The title compound glaucocalyxin A (1) (7®,14¯-dihydroxy-ent-kaur-16-en-3,15-dione) iso-
lated from the leaves of isodon excisoides was characterized by IR,
1H NMR, 13C NMR, 1H- 1H COSY, HMQC, HMBC, and EIMS, and its crystal structure was determined by single- crystal X-ray di®raction. The X-ray crystal structure revealed that the molecular backbone of the chosen crystal is a tetracyclic system, including three six-membered rings and a ¯ve- membered ring, and the three six-membered rings are in a chair-like conformation.

Drugs, as commercial products, are subject to diverse marketing methods including promotional
activities. Although the legal/ethical aspects of promotional activities have been discussed in a limited manner, the patient has remained the neglected variable of this equation. The goal of our study, therefore, is to investigate the patients’ opinion on the promotional activities of pharmaceutical companies.

Time and resource constraints necessitate increasingly early decision making to accelerate or stop preclinical drug discovery programs. Early discovery drug candidates may be potent inhibitors of new targets, but all too often exhibit poor pharmaceutical and pharmacokinetic properties that limit the in vivo exposure. Low solubility of a drug candidate often leads to poor oral bioavailability and poor dose linearity that creates an issue for efficacy and target safety studies, where high drug exposures are desired. When solubility issues are encountered, enabling formulations are often used to improve the exposure

Background. Cancer patients take medications for coexisting disease and self-medicate with over- the-counter drugs (OTCs). A complete analysis of the use of prescription drugs, OTCs, and supplements during cancer treatment has never been done.
Methods. The study developed and validated a self-administered questionnaire on the use of concomitant medications by patients undergoing treatment with chemotherapy.

Objective: Antiplatelet drugs are widely used for secondary prevention of thrombotic cerebrovascular disease. The anti-platelet prescribing patterns has been evaluated in several studies but data about Hong Kong patients are lacking. This study is to investigate the prescribing patterns of antiplatelet agents in a Hong Kong hospital.