Medicinal products contribute considerably to the health of EU citizens. They can, however, also have adverse effects. It is estimated that 5% of all hospital admissions are due to an adverse drug reaction (ADR), and that ADR is the fifth most common cause of hospital death.

In recent years European healthcare consumers and physicians have steadily increased their use of the Internet for treatment and product decisions. According to healthcare and pharmaceutical market research company's Manhattan Research's Cybercitizen Health™ Europe v8.0 study and strategy advisory service, over 150 million adults in countries across Europe used online channels to access health information in 2008.

Researchers in Ireland and the UK have found that a lethal fungus, Aspergillus fumigatus, reproduces sexually. The findings represent a major breakthrough in the understanding of this pathogen, which causes death in 50% of infected immune-deficient patients.

Italian researchers have bred mice that exhibit similar deficits to those experienced by people with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a prion disease similar to bovine spongiform encephalopathy. The EU-funded study, published in the journal Neuron, provides insights that may help to diagnose prion diseases early, when therapeutic intervention may be effective.

A new deal has been reached between the UK's Government and the pharmaceutical industry means that more patients will benefit from a wider range of innovative drug treatments at a fair price to the NHS. The flexible pricing scheme agreed will ensure that medicines fairly reflect their value to patients, branded drugs will see their price cut, and industry innovations will be encouraged and rewarded.

Over the past year, physician visitation to customer service portals decreased while interest in using them actually increased. To help biopharma companies bridge the gap between the current portal landscape and unmet physician demand, pharmaceutical and healthcare market research company Manhattan Research just released its latest physician module report, "The Case for Customer Care: Service Portals and a Successfully Integrated CRM System" as part of its ePharma Physicianâ v8.0 market research and strategic advisory service.

An EU-funded population study has shown that hypertension, an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease, is a serious problem in Europe. The results of the IMMIDIET project indicate that high blood pressure has become more common in Italy than in England or Belgium, a reversal of the commonly accepted trend.