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Fife-based trainee pharmacist and Honorary Secretary of the PDA LGBT+ Network, Soh Xi Ken has won the Scottish Trades Union Congress' (STUC) Equality Award. One of Scotland's leading LGBT+ campaigners and Honorary Secretary of the PDA's LGBT+ Network has been recognised for his advocacy work for LGBT+ pharmacists in Scotland. Soh Xi Ken of the PDA received the Equality Award at the STUC Annual Congress in April 2023 in Dundee. The award praised Xi Ken's tireless advocacy for LGBT+ workers within pharmacies in Scotland, highlighting his personal experience of homophobia in Scotland and his home country, Malaysia. In May 2021, Xi Ken became a founding member of the PDA LGBT+ Network's committee and was elected as their first Honorary Secretary. The PDA LGBT+ Network is the first of its kind in the pharmacy world and has made a significant difference to the profile of LGBT+ people in the profession. Xi Ken and others within the PDA LGBT+ Network spotted that there was a lack of LGBT+-specific guidance given to pharmacy students and that their unique and specific health needs were not being addressed as part of the pharmacy education that they received.

Alliance Healthcare UK has won a 'special achievement' award for its work during the Covid-19 pandemic at the Logistics UK Awards 2021. The pharmaceutical wholesaler and it's subsidiary, Alloga UK - a specialist provider of supply chain solutions for healthcare manufacturers - received the 'Special Recognition Award for Outstanding Response to Covid' at an event held in central London on Thursday, December 9, 2021 - beating off stiff competition from a number of high profile challengers. Alliance Healthcare's new managing director Marie Evans said: "I am delighted that our business and team of 6,000 colleagues have been recognised at this level for our contribution to the fight against Covid-19. Our main aim over this unprecedented period is to support the NHS, pharmacy and all UK patients, and this award is true recognition for all of that hard work and dedication." The special award category was open to an individual or organization that demonstrated an outstanding response to the pandemic in 2020 within the logistics sector and included seven other nominees including the likes of National Highways, Hermes UK and Yodel.

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has announced the results of the elections to vacant positions on the RPS Scottish and English Country Boards that took place at the meeting on June 18. The Scottish Pharmacy Board elected Jonathan Burton, FRPharmS, as their new Chair and Audrey Thompson to the RPS Assembly, the organisation's governing body. Jonathan is a community pharmacist and an independent prescriber affiliated with the Right Medicine Pharmacy group in Stirling. He has played an integral role in the inception, development and delivery of Pharmacy First services in Scotland. He is an RPS Fellow and received an MBE in 2018 for services to healthcare. Jonathan is also the recipient of the 2023 RPS Charter Award. He previously served as Chair of the Scottish Pharmacy Board from 2019 to 2021. "Serving as Chair is a great privilege," said Jonathan while expressing his delight at being elected as the Chair of the Scottish Pharmacy Board.

HRA Pharma's progestogen-only contraceptive pill, Hana, has won the 'Special Achievement Award' at the Nicolas Hall awards. The awards took place on May 5, 2022 in Athens. HRA's Marketing Director for the UK, Ireland and the Nordics, Kate Evans, was in attendance to represent the Hana team and accept the award. The Hana pill became available in July 2021 for women in the UK to purchase without a prescription following a pharmacy consultation. The launch has made it easier for women to access effective daily contraception. This reclassification made HRA Pharma one of the leaders in this new healthcare category. The switch followed the authorisation of reclassification of desogestrel by UK regulator MHRA. Hana was one of the first products to enter this new market.

Both head of customer operations Dan Britton and chief executive Michael Brodie at the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) have won the Inspiring Leaders Award, which recognises leaders for their humanity and courage. The coveted award, organised by Inspiring Workplaces, recognised their contribution during the pandemic. Under Brodie's leadership, who joined the organisation as chief executive in September 2019, NHSBSA started over 50 new services to support the wider NHS. He also led Public Health England (PHE) through its transition to the new UK Health Security Agency. Miranda Sykes, head of communications and marketing at NHSBSA said: "Michael is an inspirational leader for many reasons. He cares immensely and he's spent the pandemic thinking about others and using his influence to support the NHS over the last 18 months or so." His decision to take up an additional CEO role while transforming the PHE during the pandemic shows "Michael's style of leadership is authentic, inclusive and empathetic. He is passionate about the NHS and doing everything he can to support it."

Pharmanovia, a global pharmaceutical company has announced increased targets to divert 40 per cent of its air shipments to sea in 2023, and 75 per cent by the end of 2028. It has made the pledge as it revealed the significant progress made towards achieving its ambitious science-backed ESG initiatives in its new Sustainability Report. Its industry-leading air-to-sea pilot scheme, which focused on its Spain-to-Australia freight route, cut an estimated 470,000kg in potential CO2 emissions in 2022 - reducing Scope 3 upstream transport emissions by 18 per cent. This initiative demonstrates Pharmanovia's role as an industry leader on carbon reduction and follows a recent report which stated just 16 of 500 pharmaceutical companies measured their entire Scope 3 emissions. The new Sustainability Report reveals that the Scope 2 emissions decreasing by 13 per cent in 2022, due to lower direct electricity demand within the office space. The company's packaging audit seeing a 52 per cent increase in the percentage of products packed with at least one fully recyclable component, up from 12% in 2021 to 64 per cent in 2022 Strong progress in an initiative which saw Pharmanovia set ESG goals all employees across its global offices as part of annual performance awards. Employees achieved a 98 per cent completion rate of the compliance training, including ESG modules