Medical Translation Insight

Flash localization - how tos from the horse's mouth

2012-05-24T09:51:00.000-04:00

Corporate training departments can choose between a variety of tools to develop internal elearning courses, each with their pros and cons in terms of cost, versatility and learning curve. For those training a global workforce, the "localization-friendliness" of the tool can have serious cost implications and become an important factor in the selection process. Separately, once the tool is

ForeignExchange in the Big Easy

2012-05-23T09:30:00.000-04:00

Are you planning to attend the SPBT 2012 Annual Conference in New Orleans next month? If so, we hope to see you there! It's been a couple years since we visited the Society of Pharma and Biotech Trainers Conference but we’re excited to go back in a couple weeks. Training and eLearning localization for drug and device companies is one of ForeignExchange's core competencies, and the SPBT

Quality authoring instead of liability insurance?

2012-05-21T07:56:00.001-04:00

Quality is a given in medical translations. Sure, clients care about money, and turnaround is becoming increasingly important too. However, if a medical translation provider cannot guarantee quality, pretty much nothing else matters. And with good reason. The absence of quality in translation can easily lead to law suits, product recalls, and can even endanger patients' lives. More and more

Is "bioethics" really cultural colonialism in disguise?

2012-05-03T18:45:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, we looked at the China (and India) through the lens of IVD manufacturers. Today, we are still looking at China but on the topics of clinical research and, especially, bioethics. By way of background, bioethics, according to Wikipedia, is:...the study of controversial ethics brought about by advances in biology and medicine. Bioethicists are concerned with the ethical questions that

The IVD world according to India and China

2012-05-02T11:47:00.000-04:00

India and China... Both countries are inspiring success stories and, according to a new article, are positioning themselves to play major roles in the global in-vitro diagnostics (IVD) market in the future. China and India: Comparing Two Fast-Growing IVD Markets is a timely look at how these two countries that account for about 1/3 of the world's population stand to up-end the IVD industry.

Simpler language makes for better clinical research

2012-04-26T07:00:00.000-04:00

We've said it before: Readability is important when it comes to clinical studies. While informed consent forms (ICFs) are required in all clinical trials which are approved by an independent Ethics Committee, most ICFs are too complex to understand by an average adult patient. One obvious solution is to reduce the complexity and increasing the ease of readability. While this has been

Best practices for software localization

2012-04-24T09:46:00.000-04:00

According to the European Medical Device Directive (MDD) amendment of 2010, software is now included in the definition of a medical device. It doesn't matter if the software is integrated into the actual device or a stand-alone product. This inclusion is an acknowledgment of the fact that software is so integral to the functioning and therapy of a device. Software validation will also be an

Count-down to EU pharmacovigilance legislation

2012-04-10T07:18:00.001-04:00

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is planning for the implementation of new pharmacovigilance legislation in July this year. The new rules (Directive 2010/84/EU [PDF link] and Regulation (EU) No. 1235/2010 [PDF link]) amend existing legislation and was adopted back in December 2010. The main goal of the legislation is to strengthen the EU-wide system for monitoring the safety and benefit-risk

Monthly roundup: Most popular posts in March

2012-04-06T08:39:00.002-04:00

Happy Spring! After a mild winter, spring has sprung early in these parts. A good thing, too, what with our increased travels for educational events!As we do regularly, here is a recap of the last month's most popular articles:Austerity puts pressure on drug prices - and translations? - It will be interesting to see if/how translation prices will follow sinking drug pricesReady for e-labeling? -

A willingness to be influenced

2012-04-05T09:09:00.002-04:00

From today's The Big Picture:We are moving into the height of the political cycle over the next few months. It is apparent that the Republicans will nominate Romney and he will battle Obama for the right to be president of the U.S. Over the years I have received emails and had discussions with many people, some of whom I only know via the deep reach of the internet, about my political beliefs.

Upcoming educational events

2012-03-30T09:32:00.000-04:00

We’ve got some great educational offerings in the coming weeks. Writing for a Global Audience – Chicago We will be hosting a complimentary Learning Unplugged seminar in the North Chicago area entitled, “Writing for a Global Audience.” This two-hour complimentary seminar is designed to provide attendees with insight and guidance on how to author and structure English content which is targeting a

Ready for e-labeling?

2012-03-14T07:59:00.002-04:00

Medical device labeling in the EU continues to pose a challenge for manufacturers, who must create compliant Instructions for Use in all required languages. The term "e-labeling" refers to innovative means for providing Instructions for Use in an electronic format for medical devices. Originally e-labeling focused on IVDs, since these are usually used by healthcare professionals in a clinical

Raising the IP bar in Australia

2012-03-08T09:06:00.003-05:00

Over the course of this year, the IP landscape for drug and device companies in Australia has the potential to change quite dramatically. These changes picked up speed last month when the Intellectual Property Laws Amendment (Raising the Bar) Bill 2011 was passed by the Australian Senate. The Bill now awaits passage through the House of Representatives. The bill is expected to receive final

India is the world's pharmacy?

2012-03-06T10:34:00.003-05:00

"While China was becoming the world's shop floor, India took its place as the world's pharmacy"So starts an article in today's New York Times about patent disputes around generic copies of patented Western drugs."Intellectual property" and "India" have long been viewed as mutually exclusive and the resolution of pharma patent disputes has had a frustrating habit of taking one step forward and

Austerity puts pressure on drug prices - and translations?

2012-03-05T08:31:00.002-05:00

After we wondered if the Greek crisis would spread from drug companies to translation suppliers two years ago, things had gotten quiet and for a while, the situation seemed resolved. But with austerity being trumpeted as the solution to all financial ills, dark clouds are once again forming on the horizon - for drug companies and, potentially, for medical translation providers.Austerity is

Take a Leap!

2012-02-29T07:52:00.005-05:00

Well, it’s the shortest month but it’s also a Leap Year, which only comes around once every four years. Do you know how the concept of Leap Year came about? Here’s a brief history lesson. As with many things, like candles, umbrellas and aqueducts, we have the ancient Romans to thank for our modern calendar. The names of the months bear witness: January, named for the god Janus and March for the

Middle East presents opportunities, challenges for clinical research

2012-02-29T06:11:00.003-05:00

Rising drug-development costs and pressing needs to advance drugs quickly are pushing global pharmaceutical companies to look for emerging markets to conduct clinical trials.Compared to other countries and regions, the Middle East is viewed as an emerging hub for clinical research due to easy accessibility to infrastructure, patient base, rapid timelines, and reduced costs. And a recent piece by

The human factor

2012-02-28T07:04:00.001-05:00

ForeignExchange Translations is now offering human factors engineering and usability testing services in cooperation with our Certified Partner, Data Decision Group. This partnership complements our company vision of saving lives, through the development of medical products that take into account human factors and usability, in addition to getting products to market more quickly and safely with

Do small translation companies operate this way?

2012-02-24T07:05:00.000-05:00

Here is some interesting Friday reading:Intuit recently conducted a survey to explore what tasks take up the most of a small business owner's time and how they manage them, in and out of the office. The results are represented in this infographic (click for giant version):Many medical translation providers are small companies or even individual freelancers. Do these observations hold true for

Europe to test language skills of migrating doctors

2012-02-22T11:05:00.005-05:00

Patient and employer complaints about foreign doctors who lack proficiency in a country's official language have prompted the European Economic Area (i.e., all 27 European Union member states, along with Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein) to reconsider language requirements for migrating doctors.CMAJ reports that new EU regulations are being proposed to simplify the process of recognizing the

1 small step closer to e-labeling

2012-02-21T09:31:00.000-05:00

We have previously called elabeling the "holy grail" of medical device packaging. A bit grandiose, maybe, but most device manufacturers do have several fingers crossed for a speedy introduction of elabeling regulations in Europe.In late 2011, the EC has taken another small step in that direction. The EU Regulatory Committee on Medical Devices approved regulation on e-instructions for the use of

Packaging mistake leads to product recall

2012-02-20T08:20:00.002-05:00

As we have said before, labeling is risky business.This point was driven home again a few weeks ago when Pfizer recalled 1 million packets of birth control pills after discovering a packaging error. In a statement, Pfizer explained that some blister packs of Lo/Ovral-28 and its generic equivalent could contain an inexact count of active ingredient tablets and that the tablets may be out of

Upcoming educational events

2012-02-17T10:06:00.000-05:00

We’ve got some great educational offerings in the coming weeks. Translations 101- Boston and Minneapolis We will be hosting two complimentary Learning Unplugged seminars on “Translation 101” – one in the Boston area and one in Minneapolis. This two-hour complimentary seminar will cover how translation works – the technology, the people and the process. We will cover what Translation Memory

Portuguese spelling reforms take effect in home country

2012-02-14T07:52:00.004-05:00

Portuguese is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world. It is also one of the fastest growing European languages, along with English and Spanish. With its humble origins in Portugal, Portuguese is now spoken in communities across Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas.Although some modern-day critics deride spelling rules as snobbery, every world language seeks to standardize its use

Blame language if you're broke, fat, and you smoke

2012-02-10T11:51:00.009-05:00

Americans tend to spend more, save less, and be overweight. A generalization? Sure. But luckily (or not?), poor, fat Americans aren't alone; the Greeks, for one, have similar traits. On the other hand, folks like the Germans are thriftier and in better shape - and they save more for retirement. Meanwhile, the Chinese blow most nationalities away when it comes to saving money. What explains these