[Generic medications and prescription by non-proprietary name]. / Le point sur les médicaments génériques et sur la prescription sous dénomination commune.

Complementarily to a previous publication, this paper tries to answer a few commonly asked questions about--generic medications: pharmaceutical quality, bioequivalence and therapeutic equivalence, substitution, etc. A summary of recent regulations about reference price and prescription by non-proprietary name, aiming at the promotion of generic medication prescription is also presented.

Determination of meprobamate in pharmaceutical dosage forms also containing carbromal by liquid chromatography and indirect photometric detection.

In a pharmaceutical form also containing carbromal, meprobamate could not be quantified selectively by classical methods described in pharmacopoeias due to a significant interference from carbromal. Consequently, reversed-phase HPLC methods have been developed to separate the two active ingredients using indirect photometric detection to visualize and determine meprobamate which has very poor chromophoric properties. Different parameters influencing the sensitivity of the indirect response, such as the nature of the highly absorbing compound added to the mobile phase (the marker) as well as the methanol content and the pH of this phase, have been studied. Two chromatographic systems containing benzoic acid or cinnamic acid as the marker, have been optimized and validated. Good linearity and reproducibility have been obtained with both systems but the cinnamic acid method has the advantage that meprobamate and carbromal can be determined simultaneously at 273 nm.

Influence of pregnancy on human immunodeficiency virus disease.

Over a period of 3 years (mean 16, extremes 3 and 36 months), we compared clinical and laboratory parameters of 128 female, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients, all in clinical stage II or III (CDC classification). 34 patients were pregnant and delivered a viable infant after at least 28 weeks of amenorrhea (group I), 29 patients were pregnant and had a spontaneous or induced abortion during the first or second trimester (group II), and 64 were non-pregnant female control patients (group III). The changes in the clinical stages over time were not statistically significant between the groups. The only laboratory parameters that were significantly higher in group I at the time of the delivery were: leucocyte count (p less than 0.001), lymphocyte count (p less than 0.05), and sedimentation rate (p less than 0.001). These changes are known to be related to pregnancy and not to HIV disease. All other laboratory parameters showed no significant differences within and between the groups. We conclude, that pregnancy--carried to term or interrupted--does not aggravate the natural evolution of HIV infection in clinical stage II and III patients.

[Indirect spectrophotometric detection by reversed-phase liquid chromatography. Application in drug analysis]. / Détection spectrophotométrique indirecte en chromatographie liquide sur phases greffées. Applications à l'analyse des médicaments.

By inclusion of a high U.V. or visible-absorbing component to the mobile phase of a RP-HPLC system, it is possible, after they were separated by chromatography, to detect indirectly and to quantify analytes which do not themselves absorb at the detection wavelength. The principles of this "indirect detection", as well as the parameters which can influence it were studied, and the method was applied to the qualitative and quantitative determination of a lot of compounds used as active substances or as technological adjuvants in drugs.

[Influence of pregnancy on the development of HIV infection]. / Influence de la grossesse sur l'évolution de l'infection à VIH.

In an attempt to evaluate the effects of pregnancy on HIV infection, the authors have studied the natural course of the disease in 128 female patients. A group of 64 pregnant women who were HIV seropositive and asymptomatic at the beginning of their survival was studied during childbearing and for three years thereafter. These women were compared with a control group of 64 non pregnant women who were also seropositive and asymptomatic at the beginning of the study. No statistically significant clinical or biological difference was observed between the two groups. The authors conclude that in their study pregnancy had little influence on the progression of HIV.

[Care and outcome of 55 children born to HIV seropositive mothers]. / Prise en charge et devenir de 55 enfants nés de mères VIH séropositives.

We report our experience with vertically transmitted HIV infection in infants. Fifty-five children were prospectively followed for a period of 3 years. The neonatal diagnosis of HIV infection is not always possible and doubts about contamination may create familial anxiety which requires support by a multidisciplinary structure. Long-term prognosis is difficult to predict and it depends on the severity of the immune deficiency, the early onset of neurologic disease and the frequency of opportunistic infections.

Indirect UV detection of hydrophilic ionized compounds in reversed-phase liquid chromatography by use of a UV-absorbing ion of the same charge.

Ion-pair reversed-phase liquid chromatographic systems have been developed that allow the detection and quantitation of low amounts of hydrophilic ionized substances, which otherwise display little or no capability for optical detection. The mobile phase contains a UV-absorbing ion of the same charge and hydrophobic character as the samples, most often together with a hydrophobic counter-ion to give the samples suitable retention; the stationary phase consists of octadecylsilica. Chromatograms featuring two system peaks are usually obtained, and these give rise to some deviations from the usual response pattern. In the present work the influence on retention and detection sensitivity of the non-absorbing counter-ion, the UV-absorbing ion and the uncharged organic modifier have been studied systematically. Principles for optimizing the detector response by changing the mobile phase composition have been deduced. Examples of applications of the indirect detection technique to the analysis of hydrophilic compounds of pharmaceutical and biological interest, such as amino acids, water-soluble vitamins and piperazine, are presented.