Health Highlights: Nov. 1, 2007

The company said the shift is a result of increasing prescription drug sales in China and other emerging economies, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's tighter scrutiny of drugs, theAssociated Pressreported.

Global sales of drugs are expected to increase by 5 percent to 6 percent to between $735 billion and $745 billion in 2008, compared with sales of between $695 billion and $705 billion in 2006, IMS said.

In the United States, prescription drug sales are predicted to increase 4 percent to 5 percent in 2008, to between $295 billion and $305 billion, theAPreported.

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FDA Must Improve Oversight of Foreign-Made Drugs: Lawmakers

American lawmakers say the Food and Drug Administration isn't doing enough to monitor the growing number of foreign-made drugs sold in the United States, and they want the agency to boost its efforts in that area, theAssociated Pressreported.

The FDA's lopsided emphasis on inspections of domestically made drugs puts the public at risk, say members of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee.

Congressional investigators noted that nearly all U.S. drug makers are inspected at least once a year, while foreign drug manufacturers can go eight or more years between inspections, theAPreported.

Between 3,000 and 6,700 foreign makers of prescription drugs and drug ingredients sell their products in the United States, according to a briefing memo prepared for members of the subcommittee, which is holding hearings on the issue. The chief of the FDA has been called to testify at the hearings.

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Cold Sore Virus Linked to Alzheimer's

A British study adds to growing evidence that there may be an association between the cold sore-causing herpes simplex virus (HSV-1) and Alzheimer's disease,BBC Newsreported.

In lab experiments, University of Manchester researchers found that brain cells infected with HSV-1 had increased levels of beta amyloid protein, which creates the plaques found in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. The findings appeared inNew Scientistmagazine.

In other experiments, the researchers found that the brains of mice infected with HSV-1 showed increased levels of beta amyloid, and that HSV-1 was attached to the plaques found in the brains of dead Alzheimer's patients.

Previous research found that HSV-1 is present in the brains of up to 70 percent of Alzheimer's patients,BBC Newsreported.

This line of research may help in the development of a vaccine to prevent Alzheimer's, but any such breakthrough is a long way off, experts say.