Introduction Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a leading cause of mortality and an increasing health burden with a prevalence of 8.3% globally and 9.1% in India (IDF). Prevention of complications and improving quality of life are the principle goals in its management. DPP-4 inhibitors have a potential vasoprotective effect mediated by stromal cell derived factor-1a. Teneligliptin a novel, highly selective, more potent agent compared to Sitagliptin provides sustained glycaemic control, decreases cardiovascular complications, has additional beneficial pleiotropic metabolic effects and also safe in renal impairment. Objective To evaluate the glycaemic and non-glycaemic effects of Teneligliptin vs Sitagliptin as add on therapy to metformin. Materials and methods 60 subjects with T2DM who failed to achieve glycaemic control with metformin (500mg TID) alone for 3 months were randomized in 1:1 ratio to receive Teneligliptin 20mg OD and Sitagliptin 100mg OD as add on therapy. Patients were followed up at 4, 8 and 12 weeks for glycaemic and non-glycaemic effects. Adverse drug reactions (ADRs), if any were recorded and graded according to severity. Results There was a statistically significant decrease in FBS (p<0.05, p<0.001) and PPBS (p<0.01, p<0.001) in patients treated with Teneligliptin on week 8 & week 12 from baseline compared to those treated with Sitagliptin. The reduction in HbA1c (p<0.0001), LDL-CH (p<0.0001) & TC (p<0.001) on week 12 from baseline was also significantly more in the Teneligliptin group. Conclusion Teneligliptin may be an effective and safe treatment option in reducing both glycaemic and non-glycaemic parameters as an add-on therapy in Type 2 DM with good patient tolerability.

Background :Prokinetic drugs are widely used for treatment of non-ulcer dyspepsia (NUD). Aims and Objectives : To assess the efficacy and tolerability of a new prokinetic agent, itopride hydrochloride in patients of NUD and compare it with domperidone. Methods : Fifty-six patients who fulfilled the inclusion and exclusion criteria were enrolled in the study. Patients underwent upper gastrointestinal endoscopy to rule out organic pathology as a cause for their symptoms. The patient’s symptoms were graded on a 4-point scale (0 to 3) at the beginning of treatment and at the end of Week-one and Week-two Patients were randomly allocated to receive either one tablet of itopride hydrochloride 50mg three times daily or one tablet of domperidone 10mg three times daily for two weeks. Pre-treatment and post-treatment hemogram, liver function and renal function tests, prolactin level and ECG were done in all patients. The response to therapy was evaluated by assessing the relief of symptoms at the end of two weeks on a 5 -point scale. Statistical analysis was done using two-tailed paired t-test; Wilcoxon matched pairs ranks sum test, Mann-Whitney-U test and chi-square test as applicable. Results : Of the fifty-five patients enrolled in the study (age range of 18-60 yrs, median age of 35yrs), 26 were males and twenty nine were females. They had a median duration of symptoms for 4 weeks. Twenty-seven patients received itopride and 28 received domperidone. One patient did not follow up in the domperidone group, thus 54 patients were evaluable for analysis. Moderate to complete symptomatic relief was observed in 22 (81%) patients in the itopride group and 19 patients (70%) in the domperidone group (p > 0.05, NS). Both the drugs were well tolerated and neither caused prolongation of QT interval nor any abnormality in any serum biochemistry values. Conclusion : Therapy with itopride resulted in good symptomatic relief, was safe, well tolerated and comparable in efficacy to domperidone in relieving the symptoms of NUD. By virtue of its efficacy and tolerability, it could be an ideal choice for providing symptomatic relief to patients suffering from non-ulcer dyspepsia.

Hypertension is among the most common non-communicable and lifestyle disease in our country that affects adult population of both the genders from all socio-economic backgrounds and urban and rural population. In-spite of this, early diagnosis and appropriate treatment are suboptimal. Adherence of prescribed treatment has been studied in patients of hypertension in this study. : An observational and cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department of Pharmacology, Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College and Hospital, Bhagalpur, Bihar. Prior to the initiation of the study, clearance was obtained from the Institutional Ethics Committee. Study period was between January 2021 and June 2021.A predesigned pretested interview schedule was used to collect the data from the 247 study participants. This schedule contained information related to socio-demographic variables, comorbidity, a format to assess the compliance to antihypertensive drugs prescribed and any adverse event. : A significant improvement in maintain optimal in blood pressure was observed in patients treated with one pill per day as compared to patients prescribed with two and three pills per day. Compliance was significantly better in patients in combination therapy as compared to monotherapy. : Low dose combination therapy has been stated to be more effective than high dose monotherapy in controlling blood pressure. It shows better compliance and lesser incidence of side-effects.

Making affordable drugs accessible to all strata of society is an inevitable part of health care. This situation makes Drug Utilization Study inevitable. With this background, the current study was planned to obtain knowledge on the prescribing pattern and drug utilization trend in ophthalmology department at a tertiary care teaching hospital with ultimate goal to promote rational use of drugs among prescribers. An observational cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department of Pharmacology, Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College and Hospital, Bhagalpur, Bihar. Prior to the initiation of the study, clearance was obtained from the Institutional Ethics Committee. Study period was between March 2021 and August 2021. Prescriptions of 550 patients who were treated during the course of the study were surveyed prospectively by using a specially designed form. The WHO drug use indicators like prescribing indicators and patient care indicators were determinedThe average number of drugs per prescription was 2.6, ranging from 0-7 drugs. The dosage forms, the frequency of administration and duration of treatment of the drugs were recorded for 99.9% of the prescriptions given. This analysis of the prescriptions showed that 93.8% of the prescriptions were written in the form of various trade names. Antibiotics were prescribed in 52.5% of the prescriptions. The present study revealed certain lacunae in the prescribing practices of the Ophthalmologists at the selected institute and this is evident by the low generic prescribing in many prescriptions.

Background: Feedback from students provides an opportunity to assess lacunae in current systems of teaching and forms the basis for framing desired modifications in the teaching methodology to enhance the magnitude of learning. This study was undertaken to know the views of students on current methodology of pharmacology teaching and to delineate the required changes to be made in it.Methods: The questionnaire based cross-sectional study was conducted on 167 students of second professional undergraduate medical students. The questionnaire was divided in 2 different parts. Part A consisted 20 multiple choice questions on perception and preferences of students for pharmacology teaching and opinion on changes to be made was taken in the part B of the questionnaire.Results: Pharmacology was marked as one of the most interesting and useful subjects by 49.1% and 67.06% of students respectively. Central nervous system (19.76%) and endocrinology (17.96%) were two most boring systems. The central (35.92%) and autonomic (31.73%) nervous systems were two most difficult systems to understand. The combination of lecture notes and textbooks was the preferred reading materials of 58.68% of students. The most preferred teaching media was the combination of blackboard and chalk with power point presentation (80.24%). Increased use of figures, flow charts and diagrams, inclusion of more clinical examples and interactive classes were marked as suggested reforms to enhance the outcome of lecture classes.Conclusions: This study revealed that students are in favour of a substantial change in the current teaching methodology of pharmacology in place of outdated and useless methods.