Background: Antihypertensive medications reduce blood pressure and decrease cardiovascular dis­ease morbidity and mortality. A number of antihypertensives with same formulation but different prices are available in the market. In the present study we aim to study such price variations of antihypertensive drugs currently available in the Nepalese market. Methods: We obtained the marked price of different antihypertensives manufactured in Nepal and India from various medicine stores within Chitwan from February to June 2021. Cost ratio (CR) and percentage cost variation (%CV) was calculated using Microsoft Office Excel-2019. Results: We observed a high percentage of cost variation in Amlodipine 5mg (CR: 3.33 %CV: 233.33) among Nepali and Losartan 50mg (CR: 32.31 %CV: 3131.47) among Indian antihypertensives. Conclusions: A wide percentage cost variation was observed among antihypertensive medications cur­rently available in the Nepalese market. Regulatory bodies could address the issue to ensure affordability of essential antihypertensive medications.

Background: Large number of new drugs are introduced into the market everyday. Drug advertisements are used as a major marketing tool by the pharmaceutical companies to promote their new drugs. WHO has recommended the drug promotional advertisement criteria to make promotional more ethical and rational. So, the aim of this study was to evaluate the drug advertisements made by pharmaceutical companies as per WHO ethical criteria. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study of drug advertisements was carried out in the Department of Pharmacology at CMC. The drug advertisements were evaluated based on 11 criteria laid down by the WHO. The data was entered in Microsoft Office Excel software 2008 and exported to IBM SPSS 20.0 version software for further analysis. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. Results: Total 185 drug advertisements were evaluated. Among them, most of them 66.40% were promoting single drug formulation. Antimicrobials 21.6% were the most commonly promoted group. Only 12.4% followed all the criteria as led down by WHO. Most of the drug advertisements have the brand name written with approved generic name, dose, manufacture name and dosage form. It was found that the most neglected part of drug advertisements was information related to drug interactions (12.40%) and side effects (14.10%). Conclusions: Majority of drug advertisements fulfilled only half of the WHO ethical criteria for medicinal drug promotion. This indicates that unethical drug promotional advertisement is wide spread which need concern of all health authority.

Background: Currently, drug abuse is booming in developing countries including Nepal, which may directly affect personal as well as socioeconomic condition of individual and community. Teenage, being the most crucial stage of life, is the age when teenagers want to explore a lot of things and is curious about new experiments. So, they think that, drugs assist them to overcome all the problems they face in day to day life. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the knowledge regarding drug abuse among MBBS first year students of Chitwan Medical College. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out to determine the knowledge regarding drug abuse among MBBS first year students of CMC. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect information, which was adopted from previous studies. Study participants were briefed about the nature of the study and the procedure of completing the questionnaire was explained. After completion of the questionnaire, data was collected, reviewed, organized and expressed as counts/percentages and statically analyzed using SPSS version 20. Results: The current study showed that, majority 81.3% of the participants had satisfactory whereas 18.8% of the participants had unsatisfactory level of knowledge about drug abuse. Conclusions: Majority of the MBBS first year students had satisfactory knowledge regarding drug abuse and only few had unsatisfactory knowledge. So, for them it is deemed necessary to update their knowledge regarding drug abuse, as it is one of the crucial matters of concern these days.

Background: Learners’ feedback is considered an effective tool in evaluating teaching-learning methods and revising curriculum. The aim of the present study was to assess perception and feedback of undergraduate medical students towards teaching-learning pharmacology. Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional questionnaire-based study conducted among 183 undergraduate medical students of Chitwan Medical College, Chitwan Nepal from March 2021 to April 2021.. Perception and feedback of students towards teaching-learning pharmacology was assessed using a pretested and validated questionnaire. Results: More than half (53.6 %) of the students reported pharmacology as their favorite subject, but only 27.4 % students would opt to pursue post-graduation in the same subject. Majority of the students opined a review of curriculum was necessary with inclusion of recent advances (86.4 %) and emphasis on national health problems (83 %) with a change in assessment (inclusion of multiple choice questions) (83 %). Liquid-crystal display (LCD) projector and whiteboard combined was chosen as the ideal teaching-learning media and group discussion as the ideal teaching-learning method by 85.2 % and 53.6% of students respectively. Majority of the students suggested more use of audio-visual aids (94.5%) and inclusion of case-based learnings (98.9 %) into the curriculum. Conclusions: Perception of students towards teaching-learning pharmacology was positive. A review of the current curriculum with inclusion of a new assessment tool was suggested.

Background and Objectives: Hypertension is a crucial health issue globally. Cardiovascular and kidney disease is one of the results of hypertension which remarkably confer to overall mortality. Thus, the aim of this study is to investigate the prescribing pattern of anti-hypertensive drugs to hypertensive patients and also to establish the current trend of prescribing pattern of anti-hypertensive drugs at Chitwan Medical College (CMC). Material and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 290 patients to assess the prescribing pattern of anti-hypertensive drugs from hypertensive patients visiting medicine OPD of CMC during study period and fulfilling the inclusion criteria. A standard proforma was used to collect information about patient’s socio-demographic details and anti-hypertensive drugs used for them. Data was collected, compiled and analyzed by using Statistical Package of Social Science (SPSS) version 16. Results: Out of 290 prescriptions, 201 (69.3%) patients received monotherapy while only 89 (30.7%) patients received combination therapy. In monotherapy, calcium channel blockers (CCBs) and Angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) were most commonly prescribed, while angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) + diuretics were the most commonly prescribed combination therapy. Conclusion: In the present study, it was found that CCBs and ARBs were the most commonly prescribed anti-hypertensive drug in monotherapy.