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The latest formulation of XGEVA (denosumab) is now available to patients in the UK, offering a more convenient treatment option for bone metastasis. It is the first product to be authorised by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) via the new International Recognition Procedure (IRP). Denosumab (XGEVA) is used to prevent serious bone-related complications resulting from bone metastasis in adults and to treat giant cell tumour of bone in both adults and adolescents. The medicine was authorised on 29 February 2024 as a 120 mg solution for injection in a prefilled syringe. In contrast to the current vial presentation, this simplifies the administration process, reducing the volume of liquid injected and lowering the risk of dosing errors. The product was authorised in 30 days by the MHRA, thanks to the new IRP that facilitated a rapid approval process.

The UK government has awarded a £1.7 million contract to Ensilicated Technologies Ltd (EnsiliTech), a University of Bath spinout company dedicated to making vaccines safer, to develop the world's first thermally stable mRNA vaccine. mRNA vaccines have a huge potential to prevent infectious diseases and a range of previously unpreventable conditions, but currently, these vaccines require ultracold storage, needing to be kept at -70 or even -80 °C. The company's ensilication technology allows vaccines and other biological materials to be transported and stored without the use of refrigeration. Dr Asel Sartbaeva, co-founder and CEO at EnsiliTech, believes that the technology could save tens of thousands of lives every year. She commented: "We're so proud to have won this important government grant."

Scotland has become the world's first country to introduce a simple blood test for Type 1 diabetes patients, enabling them to stop taking insulin by improving the accuracy of diagnosis. The routine C-peptide test, introduced today (November 1), will allow doctors to know how much insulin someone with diabetes is making themselves. The roll-out of test follows a two-year pilot study in NHS Lothian led by diabetes and endocrinology consultant Professor Mark Strachan. Strachan said: "C-peptide helps diabetes specialists make a more accurate diagnosis of the cause of diabetes, and that means we can get people on the most appropriate treatment. In some instances, C-peptide testing allowed people to stop very long-standing insulin therapy; this can be life-transforming."

Hundreds of children in England are set to benefit from a treatment for cystic fibrosis - Kaftrio, after the UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) confirmed an extension to its licence. With the licence extension, more than 1,300 children in England with cystic fibrosis, aged six to 11, are newly eligible for this treatment, which improves lung function and improves overall quality of life of patients. Earlier, Kaftrio was only licensed for those aged 12 and above. British patients were the first in Europe to benefit from Kaftrio, when NHS England secured a landmark deal in June 2020. NHS chief executive Amanda Pritchard said: "Since NHS staff delivered one of the fastest rollouts of Kaftrio in the world just over a year ago, the lives of thousands of patients with cystic fibrosis have been transformed. "Innovative treatments like Kaftrio are life-changing for patients and their families, and that is why the NHS has done all it can since we secured the deal for Kaftrio to ensure patients benefit as soon as possible.

The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) has welcomed the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence's leadership in introducing a new approach to the evaluation of antibiotics. On Tuesday (12 April), NICE published a draft guidance to tackle antimicrobial resistance under which two new antimicrobial drugs - cefiderocol and ceftazidime-avibactam - became the first to be made available as part of the UK's innovative subscription-style payment model. Commenting on the announcement of the new draft guidance, Richard Torbett, chief executive of the ABPI, said: "This is an important milestone in the UK's global leadership on AMR. Antibiotics underpin modern medicine, but the increasing threat of antibiotic resistance remains one of the biggest global health challenges we face. "To tackle this, it is critical that the appropriate frameworks are in place for companies to invest the billions of pounds required to discover the new antibiotics needed for patients.

ITV on Tuesday (Aug 15) said it had agreed to invest in pain relief brand Flarin Holdings Ltd, making it the British broadcaster's first consumer healthcare investment. The company has agreed to subscribe for £2 million worth of shares in Flarin, with an option to subscribe for two more tranches of 1.5 million pounds each. In return, Flarin would get advertising space across ITV's channels and ITVX. ITV said its investment will "help Flarin build mass market brand awareness by bringing the brand to millions of consumers via ITV platforms. This will be a step change in the size of the campaign and the approach to scaling the Flarin brand to date." Director of ITV AdVentures, Sheena Amin, said: "It's fantastic to be announcing our latest Media for Equity investment into Flarin. With its innovative and patented lipid technology, Flarin offers many unique benefits to those suffering from joint and muscular pain compared to any other product on the market. Flarin is already one of the fastest growing analgesics in the market and I am confident that we will see the company grow to new heights following a brand building campaign across ITV."

British drug discovery company C4X Discovery said AstraZeneca had signed a licence worth up $402 million to develop an oral therapy for the treatment of inflammatory and respiratory diseases using its NRF2 Activator programme. The Manchester-based company said on Monday (November 28) it would receive pre-clinical milestone payments worth up to $16 million ahead of the first clinical trial, including $2 million upfront. In addition, C4XD said it would receive a further potential $385.8 million in clinical development and commercial milestones and tiered mid-single digit royalties upon commercialisation of any treatment.

Amgen's experimental obesity drug demonstrated promising durability trends in an early trial, paving the way for a larger mid-stage study early next year, company officials said ahead of a data presentation on Saturday (December 3). The small Phase I trial found that patients maintained their weight loss for 70 days after receiving the highest tested dose of the injected drug, currently known as AMG133. Amgen shares have gained about 5% since the company said on Nov. 7 that 12 weeks of trial treatment at the highest monthly dose of AMG133 resulted in mean weight loss of 14.5%. At 150 days after the last dose, maintained weight loss had dropped to 11.2% below original weight at the start of the trial, according to findings detailed at a meeting of World Congress of Insulin Resistance, Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease in Los Angeles. Patients treated with AMG133 did have side effects including nausea and vomiting, but most cases were mild and resolved within a couple of days after the first dose, Amgen said.

Sun Pharma has announced that it will acquire all outstanding shares of Concert Pharmaceuticals through a tender offer for an upfront payment of $8.00 per share of common stock in cash, or $576 million in equity value. The upfront payment of $8.00 per share of common stock in cash represents a premium of approximately 33% to Concert's 30-day volume weighted average price as of January 18, 2023, the last trading day prior to today's announcement. Concert is a late-stage biotechnology company pioneering the use of deuterium in medicinal chemistry. Concert has an extensive patent portfolio, including its lead product candidate deuruxolitinib - an oral inhibitor of Janus kinases JAK1 and JAK2 for the treatment of Alopecia Areata, an autoimmune dermatological disease - which is in late-stage development. It has completed the evaluation of the efficacy and safety of deuruxolitinib in adult patients with moderate to severe Alopecia Areata in its THRIVE-AA Phase 3 clinical program and two open label, long-term extension studies are ongoing in North America and Europe. Sun Pharma's immediate focus would be to follow Concert's plan to submit a New Drug Application (NDA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the first half of 2023.

If you know somebody who is regularly binge drinking, it can be difficult to know how to help them. Binge drinking is a serious problem, and can have devastating consequences for the individual involved. This blog post will discuss the signs of binge drinking and provide some tips on how you can help somebody who is struggling with this addiction. 1. FIND THEM A DETOX CENTER If you are concerned that somebody you know is regularly binge drinking, one of the best things you can do is to find them a detox center. Detox centers provide a safe and supervised environment for people to detox from alcohol. They will also be able to provide support and resources to help the individual in their recovery. As professionals at https://www.northridgedetoxcenter.com/ explain, detox centers can offer many different services to help people through the withdrawal process. These services may include medical detox, which can help to manage the symptoms of withdrawal, and counseling services, which can provide support and guidance during this difficult time. It is important to remember that detox is just the first step in recovery and that the individual will need to continue to receive treatment after they have completed detox.

In response to new research that revealed inequality in menopause support with 51 per cent of women from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, Holland & Barrett, the UK's leading health and wellness retailer, has decided to continue its menopause campaign work to make "every menopause matter". A quarter of women (26 per cent) from minority ethnic communities say they find it difficult to access menopause support relevant to their specific backgrounds. Alongside support from Olympian and menopause campaigner, Michelle Griffith Robinson and expert, Meera Bhogal, the retailer is launching several new initiatives to make its information and support on menopause more inclusive by offering more diverse and personalised advice and content, tailored to different needs. Almost a third (31 per cent) believe being able to speak to a female healthcare professional of the same ethnicity as them would have made a difference to their menopause experience. Fifteen per cent go as far as saying that communicating in their native language would have made a positive difference. Based on these findings, Holland and Barrett is the first retailer to launch a free, multi-language menopause online consultation service. The service will see trained H&B menopause advisors offering guidance and symptom support in multiple languages, starting with Hindi, Urdu, Gujarati and Punjabi.

Drug addiction poses a serious challenge since it impacts one's physical and mental health. However, the good news is that individuals who complete a drug rehabilitation program can overcome this problem. If you are interested in providing rehab services, there are a couple of things you should know. Read on to learn how to operate a rehabilitation clinic flawlessly. KNOW THE NEEDS OF YOUR CLIENTS The main purpose of drug rehab is to help different people overcome addictions. It is designed to heal the body and mind from the negative effects of addiction. It also teaches the affected individuals to learn to live without using substances. Therefore, your first step is to conduct a comprehensive assessment of each client to formulate a personalized treatment plan. Everyone has unique needs in their recovery journey. Your rehab program can start with detox which is designed to rid the body of substances, although it does not treat addiction. The person affected undergoes different therapies during treatment. Therapy helps them deal with the issues that cause substance abuse and teach them healthier ways of life. Various therapies will be applied throughout the entire treatment process. Therefore, you must choose a suitable therapy for each individual. For instance, motivational interviewing and cognitive behavioral therapy are the most common.

Addiction is a complex disease that can be difficult to overcome. Many people don't realize how serious addiction is and often don't seek treatment until it's too late. If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, it's important to learn as much as you can about the treatment process. This blog post will discuss six vital things that you should know about addiction treatment. RESEARCH THE VARIOUS TYPES OF TREATMENTS AVAILABLE One of the first things you should do when considering addiction treatment is to research the different types of treatments available. There are many different approaches to treating addiction, and it's important to find one that will work best for you or your loved one. Some common types of addiction treatments include 12-step programs, cognitive-behavioral therapy, detoxification, and medication-assisted treatment. The addiction treatment service providers behind Safe Harbor Treatment Center suggest that you should also consider the length of treatment, as some programs are more intensive than others. It's important to remember that no two people are the same, so what works for one person may not work for another. It's important to find a treatment that will address the underlying causes of addiction and help the individual to develop healthy coping mechanisms.

An alliance of companies has pledged to ensure equitable access to vaccines and treatments for pandemics, as the friction around intellectual property rights for Covid-19 interventions between the pharmaceutical industry and developing nations endures. At the heart of the plan is a commitment to set aside part of the production of vaccines and treatments upfront for vulnerable populations in low-income countries when the next pandemic arises, given how fragmented access to Covid tools has left many populations unprotected. In order to do better next time - and without knowing which companies will develop the first drugs and vaccines for the next pandemic - having the industry collectively make this commitment is potentially transformative, said Thomas Cueni, head of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA). The pledge, called the Berlin Declaration, was made on July 19 by members of the global pharmaceutical industry group that include many of the companies involved in developing Covid interventions, such as AstraZeneca, GSK, Moderna, Pfizer and Merck. The declaration is not legally binding. However, if a company that signed on reneges on its vow, it would face grave consequences in the court of public opinion, said Cueni.

GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi said on Wednesday (December 15) they expect data from late-stage clinical trials of its booster dose of their Covid-19 vaccine candidate in the first quarter, instead of this year, another delay for the potential shot. The news came as two companies said preliminary data from trials showed the single-dose booster provided strong immune responses. They added that they need more time to test the booster on more people who have not been infected by the virus before they can submit data to regulators. The Phase III trial for the recombinant adjuvanted Covid-19 vaccine recruited most participants in the third quarter, coinciding with a significant increase in the number of people infected globally due to the Delta variant, it said. "To provide the necessary data to regulatory authorities for the booster vaccine submission, the trial will continue to accrue the number of events needed for analysis, with results expected in Q1, 2022." No safety concerns were identified. This is the latest delay for the vaccine's development, putting the companies further behind rivals in the race for Covid-19 shots.

More than 100 NHS clinicians have urged the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to change its decision - declining recommendation of romosozumab, the first new osteoporosis medication for over a decade. In a joint letter published on January 2, the clinicians warned of the consequences of barring access to the drug to those who suffer the bone-weakening disease. The joint letter, led by the Royal Osteoporosis Society (ROS), raised concern over the scarcity of the drug pipeline for osteoporosis and lack of public funding for new research. It quoted recent government research that showed the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) invested less than £1 million in osteoporosis research in 2020-21, against the £4.6 billion per year cost to the NHS of fractures. Craig Jones, chief executive of the Royal Osteoporosis Society said: "We're calling on NICE and the applicant company to get back round the table and work with us to ensure equal access to this important new treatment.

The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has removed a pharmacist from its register who black-marketed 'zolpidem' along with another pharmacist between 2015 and 2016. Dean Zainool Dookhan, a pharmacist first registered with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain on 18 October 2004 and whose registration was later transferred to the General Pharmaceutical Council under registration number 2059808, was jailed last year for exporting 20,000 packets of zolpidem to the Caribbean. While hearing the case on 24-25 May, GPhC's Fitness to Practise Committee stated that "removal of the Registrant's name from the register is the appropriate and proportionate response to his convictions." "The public interest includes protecting the public, maintaining public confidence in the profession, and maintaining proper standards of behaviour. The Committee is entitled to give greater weight to the public interest than the Registrant's own interest in remaining on the register." "The Committee recognises the sanction has a punitive effect in that the Registrant's ability to practise and earn an income as a pharmacist and 28 his professional reputation will be curtailed; it will be five years before he can seek restoration to the register. However, that is the price he must pay for failing to comply with the fundamental tenets of his profession."

NHS chief executive Amanda Pritchard today (March 1) announced a new campaign to promote early detection of cancer, when it is easier to treat. The campaign, which would run across TV, radio, and social media from Wednesday (March 2), is the first to focus on tackling the fear of cancer rather thanspecific symptoms. It is in line with the NHS Long Term Plan's commitment to increase cancer detection at an early stage by 2028. As per the NHS figures, the number of people getting checked for cancer increased by over half a million between December 2020 and December 2021. Speaking ahead of the launch, Pritchard, said: "We know that the prospect of a cancer diagnosis can be daunting for people and that is exactly why we are launching this potentially lifesaving campaign - we want to allay people's fear about cancer and encourage them to get checked without delay.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has announced 30 pence increase in prescription charges from £9.35 to £9.65 for each medicine or appliance dispensed. Board Chair for England at RPS, Thorrun Govind commented: "This is a kick in the teeth for people in England who are already struggling with rising bills and food prices. "Patients groups have warned that people are not collecting prescription medicines due to cost and pharmacists are seeing this worrying trend first-hand. "A Government impact assessment noted the risk of adverse effects of people not taking their medicines, resulting in future health problems for the individual, potential hospital admissions, and a subsequent cost to the NHS. "This decision seems to prioritise revenue generation over ill-health prevention and undermines the principle of an NHS free at the point of use.

The Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) has undertaken an additional survey of pharmacists employed in the NHS, before deciding to hold their first-ever ballot for industrial action. The PDA has more than 7,000 NHS-employed pharmacists in membership and the union is actively considering balloting those members regarding strike action. The association said: "The experience of some other unions has shown that the government's restrictive rules, designed to make it difficult for working people to lawfully take industrial action, means trade unions should test members' strength of feeling before balloting." "Trade unions are not only forced to rely upon postal ballots, but for lawful industrial action to be taken, the result must also meet three tests- at least 50% of eligible voters must vote; at least 40% of eligible voters must vote 'yes' and a majority of votes must be for 'yes'." The association is asking members in England, Northern Ireland and, Wales to show if their collective wish, insignificant enough strength, is for strike action. PDA has emailed the survey to all its members in the NHS in the three nations and will close on Tuesday 3 January.