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Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) members working for Boots have raised concerns over possible reduction in their pay following the multiple's proposed changes to some pharmacies' opening hours. Member pharmacists have expressed concerns as "despite verbal assurances that the company aim to minimise pharmacist job losses, they are being told that proposed changes will reduce their income if they remain with the company," PDA has stated. PDA added that several pharmacists have been told that the proposed reduction to their hours will be more than 10 per cent, which could result in reduction in pay every month. Salary cuts could render future employment unsuitable and might force pharmacists to leave the company with redundancy, the association said.

The Competition and Markets Authority(CMA) has disqualified a former director of the pharmaceutical wholesaler Lexon for allegedly breaking competition law. Pritesh Sonpal - who has been accused of illegally sharing commercially sensitive information with competitors - will not be allowed to take up any director role or be involved in the management of any company based in England, Scotland or Wales for four years. The CMA in March 2020 found that Lexon - along with the pharmaceutical companies King Pharmaceuticals and Alissa Healthcare Research - illegally shared commercially sensitive information about the antidepressant nortriptyline, used by thousands of NHS patients, to inflate the price. Lexon was fined £1.2 million for breaking competition law. The government watchdog said between 2015 and 2017, when the cost of the drug was falling, the three companies exchanged information about prices, the volumes they were supplying and Alissa's plans to enter the market, in order to reduce competition.

The parent company of Boots, Britain's largest pharmacy-led health and beauty chain, is reportedly considering putting its UK pharmacies up for sale next year for an estimated £10 billion. Walgreen Boots Alliance (WBA), the US health group that owns a stake in Boots UK since 2012, is lining up Goldman Sachs to explore a potential sale next year, as reported by Sky News. When contacted by Pharmacy Business, WBA said that it would not comment on "market speculation", noting that "Boots is an important part of the Group." The company, however, acknowledged that "it is accurate that WBA announced a renewed set of priorities and strategic direction for the Group in October, which includes a more pointed focus on North America and on healthcare."

Skelmersdale-based online pharmacy Chemist4U has secured a £12 million investment from Pitalia Capital, an equity investment company led by Anil Pitalia. Chemist4U is part of JCCO Healthcare, which also houses the weight management platform myBMI. Anil Pitalia is a health enthusiast, who heads SpaMedica, a company providing cataract surgery to the NHS. This investment will propel the group's expansion, with John Davies, Managing Partner of Pitalia Capital, joining the board, the company said. Moreover, it will facilitate the extension of services by myBMI in the realm of weight management. "Our goal is for Chemist4U to emerge as one of the largest NHS dispensing facilities in the country, while also providing vital support to our partners through our rapidly expanding outsourced dispensing services division," said said James O'Loan, Chief Executive Officer of both Chemist4U and myBMI, who joined Chemist4U as a superintendent pharmacist in 2012 before becoming CEO in 2018. Meanwhile, Anil Pitalia, Head of Pitalia Capital based in Bolton, cited the compelling growth potential as the driving force behind his investment in Chemist4U's next-day medicine delivery service.

The Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) has begun conciliation with 86 pharmacy companies to safeguard the interests of former LloydsPharmacy pharmacists. The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas), a government agency, serves as a mediator between companies and employees to resolve disputes. If the ongoing mediation prove unsuccessful, individual employees retain the option to file claims in the employment tribunal, the PDA has said. The ongoing dispute centres around employers potentially failing to conduct the required consultation under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) regulations (TUPE) with employees and their representatives during employee transfers, the PDA said. The TUPE legislation, known for its complexity and technical nature, applies when a section of the company, like a pharmacy sold as an asset using standard disposal, undergoes a transfer. According to NHS England's recent pharmaceutical list, LloydsPharmacy has either sold or shuttered 461 branches since September 2022. According to NHSE data, as of June 30, the pharmacy chain operates approximately 512 pharmacies in England. This positions it as the third-largest chain after Boots UK and Well Pharmacy.

Today, pharmaceutical companies can't simply make an effective drug and count on healthcare providers (HCPs) to come to them - they have to find innovative ways to attract them. Statista shows that in 2015 there were only 3,286 pharma companies with active research and development pipelines. In 2023, this number jumped to more than 5,500. As an earth-shattering number of new drugs are flooding the market each year, HCPs are having a hard time determining the best medicine for their patients. Meanwhile, pharma companies invest more in marketing to help HCPs get rid of choice paralysis and make them choose their solution over that of competitors. In this article, we will share the tried-and-true tactics to build a strong pharma brand. Get creative with interactive email marketing One…two…three…No, we're not counting to run a marathon. Three seconds is what you've got to pull your reader in with your email. Fail to quickly grab the audience's attention? We've got some bad news for you. Nobody's going to bother reading about how amazing your pharmaceutical product is if you're churning out generic emails with artificial intelligence tools.

British pharmacy chain Superdrug has announced plans to cease the sale of disposable vapes in all its UK and Ireland stores, citing the environmental impact caused by its disposal and popularity among young people. The pharmacy retailer will discontinue selling brands like Vuse GO and Flavaah Bars, with plans to completely clear out existing stock by the end of the year, the company said in statement. Superdrug, which previously sold 1,300 single-use vapes weekly, expects a potential impact on revenue stemming from this decision. The company has not yet started selling vapes online. "This decision was made to safeguard the environment," the company said on Sept.22, highlighting the risk of fires due to improper disposal of vapes, as many of them contain lithium batteries.

Moderna has joined one of the UK's leading pharmaceutical industry body, Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) to expand its footprint and investment in the UK. The biotechnology company pioneering messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines will strengthen its footprint with the new state-of-the-art vaccine research, development and manufacturing facility in the UK. It will create valuable new jobs and build on the strength of the UK's life sciences ecosystem. The company is best known for their work during the COVID-19 pandemic and are now developing a range of mRNA-based vaccines for a number of conditions. The ABPI represents companies of all sizes who invest in discovering the medicines of the future, including some of the world's largest, most innovative, and most successful pharmaceutical firms. Darius Hughes, UK General Manager, Moderna, said: "We are delighted to join the ABPI - this alliance is an important part of our long-term commitment to the UK and supports the wider significant investments in manufacturing, research and development we are making in this country.

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, India's largest drugmaker by revenue, reported a better-than-expected 5.2 per cent rise in third-quarter profit on Tuesday, driven by higher sales of its specialty drugs. The company, known for its consumer healthcare products such as Revital vitamins and pain relief medicine Volini, said it earned a consolidated net profit of 21.66 billion rupees ($265.23 million) in three months ended Dec. 31, up from 20.59 billion rupees last year. Analysts, on average, had expected the company to report a profit of 21.26 billion rupees, according to Refinitiv IBES data. Total revenue from operations climbed nearly 14 per cent to 112.41 billion rupees. Input costs rose 8.5 per cent. Drug sales in India rose 7.1 per cent to 33.92 billion rupees, whereas sales in the United States climbed 16.6 per cent to 34.66 billion rupees, with each of the two regions accounting for 31 per cent of the company's total consolidated sales. The company, founded in 1983, makes over-the-counter medications, anti-retrovirals and active pharmaceutical ingredients for chronic and acute treatments.

HRA pharma has announced the resignation of David Wright who moves on after serving the company for more than five years as chief executive officer. The company has appointed Martyn Hilton, chief commercial officer for HRA Pharma, as interim CEO effective from September 1, 2022. David helmed the company during a period of transformation and set the course for its tremendous growth, elevating HRA Pharma into a leading provider of over-the-counter self-care products. He commented: "Given the significant progress HRA has made, along with my personal goals after leading HRA for more than five years, I believe now is the time to step away from the business. "I am proud of all that we have accomplished, making HRA well-known for its Women's Health, Wound Care and Scar Care leadership, operating via brands including ellaOne, Hana, Compeed and Mederma. I appreciate all the team members involved in the success of the organization and believe Perrigo and HRA are well-positioned to elevate this business and these brands to the next level."

Aspire Pharma has completed the acquisition of Morningside Pharmaceuticals (Loughborough), Morningside Healthcare (Leicester) and Morningside Healthcare (India); speciality generic pharmaceutical organisations. Morningside delivers Aspire added talent, increased in-market range, and an industry leading pipeline, complementary to Aspire's. "We are excited to welcome the Morningside team to the Aspire family. This is a transformative opportunity for both companies to expand and enhance our market position as a result of both companies highly complementary product portfolios. The combination will create one of the largest and fastest growing UK pharma companies and see further accelerated growth potential in our current and future product portfolio, in the UK and internationally," said Richard Condon, Chief Executive Officer of Aspire Pharma.

The Swiss competition commission (COMCO) has opened an investigation of Novartis over possible unlawful use of a patent to reduce competitive pressure, the Swiss drugmaker confirmed on Thursday, September 15. COMCO conducted an early morning raid on the company on Sept. 13, it said in a statement that did not name Novartis, which subsequently said in its own statement that it was the group under investigation. "The company allegedly attempted to protect its drug for the treatment of skin diseases against competing products by using one of its patents to initiate litigation proceedings," COMCO said in a statement. Novartis said COMCO had started an investigation in collaboration with the European Commission into the assertion of a patent in the broader field of dermatology treatments. "In connection with this investigation, COMCO representatives visited the company headquarters in Basel," it said.

The global company in information and data analytics, Elsevier launched a platform, PharmaPendium for drug candidates. It is an effective tool that provides data including complete Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency (EMA) approval packages for drug development. The platform is supported by the FDA, the Medical Devices Agency (PMDA) and the top 20 global pharma companies. Olivier Barberan, Director of Translational Medicine Solutions spoke about how "improved access to highly relevant data plus predictive tools enhances regulatory success, safeguarding the massive investments of pharma companies." "Translation of preclinical research findings to humans in an efficient but safe way is one of the greatest challenges facing drug developers. We designed the new PharmaPendium to solve this," he added.

PCCA Limited has issued a recall for its Ketamine 50mg/5ml and 100mg/5ml oral solutions after a small number of bottles have been observed to contain crystalline material. The company said it is recalling impacted batches from patients, pharmacies and hospitals as a precautionary measure. "This recall is being issued as a company-led medicines recall, as this product is only supplied to a small number of customers and the company has traceability of the onward distribution by their customers to patients directly," the MHRA said in an alert. Check the website.

Northern Ireland will see changes in the regulatory landscape following the issuance of the Windsor Framework on 27th Feb 2023 and the corresponding EU Commission proposal. An agreement, in principle, has been reached by the UK and EU. The new path forward of the Windsor Framework marks a turning point in how both the UK and the EU will work together collaboratively and constructively to ensure that the same medicines are available in Northern Ireland at the same time as they are in the rest of the United Kingdom. Whilst this is a successful result for Northern Ireland patients, this is major change for companies that have made specific provisions in their supply chains for Northern Ireland. The supply chains of companies where provisions and changes were made such as introduction of GB specific pack may be impacted as a result. However, the burden on the UK Pharma supply chain will be eased. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak walks with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen in Windsor on February 27, 2023 Pharma companies will need to carefully consider making changes within their processes and supply chains pending the issuance of clear guidance from the MHRA on the regulation changes resulting from the Windsor Agreement and the corresponding EU Commission proposed regulatory changes associated with medicinal products within the Northern Ireland market. Smooth access to the EU market for Northern Ireland pharmaceutical and medical technology firms has been safeguarded within the constraints of the agreement. The pragmatic dual-regulatory system protects business, patients and healthcare services, and reflects that it is an essential state function to maintain and oversee the supply of medicines within the whole United Kingdom.

The UK GDP Association has been established as a non-profit organisation, operating as a Community Interest Company (CIC), with a focus on providing a broader support network, particularly for small and medium business enterprises and pharmacy wholesalers. In addition to delivering commercially viable Good Distribution Practice (GDP) consultancy services for simple models with smaller budgets, the association aims to function as a networking platform for Responsible Persons in the UK. As members of the association, companies and individuals can gain multiple benefits that will add value to their business through access to knowledge, discounted training, consultancy services, audit and inspection support, as well as resources like document templates for risk assessments, CAPA, deviations, and more. Moreover, members can enjoy the benefit of a like-minded support network via a dedicated GDP community hub, providing a platform for discussions, seeking advice, and fostering new relationships. "Our mission is to ensure that patient safety, GDP compliance, and excellent quality is paramount in all organisations, regardless of budget," the company said.

Pharmadoctor, a company which provides clinical service packages to pharmacists, has announced the launch of the UK's first private Covid vaccination service via its nationwide network of partner community pharmacies. For the first time, people who are eligible for the Covid-19 vaccine (those aged 12 years and over) will be able to get the shots from their local independent pharmacy by paying as little as £45 per jab, the company said. The delivery of the new service is expected to start by 1st April at the latest by "thousands of pharmacists" using the Pharmadoctor eTool. To encourage pharmacists to sign up early to provide the service, the company is offering its package at half-price until 31st March.

Global healthcare company Mundipharma and Vectura, an inhalation contract development and manufacturing organization, have entered into a collaboration agreement aimed at reformulating an asthma inhaler as part of their commitment to reducing the product's carbon footprint. The companies will be working together on incorporating an environmentally friendly propellant into the formulation of flutiform, a pressurised metered-dose inhaler (pMDI) used for asthma treatment, to achieve a near-zero-emissions product. Currently, the product uses the approved apaflurane hydrofluoroalkane 227 (HFA-227), a type of fluorinated greenhouse gas, as its propellant. The European Union's regulation on these types of greenhouse gases targets a two-thirds reduction in their usage and subsequent emissions by 2030. In a joint statement, companies revealed that work is already in progress to find an alternative to the HFA-227 gas. Yuri Martina, Chief Development and Medical Officer at Mundipharma, said: "This is the first step in our long-term plan to develop a near-zero-emissions asthma inhaler.

Swiss generic drugmaker Sandoz said on Thursday that it would pay $265 million (£209m) to settle a pricing antitrust case in the US. Under the agreement, Sandoz is resolving all damages claims without admitting to any wrongdoing in the case brought in the US state of Pennsylvania. "Under the terms of the agreement, Sandoz US will pay $265 million in exchange for a full release of all claims asserted against it in the direct purchaser class action by the settlement class members," the company said in a statement, adding that the payment would be incorporated into 2023 results. Sandoz became an independent company in October 2023, following the spinoff from Novartis. "As a new public company, this settlement underscores the Sandoz commitment to integrity and sound governance, and is an encouraging step toward putting allegations of legacy conduct behind us", it said in its statement.

Consumer healthcare group Haleon on Thursday announced that it has entered into a binding agreement for the sale of the ChapStick brand to Suave Brands Company, a company owned by American private equity firm Yellow Wood Partners. The British consumer healthcare company has agreed to sell its lip balm brand to Suave for about $430 million in cash and a minority interest in the buyer, valued at around $80 million. Haleon, which was spun off from the GSK Group in July 2022, said that cash proceeds from the sale would be used to pay down debt. ChapStick generated £112 million ($142.5 million) in revenue in 2023, said Haleon, adding that the sale is likely to close in the second quarter of 2024. Brian McNamara, Chief Executive Officer, Haleon, said: "Today's announcement is consistent with Haleon being proactive in managing our portfolio, and being rigorous and disciplined where there are opportunities for divestment. "While ChapStick is a great brand, much loved by consumers around the world, it is not a core focus for Haleon.