22-Oct-15 Ho Chi Minh City’s Department of Health has launched an online database for treatment regimens for professionals to refer to. The website, pddt.medinet.org.vn, lists 2,366 treatment regimens which are in use at 21 leading infirmaries in the city. [image: Tuoi Tre News]

22-Oct-15 China's recently-announced reform of county-level hospitals is seriously underfunded, according to experts. Fudan University professor Hu Shanlian said "Now that hospitals are no longer allowed to mark up drugs, the drop in their revenue is huge". Hospitals are expected to raise service fees to compensate, however this may also raise expenses for patients, defeating the purpose of the reforms. [image: South China Morning Post]

21-Oct-15 GlaxoSmithKline's chief executive is joining a new panel to promote trade between Britain and China, just over a year after the drugmaker was handed a record fine of nearly USD500 mn (GBP323 mn ) for bribing Chinese doctors. The group has since been rebuilding its position in China. [image: Reuters / Luke Macgregor]

20-Oct-15 AstraZeneca announced a new state-of-the-art manufacturing and packaging facility in Kaluga, Russia, dedicated to the local supply of innovative medicines. In 2011 AstraZeneca was one of the first multinational pharmaceutical companies to announce plans to invest in the construction of a dedicated manufacturing facility in Russia. Four years on, the Company has invested USD224m. [image: AstraZeneca]

20-Oct-15 Associate Professor James Yip, the chief medical information officer at National University Health System (NUHS), started the telehealth programme there last February. Since then, some 1,300 patients with hypertension, diabetes and heart failure have benefited from being monitored online. [image: ST / Alicia Chan]