誰會承認是 patent troll? patent troll 應有新定義 !

InterDigital's Bill Merritt on patent trolls, standards development and disputes with the big boys By Daniel Cooper  posted Jun 14th 2012 10:00AM Interview You probably won't know the name, but you most certainly use its technology on a daily basis. InterDigital is a pioneering company that helped develop WCDMA, 3G and HSDPA during its 50-year history. It counts former Apple CEO Gil Amelio as one of its directors, but the only time you'll ever hear its name is when it's embroiled in litigation.  Either because it's suing, or being sued for licensing fees in the complex, murky world of wireless technologies, it's easy to get the idea that InterDigital is a patent troll. A name that, both Nokia and most recently, Huawei have barely stopped short of throwing at the company.  But what's it like being painted as the villain in the wireless business pantomime? Company president and CEO William "Bill" Merritt took the time to answer some of our questions, talk about what the company actually does, what's in the future and why they definitely aren't a patent troll. Let's first talk about "patent trolls," can you explain to our readers the distinction between yourselves and "trolls," and how you feel about the term being applied to InterDigital?  I would say I'm uncomfortable with creating a class system around patent holders, and over the past few years we've seen companies that are clearly not trolls adopt more aggressive behavior around monetizing their portfolios. Traditionally, people see trolls as companies that don't do their own development, or don't have products. 

"It's always very trying to be lumped into that category." We're very different and, given that description, it's always very trying for us to be lumped into that category: we have hundreds of engineers, we participate in and often chair standards committees, and we partner with leading operators, infrastructure companies and solution providers to develop and test new solutions. At Mobile World Congress this year, we demonstrated technologies – all of them developed in-house – with partners like Alcatel-Lucent and Spectrum Bridge. Technologies that we expect to see in the marketplace in four to five years – that's how far ahead of the curve we often work. 

Your position in the market is to wireless companies what ARM is to chip design, in so much that you license your wares to others. Do you ever feel that you're missing out by not producing your own hardware?  I don't think we do. First of all, we do build: every one of our development projects involves building out a complete system so we can test our technologies. We just don't focus on getting those products into a form factor that can be sold, because other companies are far better at that. More broadly, I think direct concern over immediate products in the market would possibly detract from our focus on absolute leading-edge technologies. Our eye, and our research budget, is always on what the wireless world will need and move towards in the future... not what it would be willing to buy at a specific price point today. So, in a sense, not having products is beneficial for us in our work on pioneering technologies, especially within standards. It might give us a perspective that other standards participants, all of whom are seeking market advantage, don't have. 

To what extent are companies like InterDigital involved when a new standard is being developed? For example, if the ITU started discussing "5G" tomorrow (for example), would you be lobbying to handle the research or is it a race between the various parties to patent as much technology as possible?  I think it's not so much a race as it is a competition. There are a certain number of technical challenges that need to be solved, and engineers compete to develop the best, clearest, most elegant and most easily implemented solution. We compete alongside them – and again, not having products frees us to examine all aspects of a new standard's requirements. InterDigital's key is that we don't wait for standards bodies to launch a project to begin research: we look at the challenges of current technology – for example, in power consumption, or interference control, or policy control from the operator perspective – and determine what solutions would be needed to solve those problems. 

Let's talk now about the creation of the patents. Is all of your research undertaken in-house or do you also purchase some in from universities or other companies?  So far, nearly all our development has been done in-house. We have more than 200 engineers, and R&D facilities in Philadelphia, New York, Montreal and San Diego. We're not against patent acquisitions. But, mainly they align with technologies in which we've built significant in-house portfolios, or where we intend to begin R&D efforts. 

Are you continuing to add to your patent portfolio, and if so, what direction have those patents taken? What's the next big innovation in the space?  As we always have, we're continuing to develop new technologies and find new solutions to issues, standards-based or otherwise, and as a result we're continuing to add to our patent portfolio, at a rate of over 1,000 patents and applications per year. From a business perspective, it's essential. The market for patents has changed, and as a public company we're focused on growing our value. One of the ways we're seeking to do this is through patent portfolio sales, and selling patents implies relying on our ability to develop new ones. So we are, absolutely: it's how we expect to draw the maximum value from our strong engineering team.  "The market for patents has changed." In terms of next big innovation, some of the key technologies we're working on right now involve bandwidth management – aggregating, segmenting and managing bandwidth, from both the device and the operator perspective. We're also doing tremendous work in spectrum aggregation, integrating TV white space and various other spectrum resources, licensed and unlicensed, into a comprehensive system. Both these technologies are rooted in our sense of a migration from fixed to dynamic networks. We're also doing work in standards-based machine-to-machine communications. We see that, and the impact standards have on driving down costs and expanding capability, as being a huge milestone in the development of wireless and the internet of things. 

Who do you work with when developing your patents? Do you have much input from the Apple & RIMs of this world?  We partner with a number of companies during the research and testing phases, so we constantly get input. And we attend more than 100 engineering and academic conferences a year, submitting contributions, presenting – we recently presented our roadmap through 2020 at the LTE World Summit in Barcelona. Whether it's standards work or efforts that we hope will underpin the wireless technologies of the future, we're in constant discussion with the wireless engineering community. 

As standards are becoming more universal, is there a greater need for licenses to be negotiated centrally rather than individually to prevent new entrants to the wireless market becoming bogged down in disputes?  One of the beautiful aspects of the wireless industry is the constant change and emergence of new products, companies, business models. Similarly, there are many, many ways to license a technology, depending on the market position of the licensee, their product, their revenue model, etc. I think companies need the freedom to talk to each other, and craft their own solutions. 

"Sometimes, disputes cannot be avoided." And bear in mind, the vast majority of our license agreements are reached quietly, with mutual agreement and minimal fanfare. I know disputes are messy, and that the engineering world looks down on them. But sometimes disputes cannot be avoided, and I personally think that companies need to maintain the independence to govern themselves the way they choose. 

How do you calculate the worth of your patents? Is there a flat rate per handset or are there multipliers based upon the profitability and quantity of handsets in the market? Is there a different set of fees based on tablets and broadband dongles compares to phones?  As I mentioned before, there is a broad range of types of agreements, depending on product type, fixed payments vs. percentage royalties, and many other variables. Our basic practice is to achieve what we feel is a fair value for our contributions, but also to put the licensee in a position to be successful. No one would gain, including us, if the royalties on a product made the product unsuccessful. 

Huawei made a complaint to the European Union, alleging that you were demanding too much money for a standards-essential patent -- echoing a claim that Nokia has made previously. Under FRAND terms, how much room is there for negotiation or do you offer a flat price for every company?  I obviously can't say a great deal about ongoing discussions with specific companies. I can only repeat what we said in our response to the announcement of Huawei's complaint: standards bodies specify commitments that participating companies should uphold, and InterDigital takes those commitments very seriously. Again, we've signed over 50 licensing agreements, the vast majority with no dispute and great mutual understanding. 

More Info Huawei files EU antitrust complaint against InterDigital InterDigital files ITC complaint against Nokia, Huawei, and ZTE for 3G patent infringement Apple licenses InterDigital tech, presumably for 3G iPhone One website petitioned for company insiders to leak details about your business dealings. Given that you largely operate "behind the scenes," has the increased attention of the internet been a boon or a burden to your day to day lives?  I think that, in the way you're asking, it's been neither – it's just the ongoing reality that all public companies must operate under. But the internet has been a boon to InterDigital, definitely, because it's driving the demand for data, and the technological struggle to provide it! Technology is about limitations – data rate, power supply, spectrum, processing – and as long as the ecosystem makes it desirable to exceed those limitations, offering great applications and new capabilities, InterDigital will be in business.  

Osiris干细胞药物第二个营销许可 (New Zealand) for GvHD in children

2012年06月15日05:40 来源：北美环球财经  Osiris Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:OSIR) 公布新西兰已经授予公司一级的干细胞疗法Prochymal?营销许可，这是用来治疗儿童急性移植物与宿主病(GvHD)的药物。为此新西兰加入加拿大的行列，上个月加拿大成为世界上第一个批准干细胞药物的国际公认的监管机构。Prochymal也是第一个获得批准的针对GvHD的药物，GvHD是毁灭性的骨髓移植并发症，80%的感染儿童都难以避免死亡，许多都是出现在诊断後的几周内。

Osiris Receives Second Approval for Life-Saving Stem Cell Drug; Prochymal Granted Marketing Consent by New Zealand June 14, 2012, 8:00 a.m. EDT COLUMBIA, Md., Jun 14, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Osiris Therapeutics, Inc. OSIR +14.14%  , announced today it has received consent from New Zealand to market its first-in-class stem cell therapy Prochymal(R) (remestemcel-L), for the treatment of acute graft-vs-host disease (GvHD) in children. With this decision New Zealand joins Canada, which last month became the world's first internationally recognized regulatory authority to grant approval to a stem cell drug. Prochymal is also the first therapy approved for GvHD - a devastating complication of bone marrow transplantation that kills up to 80 percent of children affected, many within just weeks of diagnosis.  "With each of our approvals it becomes clearer that the time for life-saving stem cell therapies in the practice of medicine has arrived, and we are humbled to have a leading role," said C. Randal Mills, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Osiris. "I would like to thank the professionals at Medsafe for their thoughtful and expeditious review of this complex application. I would also like to thank the team at Osiris that continues to do an outstanding job of making Prochymal available to children around the world suffering from the devastating effects of GvHD."  Osiris submitted a New Medicine Application (NMA) to Medsafe (New Zealand's medical regulatory agency) in May of 2011, and was granted Priority Review in June of 2011. Priority review provides expedited review for new drugs which offer a significant clinical advantage over current treatment options. Prochymal was granted provisional consent under Section 23 of the Medicines Act 1981.  "The incidence of GvHD is likely to rise as the demographic profile of our transplant population evolves," said Hans Klingemann, M.D., Ph.D., a Professor of Medicine and the Director of the Bone Marrow & Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant Program at Tufts University School of Medicine. "Effective strategies to manage the often lethal consequences of GvHD reduce the overall risk to transplantation and provide the transplant physician with better options when approaching their most difficult cases."  Clinical trials have shown that Prochymal is able to induce an objective, clinically meaningful response in 61-64 percent of children with GvHD that is otherwise refractory to treatment. Furthermore, treatment response with Prochymal resulted in a statistically significant improvement in survival.  "As a mother who watched my son Christian suffer and die from the horrifying effects of GvHD, while waiting for the regulatory approvals necessary to allow him access to Prochymal, words cannot express how happy I am that significant progress is finally being made," said Sandy Barker, President and Co-founder of the Gold Rush Cure Foundation. "We are proud to stand side-by-side with Osiris in this historic battle for our children around the world. Our motto is 'not one more child, not one more family' and when it comes to GvHD mortality, zero is the only acceptable number."  Prochymal is now approved in Canada and New Zealand, and is currently available in seven other countries including the United States under an Expanded Access Program (EAP). It is expected that Prochymal will be commercially available in New Zealand later this year. 

About GvHD  GvHD represents a major unmet medical need with no approved treatment until Prochymal. GvHD is the leading cause of transplant related mortality, in which immune cells contained within the transplanted marrow recognize the recipient as foreign and mount an immunologic attack. Severe GvHD can cause blistering of the skin, intestinal hemorrhage and liver failure. Severe GvHD is extremely painful and fatal in up to 80 percent of cases. Currently, steroids are used as first-line therapy with a success rate of only 30-50 percent. When steroids fail, treatment options are limited to immunosuppressive agents used off-label with little benefit and significant toxicities. 

About Prochymal (remestemcel-L)  Prochymal is the world's first approved drug with a stem cell as its active ingredient. Developed by Osiris Therapeutics, Prochymal is an intravenous formulation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), which are derived from the bone marrow of healthy adult donors between the ages of 18 and 30 years. The MSCs are selected from the bone marrow and grown in culture so that up to 10,000 doses of Prochymal can be produced from a single donor. Prochymal is truly an off-the-shelf stem cell product that is stored frozen at the point-of-care and infused through a simple intravenous line without the need to type or immunosuppress the recipient. Prochymal is approved in Canada and New Zealand for the management of acute graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) in children and is available for adults and children in eight countries including the United States, under an Expanded Access Program. Prochymal is currently in Phase 3 trials for refractory Crohn's disease and is also being evaluated in clinical trials for the treatment of myocardial infarction (heart attack) and type 1 diabetes. 

About Osiris Therapeutics  Osiris Therapeutics, Inc. is the leading stem cell company, having developed the world's first approved stem cell drug, Prochymal. The company is focused on developing and marketing products to treat medical conditions in inflammatory, cardiovascular, orthopedic and wound healing markets. In Biosurgery, Osiris currently markets Grafix(R) for burns and chronic wounds and Ovation(R) for orthopedic applications. Osiris is a fully integrated company with capabilities in research, development, manufacturing and distribution of stem cell products. Osiris has developed an extensive intellectual property portfolio to protect the company's technology, including 48 U.S. and 144 foreign issued patents.  Osiris, Prochymal, Grafix and Ovation are registered trademarks of Osiris Therapeutics, Inc. More information can be found on the company's website, www.Osiris.com . (OSIR-G) 

About Christian Barker & Gold Rush Cure Foundation  At only 13-years-old, Christian was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia. The treatment for this cancer required a bone marrow transplant. However, due to the aggressive nature of the cancer, Christian relapsed and a second transplant was conducted. The treatment regimen consisted of extreme chemotherapy, radiation, and multiple surgeries. Despite the negative side effects from those treatments, nothing compared to the brutal suffering which occurred after he contracted graft-vs.-host disease, which painfully destroyed every part of Christian's body. The disease caused Christian's skin to peel off, and he vomited several liters of blood daily due to the destruction of his gastro intestinal tract. To make matters even worse, Christian experienced liver failure and suffered daily with extreme pain from head to toe. This condition was prevalent for the four months, and eventually lead to his death. No child should have to suffer like this, and watching Christian's body being destroyed by the disease was as horrifying for him as it was for our family and his caregivers.  After Christian died in December 2007, his mother and father, Sandy and Gary, established the Gold Rush Cure Foundation (GRCF), which is dedicated to raising public awareness and funding to help eradicate childhood cancer. GRCF is also committed to being advocates for children fighting cancer. In June, GRCF made its 11th trip to Washington, D.C., since Christian's passing to meet with lawmakers about the vital need for more funding and awareness for childhood cancer, which is the leading cause of death by disease for children. For more information, please visit, www.goldrushcure.org .  

QPS Taiwan using Pristima®Suite (preclinical data application)

Xybion and QPS Announce that QPS Taiwan has Selected Pristima® Suite as their Preclinical Data Management System Xybion's Pristima continues to accelerate high adoption and growth in the global CRO sector and announces that QPS Taiwan selects to implement Pristima Suite.  Cedar Knolls, NJ (PRWEB) May 24, 2012  Xybion Corporation and QPS LLC announced today that QPS Taiwan, a global preclinical toxicology services provider, has selected to deploy Pristima®Suite, Xybion’s premier preclinical application. QPS will leverage Pristima Suite in a ‘Software as a Service’ (SaaS) deployment model, supported by Xybion’s Singapore data center & technology services group. Pristima is an end-to-end preclinical data management system that helps companies to reduce their preclinical operational costs while decreasing time-to-market for drug discovery. QPS will be leveraging many key components of the preclinical software suite including the General Toxicology, Clinical Pathology, Necropsy, Pathology and SEND modules to capture, manage and report data from preclinical studies. Following an exhaustive selection process where all competitive products were considered, QPS Taiwan selected Pristima as a SaaS installation. Xybion will host the application in its Singapore data center. With the addition of QPS Taiwan, Xybion continues to expand its offerings in the Asia Pacific market, growing its client base to a total of 11 countries in North America, Europe and Asia. QPS Taiwan will be using the Pristima functionality to refine and expand its comprehensive GLP CRO preclinical study service capabilities to serve its clients worldwide. Carlos Frade, Vice President of Preclinical R&D Solutions at Xybion, was quoted: “QPS Taiwan selected the Software as a service model, which offers a less time consuming validation process and a more cost effective approach to achieve the required capabilities, maintenance, and support over the Internet. QPS Taiwan will leverage Xybion’s Total Preclinical Solutions package to install, validate and deploy the most modern and most well-integrated data management suite on the market.” Walter Bee, Ph.D., Vice President, Head of Global Safety Assessment and Regulatory Affairs, commented: “QPS Taiwan’s Center of Toxicology and Preclinical Sciences (CTPS) is one of the oldest and most experienced GLP laboratories in Asia. Our scientists combine training and experience from Europe, Japan, the USA and Asia in the unique environment of a first class Taiwanese laboratory. With the introduction of Pristima® as our data acquisition and management system, we are underlining our commitment to excellent service to our sponsors. This software enables our scientists to provide results quickly, reduces paperwork and increases data quality. It supports the organization, structure, and format of datasets in the Standard for Exchange of Non-Clinical Data (SEND) format for submission to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The tailored solution Xybion provided fits our current needs but leaves room for expansion in line with our growth ambitions.” As an enterprise-grade solution suite for preclinical research, Pristima offers a powerful and robust toolset to improve clients’ efficiency, promote compliance and accelerate the final reporting. Dr. Pradip Banerjee, CEO, Xybion Corporation commented, “We are pleased to have QPS Taiwan as a client and look forward to assisting them in reaching their business goals. We are delighted that QPS Taiwan has decided to have Xybion host Pristima in our data center. Many of our clients find SaaS delivery to be an efficient, scalable and cost effective alternative to an onsite installation. We are committed to maintaining Pristima as the leading preclinical data management solution to meet the needs of a fast growing CRO.”

About Xybion Corporation:  Xybion Corporation is a global leader in the development and delivery of critical enterprise solutions to highly regulated industries, helping companies lower cost, mitigate risk and accelerate growth, while managing quality and compliance. Xybion is the maker of Pristima Suite, a leading preclinical data management solution for the life science sector. Pristima Suite is the only fully integrated preclinical and vivarium management solution that natively connects to enterprise quality & compliance management processes on the market today. 

About QPS  Founded in 1995, QPS is a GLP/GCP-compliant contract research organization (CRO) supporting discovery, preclinical and clinical drug development. We provide quality services to pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients worldwide. QPS operates regional laboratories and testing facilities which are located at its headquarters in Newark, DE, USA; Springfield, MO, USA; Groningen, The Netherlands; Hyderabad, India; and Taipei, Taiwan. 

New trial drug a 'Trojan Horse' attacking pancreatic cancer

 June 14, 2012 in Cancer An investigational drug that acts like a Trojan Horse to deliver cancer killing agents for pancreatic cancer is being studied at the Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center Clinical Trials, a partnership between Scottsdale Healthcare and the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) that treats cancer patients with promising new drugs. The Phase 2 clinical trial tests the effectiveness and safety of INNO-206 in patients with advanced pancreatic ductual adenocarcinomas (PDA) who have not responded to prior standard treatment. PDA is a malignant tumor arising from the duct cells within a gland in the pancreas, and represents about 80 percent of all pancreatic cancers. Pancreatic cancer is extremely difficult to treat and the fourth most common cause of cancer-related deaths in the U.S., with more than 43,000 new cases reported in 2010 and 37,000 deaths attributed to this disease each year. Tumors may grow in the pancreas without any early symptoms, which means that the disease is often in an advanced stage when it is diagnosed. "The drug's effectiveness works like a Trojan Horse because it is prepared in albumin which pancreatic cancer likes to eat, thereby transporting the drug into the cancer cells and destroying them," said Jasgit Sachdev, M.D., of the Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center Clinical Trials. Preclinical results showing the drug induced complete tumor remissions in the laboratory were presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) 2012 Annual Meeting. "We are encouraged by early study results and looking forward to the next step in evaluating the activity and safety of INNO-26 in patients with advanced pancreatic ductual adenocarcinomas," said Dr. Ramesh Ramanathan, Medical Director of Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center Clinical Trials, and Clinical Professor and Deputy Director of the Clinical Translational Research Division at TGen. Los Angeles-based CytRx holds the worldwide rights to INNO-206, which is a tumor-targeted conjugate of the widely used chemotherapeutic agent doxorubicin. INNO-206 has been granted orphan drug designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of patients with pancreatic cancer. Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center Clinical Trials at Scottsdale Healthcare is co-lead site Stand Up to Cancer of the Pancreatic Cancer Dream Team, comprised of scientists working collaboratively to develop new treatments for pancreatic cancer. TGen Drug Development (TD2), a TGen subsidiary, is managing this Phase 2 clinical trial on behalf of CytRx. The Phase 2 clinical trial will enroll up to 27 patients at multiple clinical sites in the U.S. The trial patients will be treated with intravenously administered INNO-206 once every three weeks for up to eight cycles. Trial patients will be evaluated for complete and partial tumor responses, side effects and overall survival. 

管中閔..兩岸服務業自有品牌策略 !

兩岸服務業合作 管中閔提4方向 2012-06-13 00:53 旺報 【記者陳秀蘭／台北報導】▲兩岸現代化服務業合作，行政院政務委員兼商研院董事長管中閔指出消費者研究、創新模式、服務業人才培育及拓展國際市場等4大合作方向。圖為川菜展台。（新華社）針對兩岸現代化服務業合作，行政院政務委員兼商研院董事長管中閔昨天指出，可以從消費者研究、創新模式、服務業人才培育及拓展國際市場等4大層面，逐步展開合作。管中閔是以商研院董事長名義出席昨天在圓山飯店登場的首屆「兩岸現代化商業服務業合作會議」。管中閔指出，在消費者研究合作方面，兩岸可以從大陸不同城市進行生活消費、耐久財消費調查，以掌握消費型態變化與未來市場發展趨勢。至於創新模式合作，他說，兩岸可先在大陸不同城市進行創新營運模式、相關科技應用研究與先行試點，並根據當地消費行為與生活型態調整，創建出不同於西方的營運模式。管中閔說，服務業人才培育合作，可以台商在大陸服務業為骨幹，結合台灣教育資源，逐步建立台灣為兩岸服務業管理人才或幹部培訓基地。關於拓展國際市場合作方面，他指出，兩岸服務業依舊可以大陸市場為基礎，在嘗試建立自有品牌後，進一步向亞洲市場拓展，逐步發展世界級品牌。商研院院長杜震華也提出兩岸服務業未來合作策略與思維，包括兩岸可以從創新模式、消費型態、制度性合作、人才培育及合作拓展國際市場等5大策略合作；其中在制度性合作方面，杜震華認為，兩岸可以透過ECFA後續服務業協議，建立商業服務業中重點項目之長期、制度性的經濟合作項目，如物流業的運輸、倉儲，零售業的電子商務等。

陸粉領保養品商機 宜供給區隔

 2012-06-11 17:01 新聞速報 【中央社】中國大陸經濟興起，女性美容與保養品市場規模擴大。工研院IEK調查大陸5大城市女性保養品偏好，從保濕到養生飲品皆不同，建議台商針對不同市場區隔不同供給，走優質路線。工研院產經中心(IEK)引述歐洲的消費性產品市調研究機構Euromonitor的調查，2011年大陸美容保養品市場為人民幣1816億元 (約新台幣8517億 )，年增12.4%，預估到2015年將達人民幣2488.5億元 (約新台幣1.17兆元)，漲幅37%。工研院IEK與商業發展研究院團隊去年9、10月於大陸進行健康美麗商機研究，針對上海、武漢、成都、重慶、長沙五個城市的職場女性進行「健康美麗型態」線上問卷調查各300份有效樣本。IEK表示，這五大城市女性保養品偏好、競爭者分析等及消費者行為後發現，上海女性工時長，偏好保濕及新陳代謝；重慶天氣悶熱易出油，注重抗菌；長沙天氣熱，日照長，偏好去角質和細緻毛孔；武漢傳統氣氛濃，女性偏好美肌美顏沖泡式機能性食品；成都人愛喝茶，偏愛茶包茶袋的機能性產品。對於欲進入大陸美容及保養品市場的台灣中小企業而言，IEK分析師陳麒元建議，廠商應先選擇一個或兩個城市起頭，深入了解市場特性，再修正公司策略、行銷活動和產品設計。陳麒元強調，在美容保養品部分，廠商可針對各地氣候的冷熱差異，開發不同產品型態。例如南方可推出乳液、北方可推出乳霜等，創新型態的推出更可提高消費者對新產品的接受度。此外，可主打醫療等級的化妝品，切入藥妝市場，推出高價產品，避免大眾化妝品的低價競爭。1010611

篩檢銀髮族腦神經病變 減少憂鬱與自殺風險 !!

髮族腦神經病變　易引發憂鬱症自殺 鉅亨網新聞中心　(來源：華人健康網)　2012-06-14 23:48:11　　華人健康網 記者張世傑／台北報導  高齡長者精神照護需要大家關心！一位83歲老翁1年前，精神狀況出現異常，不喜歡和別人互動，宣稱會看到一些人影，最後甚至絕食自殺，經家人緊急送醫，才發現老翁因失智引起憂鬱症。醫師指出，腦神經病變，主要是因為大腦細胞的壞死，使得病人記憶力、判斷力變得不好，病人也會演變出多疑、覺得別人會害他等精神疾患出現。唯有早期發現與治療，才能免於自殺夢魘。 高齡長者精神照護需要大家關心，唐嘉宏醫師強調，憂鬱症嚴重危害銀髮族的健康，也是老人族群自殺的最主要原因。  衛生署台南醫院精神科醫師唐嘉宏指出，隨著人口高齡化，未來患有阿茲海默症的人數，將和癌症病患人數一樣多。進入已開發社會的台灣，伴隨人口結構老化現象而來的，將是腦部及神經相關疾病，醫療需求倍增的隱憂。尤其老年人憂鬱症病發時，多不會表達心情不好，反而表現出煩躁、容易生氣、抱怨身體不舒服等，家人多卻認為憂鬱是老化的正常現象，老人只是在鬧情緒，不是一種病，很少勸長輩看醫生，老人也因到精神科會被看笑話，拒絕就醫。而老人憂鬱症有許多病發可能原因，包括意識起伏、身體疾病、腦部病變、失智症等。  在門診中有一案例，一名名75歲老婦人半年前突然變得固執、食慾差，凡事往壞的方面想，家人明明有工作，卻堅稱大家都失業，沒錢吃飯，家裡要被查封，最後也不進食，被家人緊急送醫，才發現老婦人疑因局部腦梗塞，引發憂鬱症，治療後恢復進食。唐嘉宏強調，憂鬱症嚴重危害銀髮族的健康，也是老人族群自殺的最主要原因，尤其是85歲以上的自殺成功率更高。研究發現，憂鬱並不是正常老化的現象。健康、可自理生活的銀髮族，重度憂鬱症的發生率甚至比一般人低。  罹患重大疾病特別是癌症、心肌梗塞，或神經性疾患，如中風、巴金森氏症等，其罹患憂鬱症的機率會大為增加。近年來影像學進步，微小病變都能診斷出來，治療老人憂鬱症除抗憂鬱藥物外，還能對症下藥，同時治療大腦血管性病變。總之，早期發現與篩檢腦神經病變，可減少銀髮族憂鬱與自殺高風險的出現。  

編列預算追蹤萊克多巴胺 國衛院執行?!

吃美牛中毒 衛署允負責  記者林思慧、施靜茹台北12日電 June 12, 2012衛生署長邱文達昨天在立法院國民黨團記者會發表聲明「掛保證」。邱文達表示，願意遵照黨團的兩項附帶決議，未來國內外只要發生食用安全容許量的萊克多巴胺美牛導致中毒案例，將立即停止輸入；若民眾食用中毒，政府會主動負起照顧責任，且代為向廠商求償。 國民黨立院黨團書記長徐耀昌表示，若食管法完成三讀，應納入兩項附帶決議，保障民眾健康安全無虞。  邱文達說，美國、日本、韓國等20多國、數億人食用含萊克多巴胺十多年，至今無不良反應或中毒報告，衛生署會以國民健康為最優先考量。  食品藥物管理局局長康照洲表示，食管局已舉行多次專家會議，以科學證據、國人飲食習慣，計算出最嚴格且安全無虞的萊克多巴胺容許量標準；未來開放美牛進口後，國家衛生研究院將啟動追蹤機制，主動研究食用含萊克多巴胺美牛的案例，以確保民眾健康。  據了解，楊麗環上周即要求衛生署允諾，萬一有人吃美牛可請求國家賠償。衛生署官員指出，請求國家賠償，費用是全民埋單，若吃了美牛有問題，應是向美國畜牧商或進口商求償，沒有理由申請國家賠償。唯衛生署須堅定為民眾健康把關立場，因此聲明會負照顧責任及代為向廠商求償。  衛生署除了做出兩大保證，也強調一定會落實稽查強制標示。以牛肉為主原料的餐廳和小吃店，都得由自願標示改為強制標示，讓民眾選擇吃或不吃。