News in Brief

• By February all medication sold to hospitals must bear supermarket-style bar codes, the US FDA has ordered, in a bid to reduce medical errors. More advanced scanners will also be made available, warning of any patient allergies and other important information.

• The European Commission has published a range of multilingual document templates to help drug marketing authorisation holders translate their official sales permission documents in accordance with regulation EEC 2309/93. These cover all the EU's official languages after it expands in May and include documents for veterinary as well as human medicines.

• The City of Boston and the US state of New Hampshire have officially announced they will import Canadian prescription drugs without US FDA approval, despite Washington recently outlawing the practice. Boston will use the Canadian medicine for its employees while New Hampshire's will be destined for prison inmates and Medicaid recipients.

• The US FDA has approved the use of the obesity drug Xenical for adolescents, the first time a weight loss drug has been allowed to treat children in America, of whom 15% are obese. Xenical works by blocking an enzyme that is needed to digest fat.

• The Commission has cleared US pharma company Cardinal's acquisition of full control of the UK Intercare Group, which also makes medicines. It took the view that the purchase posed no competition problems.