review of website related to pharmacy- pharmacy.gov.my

                                                                 HISTORY

History of pharmacy services in Malaysia began in 1951 with the Pharmacists Registration Act 1951, the Poisons Act 1952 and the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952. During the pre-independence era, the main function of pharmacy services was originally confined to the purpose of the procurement, storage and distribution of drugs from the United Kingdom by the Crown Agents.                                                                         

Under the Second Malaysia Plan (1961-1965), Medical Store was built in Petaling Jaya in 1969. Later on. in 1969, Division of Pharmaceutical Chemistry was officially established to full fill the need for growing pharmacy services. On January 1, 1976, Enforcement Branch established under this organization to carry out enforcement activities and legislation related to pharmacy and pharmaceutical trade in the country more efficiently.

January 1985, the Drug Control Authority (DCA) has been established, chaired by the Director General of Health Malaysia with the mission to ensure the quality, safety of pharmaceutical products marketed in Malaysia. To achieve this goal, the Drug Control Authority (DCA) through the secretariat based at the National Pharmaceutical Control Bureau (BPFK) do some  regulatory functions such as product registration, sample analysis, inspection and licensing,  and monitoring of drug side effects.

Pharmacy Board of Malaysia established under the Registration of Pharmacists Act 1951 had 20 registration pharmacist in 1952.in 1957, there were 23 registered pharmacist serves the public sector.

                                                                      VISION 

To lead a qualified management of drugs through a competitive workforce, science and technology relevant to all stakeholders

                                                                      MISSION

                                            

                                              To ensure a quality drugs to the nation

                                                                      OBJECTIVE 

Ensure that all pharmaceutical products and health care products on the market are safe, effective and controlled according to the laws and not to be misused.

Being a pharmacist or pharmacy student this website benefits us  in various way. This page is fully equipped with the latest information and updates regarding various health products that can be newly found in markets.

This page is divided into five section to meet the requirement of their users. The first and foremost section in this website would be Service. This section is further divided in service description and e-service. Under this description service one can know the key performance indicator (KPI), statistics and achievement and registration review of a product. While under the e-services one can ask about the list of drugs, the prices of the health care product or drugs available in market, search for nearby hospitals, clinics or pharmacy, list of FUKKM,and list of license A holders. 

The second section would be, documents and media. In here, the user can access to photos and videos of latest news being updated by the authorities 

                                                   Enforcement of pharmacy in media 

and you also can be familiar with list of drugs available in clinics and hospitals in Malaysia.

Up next, is the information section. In this section, ones can obtain all sorts of information from general up to core information.

Review on Website related to pharmacy - National Pharmaceutical Control Bureau

History of National Pharmaceutical Control Bureau 

The National Pharmaceutical Control Bureau (NPCB) has been organized in October 1978. They are set up under the quality control activity of Pharmacy and Supply Programme to implement quality control on cosmetic products. 

In 1985, NPCB was given the task to ensure the quality, efficacy and safety of pharmaceuticals through the registration and licensing scheme. They will carry out laboratory tests and evaluation of scientific data on all products before they can be marketed. 

Besides, NPCB also handles courses and provides training to personnel from the ASEAN countries like Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Bangladesh and so on...

After 1996, this institute was given an international recognition by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a "WHO Collaborating Centre for Regulatory Control of Pharmaceuticals".

Vision of NPCB 

To be a world renowned regulatory authority for medicinal products and cosmetics.

Mission of NPCB 

To safeguard the nation's health through scientific excellence in the regulatory control of medicinal products and cosmetics.

Objective of NPCB

To ensure that therapeutic substances approved for the local market are safe, effective and of quality and also to ensure that cosmetic products approved are safe and of quality. 

Roles and Functions of NPCB

1. To implement the registration of drugs and licensing scheme of cosmetics registration.
2. To carry out analytical, pharmaceutical, microbiological and pharmacological tests on drugs and cosmetics to determine quality, efficacy and safety of such products.
3. To manage the Adverse Drug Reaction Monitoring Program and participate in the WHO International Adverse Drug Reaction Monitoring Program. 
4. To carry out research on methodology and basic research for the purpose of evaluating quality, efficacy and safety of drugs/ cosmetics.  
5. To manage the product recall scheme for pharmaceutical products which are found to be substandard or dangerous to consumers.

The above image can be found in the main page website of NPCB. 

Online Registered Product Search 

You can perform online registered product search by registration number / notification number, product name, name of product registration holder / notification holder and name of manufacturer. This  database is a cumulative list comprising of drugs registered with the Drug Control Authority since 1985 and cosmetics notified with the Director of Pharmaceutical Services. 

The above image can be found in the main page website of NPCB. 

Once you click in the link, you can able to search for products cancellation of previous registered products. The cancellation of products are divided to traditional drugs and cosmetics. Therefore, you can always check for the products in the lists whether its legal or illegal. 

The above image can be found in the main page website of NPCB. 

You can do a report on the bad effect or reverse action of certain drugs to you or your customer as a pharmacist. If you are a consumer, you can click on the as consumer link to do your report.

The above image can be found in the main page website of NPCB.

Consumer Medication Information Leaflets / Risalah Maklumat Ubat untuk Pengguna (RiMUP) are available for prescription and non-prescription medicines registered for use in Malaysia. These leaflets are targeted for the consumer, containing information on how the drug works, how to use it, what precautions to take, use of the drug in pregnancy, what to do if you miss a dose, and possible side effects or interactions. The leaflets are available in English and Bahasa Malaysia. You may download the leaflet and print it out for future reference. 




The above image can be found in the main page website of NPCB.

Human Genome

What Is Human Genome Project?

The Human Genome Project (HGP) was one of the great feats of exploration in history an inward voyage of discovery rather than an outward exploration of the planet or the cosmos; an international research effort to sequence and map all of the genes together known as the genome of members of our species, Homo sapiens.

AIMS :

• to provide a complete and accurate sequence of the 3 billion DNA base pairs that make up the human genome and to find all of the estimated 20,000 to 25,000 human genes. 

• To sequence the genomes of several other organisms that are important to medical research, such as the mouse and the fruit fly.

• To store the DNA in a database available to anyone on the internet.

• Developing computer programs to analyze the data, presentation of additional data, genome annotation and powerful tools for visualizing and searching it

• Generating a reference genome to be used as in the future for identifying differences among individuals.

• To develop new tools to obtain and analyze the data and to make this information widely available. 

• To exploring the consequences of genomic research through its Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications (ELSI) program.

BENEFITS :

• Clear practical results project emerged even before the work was finished.
• There are also many tangible benefits for biological scientists. For example, a researcher investigating a certain form of cancer may have narrowed down his/her search to a particular gene. 
• By visiting the human genome database on theWorld Wide Web, this researcher can examine what other scientists have written about this gene, including (potentially) the three-dimensional structure of its product, its function(s), its evolutionary relationships to other human genes,
• Deeper understanding of the disease processes at the level of molecular biology may determine new therapeutic procedures.
• The analysis of similarities between DNA sequences from different organisms is also opening new avenues in the study of evolution.

3D illution of the Human Genome Project

ACHIEVEMENTS :

PAST

• In 1953, James Watson and Francis Crick described the double helix structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), the chemical compound that contains the genetic instructions for living organisms.
• In 1970s, Methods to determine the order, or sequence, of the chemical letters in DNA were developed
• In 1990, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Department of Energy joined with international partners in a quest to sequence all 3 billion letters or nucleotides base pairs that made up the human genome. This concerted, public effort was the Human Genome Project.
• From the start, the Human Genome Project supported an Ethical, Legal and Social Implications research program to address the many complex issues that might arise from this science.
• All data generated by the Human Genome Project were made freely and rapidly available on the Internet, serving to accelerate the pace of medical discovery around the globe.
• The Human Genome project spurred a revolution in biotechnology innovation around the world and played a key role in making the U.S. the global leader in the new biotechnology sector.
• In April 2003, researchers successfully completed the Human Genome Project, under budget and more than two years ahead of schedule.

PRESENT

• The Human Genome Project has already fueled the discovery of more than 1,800 disease genes.
• Researchers can find a gene suspected of causing an inherited disease in a matter of days, rather than the years it took before the genome sequence was in hand.
• There are now more than 2,000 genetic tests for human conditions. These tests enable patients to learn their genetic risks for disease and also help healthcare professionals to diagnose disease.
• At least 350 biotechnology-based products resulting from the Human Genome Project are currently in clinical trials.
• Having the complete sequence of the human genome is similar to having all the pages of a manual needed to make the human body. The challenge now is to determine how to read the contents of these pages and understand how all of these many, complex parts work together in human health and disease.
• In 2005, the production of the HapMap , which is a catalog of common genetic variation, or haplotypes, in the human genome. 
• In 2010, the third phase of the HapMap project was published, with data from 11 global populations, the largest survey of human genetic variation performed to date. HapMap data have accelerated the search for genes involved in common human diseases, and have already yielded impressive results in finding genetic factors involved in conditions ranging from age-related blindness to obesity.
• With the drastic decline in the cost of sequencing whole exomes or genomes, groundbreaking comparative genomic studies are now identifiying the causes of rare diseases such as Kabuki and Miller syndromes.
• Pharmacogenomics is a field that looks at how genetic variation affects an individual’s response to a drug.

FUTURE

• An ambitious new initiative, The Cancer Genome Atlas, aims to identify all the genetic abnormalities seen in 50 major types of cancer.
• Based on a deeper understanding of disease at the genomic level, we will see a whole new generation of targeted interventions, many of which will be drugs that are much more effective and cause fewer side effects than those available today.
• NIH-supported access to high-throughput screening of small molecule libraries will provide academic researchers with powerful new research probes to explore the hundreds of thousands of proteins believed to be encoded by the approximately 25,000 genes in the human genome, and will provide innovative techniques to spur development of new, more effective, types of drugs.
• NIH is striving to cut the cost of sequencing an individual’s genome to $1,000 or less. Having one’s complete genome sequence will make it easier to diagnose, manage and treat many diseases.
• Individualized analysis based on each person’s genome will lead to a powerful form of preventive, personalized and preemptive medicine. By tailoring recommendations to each person’s DNA, health care professionals will be able to work with individuals to focus efforts on the specific strategies — from diet to high-tech medical surveillance — that are most likely to maintain health for that particular individual.
• The increasing ability to connect DNA variation with non-medical conditions, such as intelligence and personality traits, will challenge society, making the role of ethical, legal and social implications research more important than ever.

..................................................................................................................................

What is Human Genome?

The human genome is the complete set of genetic information of humans. They are made up of 23 pairs of chromosome with approximately 3 billions DNA base pairs. There are 24 distinct human chromosome, which are 22 autosomal chromosome, sex-determining X and Y chromosomes.

Chromosomes number 1 to 22 are numbered roughly in order of decreasing of size. Somatic cells usually have one copy of chromosomes number 1 to 22 from each parents and also the X-chromosomes from the mother and either X or Y-chromosome from the father. 

The human genome comprises a sequence approximately 3 billion parts, or called as nucleotides. the nucleotides are organised into DNA molecules or the Double Helix. The nucleotides are present as alphabet with just four letters: A,C, G and T. This is correspond to A (Adenine), C (Cytosine), G (Guanine), and T (Thymine). The nucleotides alphabets codes for the sequence of amino acids that the body use to build proteins.

There are an estimated 20,000-25,000 human protein-coding genes. The estimate of the number of human genes has been repeatedly revised down from initial predictions of 100,000 or more as genome sequence quality and gene finding methods have improved, and could continue to drop further.

Human Genetic Disorder

Most aspects of human biology involve both genetic (inherited) and non-genetic (environmental) factors. Some inherited variation influences aspects of our biology that are not medical in nature (height, eye colour, ability to taste or smell certain compounds, etc.). Moreover, some genetic disorders only cause disease in combination with the appropriate environmental factors. With these caveats, genetic disorders may be described as clinically defined diseases caused by genomic DNA sequence variation.

Disease-causing mutations in specific genes are usually severe in terms of gene function, and are fortunately rare, thus genetic disorders are similarly individually rare. Please be noted, there are many different kinds of DNA sequence variation, ranging from complete extra or missing chromosomes down to single nucleotide changes. It is generally presumed that much naturally occurring genetic variation in human populations is phenotypically neutral, i.e. has little or no detectable effect on the physiology of the individual (although there may be fractional differences in fitness defined over evolutionary time frames). Genetic disorders can be caused by any or all known types of sequence variation.

The story of Protein

3D STRUCTURE OF PROTEIN 

Proteins are large biological molecules or macromolecules, consisting of one or more chains of amino acids. Protein is a polypeptide chain that made up of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and sulphur. 

Proteins can be divided to 4 basics structures which is primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary. 

Primary Protein Structure

• The primary structure refers to amino acid linear sequence of the polypeptide chain. The primary structure is held together by covalent bonds such as peptide bonds, which are made during the process of protein biosynthesis or translation.
• The two ends of the polypeptide chain are referred to as the carboxyl terminus (C-terminus) and the amino terminus (N-terminus) based on the nature of the free group on each extremity. 
•  A specific sequence of nucleotides in DNA is transcribed into mRNA, which is read by the ribosome in a process called translation.
• Example: Insulin is composed of 51 amino acids in 2 chains. One chain has 31 amino acids and the other has 20 amino acids.

   Secondary Protein Structure

• Secondary Protein composed of  alpha helix and beta strand or beta sheets
• These secondary structures are defined by patterns of hydrogen bonds between the main-chain peptide groups.
• Both the alpha helix and the beta-sheet represent a way of saturating all the hydrogen bond donors and acceptors in the peptide backbone.

   Tertiary Protein Structure

• Three-dimensional structure of a single,double,or triple bonded protein molecule.
• The tertiary structure is the final specific geometric shape that a protein assumes.
• These bonding interactions may be stronger than the hydrogen bonds between amide groups holding the helical structure. 
•  Different fragments of the same chain may become bonded together.

   Quaternary Protein Structure

• Quaternary structure is the three-dimensional structure of a multi-subunit protein and how the subunits fit together.
•  is stabilized by the same non-covalent interactions and disulphide bonds as the tertiary structure.
•  called a dimer if it contains two subunits ,a trimer if it contains three subunits, and a tetramer if it contains four subunit.

Friends are the people you spend your time the most.

This is a story on how the three of us met.

It was a very fine and cold morning. The sense of awkwardness and quiet environment filled in every corners of the room. Nobody knows anybody. We just look around and smile to every possible person, and utter a shy and fake greetings, just because we are not comfortable.

Where do we meet?

University. As scary as we could imagine, it was not that bad. This was the beginning of new friendships, experiences and the prove of the hard works we put on for 11 tiredless years of schools. A new environment as we enter a new phase of life.We just need to relax and enjoy as we move on to the level of our life game. We may enter level 80, or We might lose at level 8. It just does not matter as long as we have fun.

Management and Science University

A simple smile could start a friendship. Well, at least that was the start of our friendships, now it has enter into our third year of knowing each other. I might as well introduce ourselves now.

Adrian, Lee Wei Yang. He was born on March 22nd, 1994. He was a born fighter. He fought for his studies so much that it is shown by his flying colors results. He can be the sweet talker you love or the worst critics you hate.

Asywini Angeline a/p Palabarathi. She was born on November 1st, 1993. Her name herself explain a lot of this fine lady. A messenger. She is well known for her happy personality that brings joy to others. She is a well spoken person with a soft heart. Not just she has a bright minds, but she also has a long term memory.

Nina Merlissa Binti Alias. She was born on November 20th, 1994. She loves shopping, that she could spend 24 hours in the malls looking for everything but bought absolute nothing. She is just to obsessive about shopping and a week without shopping would be a worst week of her life. Other than this, she is a kind hearted person where she will never say no when people seek help from her. because she is just awesome like that.