brazilian pharmacy, taking into account that it was one of the first initiatives of the Luso-Brazilian government in line with the pharmaceutical activity in Brazil in the nineteenth century.

A pílula da oportunidade: discursos sobre as pílulas anticoncepcionais em A Gazeta da Farmácia, 1960-1981 / The opportunity pill: discourses about the birth control pill in A Gazeta da Farmácia, 1960-1981

Resumo O artigo analisa matérias sobre pílulas anticoncepcionais publicadas em A Gazeta da Farmácia, entre 1960 e 1980, examinando aspectos pouco conhecidos da biografia desses medicamentos e da constituição do seu mercado. Para os profissionais de farmácia, os anticoncepcionais orais se apresentaram como "as pílulas da oportunidade", seja no sentido dos lucros, seja no sentido de resgatar seu prestígio no campo científico, clínico-terapêutico e político. As trajetórias das pílulas anticoncepcionais e do mundo da farmácia se interseccionaram, quando ambos buscavam tecer sua biografia, apadrinhados pela indústria. Farmacêuticos e pílulas se coconstituíram, um sendo importante ponto de passagem para outro.

Abstract The pharmacy world was a mandatory crossing point and active player in the establishment of hormonal contraception in Brazil. Through an analysis of articles published in A Gazeta da Farmácia from 1960 to 1981, the study explores little-known aspects of the birth control pill's biography and the construction of its Brazilian market. For pharmacy professionals, oral contraceptives were "opportunity pills" in two senses: they provided profits and they restored the prestige of these professionals within the scientific, clinical-therapeutic, and political realms. The pathways of the pill and the pharmacy world intersected as both wove their biographies under the patronage of industry. Pharmacists and the pill were co-constructed, and each was an important crossing point for the other.

Clinical genetics and public policies: how should rare diseases be managed?

The implementation of a specific policy for rare diseases in the Brazilian Unified Health System presents challenges in terms of its rationale. Recognizing the importance of rarity in the context of public health means understanding genetics as one of the dimensions of disease and accepting that Brazil is undergoing a period of transition in health indicators. Although most rare diseases lack pharmacological treatment and genetic counseling constitutes the best strategy for their prevention, the cost of "orphan drugs" and their consequent lack of cost-effectiveness are still claimed as hurdles to the implementation of public policies in this field. Epidemiological aspects should not be used as isolated criteria for prioritization in public policies