To maintain overall good health, the Chinese don't usually take vitamin pills or health supplements - they drink soup.

A teenager with a life-threatening illness has had a "miracle" response to a drug Pharmac said it wouldn't fund.

It took months of planning, a nine-hour surgery and a team of 35 clinicians. But by the end, they had completed a ground-breaking double arm transplant on a quadruple amputee.

It costs drugmakers US$2.56 billion to bring a new medicine to market - more than double the price of 11 years ago.

Kiwis have access to a good range of medications at the pharmacy - meaning we can self-manage common illnesses more easily than people in many other countries.

Taking paracetamol while pregnant increases the risk of behavioural problems in school-age children, according to new NZ research.

Medical device maker Medtronic, is poised to become the biggest firm to escape the US tax system by shifting its incorporation abroad.

One baby has died and 14 others are fighting for their lives after being poisoned in NHS neonatal care units in the UK.

It's been found on nearly every bank note in the UK, in toilets at Parliament - now tests confirm cocaine traces are in Britain's drinking water.

I was born in Kent, England and self-educated by reading Encyclopedia Britannica in public libraries, while living rough on the streets of London.

A Dutch company called Emotional Brain claims early trials of a new drug, Lybrido, show promise for women in the treatment of loss of sexual desire and that "pink Viagra" could be on the market as early as 2016.

Japan has reportedly accepted the same terms as Canada and Mexico, writes Jane Kelsey.That means they cannot reopen any text that is already agreed.

The licensed use of a controversial blood-thinning medicine has been restricted after a trial linked it to higher rates of stroke and other serious complications in certain patients.

Kiwi babies look likely to get free vaccinations against chickenpox and rotavirus later this year - up to six years after Australia.

Andrea Murphey is an attractive, youthful 52-year-old who says her life has been saved by an expensive "miracle" drug.

Andrea Murphy says her life has been saved from a killer blood disease by an expensive "miracle" drug and is pleading for Pharmac to approve state funding of it.

It is not a binary question - will Pharmac survive or not? - but rather how might the rules it operates under change, writes Brian Fallow.

Many Kiwis are not getting free prescriptions they are entitled to and the most vulnerable are likely to be hardest hit when charges rise next year, researchers warn.