Group items tagged

Capitalising on strong demand for its obesity therapies, Novo Nordisk's growing appetite for deals has fuelled a bet on a U.S. gene-editing company called Life Edit Therapeutics. The Danish drugmaker's collaboration with Durham, North Carolina-based Life Edit Therapeutics - owned by ElevateBio, a cell and gene therapy company in Waltham - is focused on up to seven programs for rare genetic disorders as well as cardiometabolic diseases. At the heart of the tie-up is Life Edit's technology, called base editing, which is designed to make precise changes to the human genome by tweaking one base - or letter - into a different one without affecting other letters. Single-letter mistakes, called point mutations, can give rise to genetic diseases.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has released conclusive draft guidance, suggesting Pfizer's Vydura (rimegepant) as a choice for treating acute migraines in adults with or without aura. However, there is a caveat. This recommendation applies exclusively to individuals with a prior history of migraines, meeting one of the following criteria: At least 2 triptans were tried and they did not work well enough or Triptans were contraindicated or not tolerated, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and paracetamol were tried but did not work well enough. This drug was developed by the US-based Biohaven Pharmaceuticals, acquired by Pfizer in 2022, in an $11.6 billion deal. Nurtec ODT is the commercial name for the drug in the US, while the European Union approved the drug under the name Vydura in April 2022. NICE recommended rimegepant, an oral lyophilisate (dissolving wafer) and the first oral calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) receptor antagonist for acute migraine treatment, to be taken at the onset of a migraine attack. Migraine affects one in seven people in the UK, often with a debilitating impact, Pfizer UK said in a statement. The condition entails symptoms such as head pain, vomiting, nausea, altered vision, fatigue, and heightened sensitivity to light, sound, and odours.

Pharmacist Support, a charity centred on bolstering pharmacist well-being, has launched the 'ACTNow' campaign 2023, aimed at promoting and supporting the health and overall wellbeing of pharmacists. This campaign is launched following the successful 2022 initiative, which heightened awareness about wellbeing in the pharmacy profession. Launched in May 2020 in response to COVID-19 challenges, ACTNow has transformed into a dynamic platform fostering positive workplace culture, teamwork, and individual well-being, Pharmacist Support has said. Its primary goals are to inspire individuals and teams in the profession to prioritise their well-being, support colleagues, and proactively foster a healthier work environment. Pharmacist Support emphasised that the 2023 ACTNow campaign will continue to prioritise fostering a positive workplace culture. "This year, the campaign will provide individuals, pharmacy teams, and employers with essential tools, resources, and strategies to effectively support colleagues dealing with distress, all while cultivating a growth-oriented mindset within their teams," the charity firm said.

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.

Couples experiencing infertility also deal with mental health related stress while trying to conceive. If you or your partner is experiencing any mental health related issue in your pregnancy journey, top fertility experts can help

What skills does a pharmacist need these days? You'd think it would be sufficient to have a good understanding of pharmacy and the ability to offer a great patient service. Whilst this is true of course, the reality of the day to day role demands skills which most pharmacists have not been trained for as part of their formal qualification. At the very least, pharmacists find themselves responsible for running the pharmacy, managing people, managing processes and dealing with issues relating to customers, suppliers, surgeries, regulators and stakeholders. Even the most junior pharmacists quickly find themselves being accountable for the financial performance of their department and having to work within budgets or deliver on targets. Remarkably, despite the apparent lack of any formal training in these areas, pharmacists have been able to adapt and meet the challenges of whatever their job has thrown at them. Many pharmacists go even further, bringing out their inner entrepreneurial spirit to set up their own business. There are now over 6,000 pharmacy businesses owned by independent pharmacists, with this segment growing. Whilst pharmacists have historically adapted to their environments and picked up the necessary business skills, the rapidly changing landscape of pharmacy will require pharmacists to establish new skills to help ensure their businesses survive and thrive.

A winter NHS crisis is inevitable unless the government acts now to reverse the worrying decline in community pharmacies. Years of government underfunding could see 3,000 pharmacies in England - around a third of the network - having no option but to shut their doors to patients in the next few years. That figure is based on independent assessments from Ernst & Young and UCL/LSE healthcare professors: it is not scaremongering - it is the reality the country faces. Fifty per cent of pharmacies are already in financial distress because government funding has been falling in real terms since 2019 and that figure is predicted to rise to 75 per cent within the next two years. The government needs to act now and invest in pharmacy or sleepwalk into a healthcare disaster as we have seen with access to dentistry care. Prescription volumes have risen consistently year-on-year by roughly 2 per cent which means fewer pharmacies doing more work and under greater pressure than a decade ago. Ten years ago around 11,200 pharmacies in England were dispensing roughly 79,000 prescriptions; nowadays around 11,500 are dispensing roughly 89,000 prescriptions. The secretary of state recently asked pharmacy to do more to avoid a winter NHS crisis and at the same time said there will be no new money to pay for those additional services. This at a time when the network is in decline with random unplanned pharmacy closures - 640 closures since 2016 - and pharmacy staff face huge workload pressures as prescription demand is increasing year-on-year. The government's approach to pharmacy literally does not add up: the pharmacy contract is not fit-for-purpose now let alone dealing with a NHS winter crisis.

Depression is a serious mental illness that affects millions of people each year. It can be very difficult to deal with, and often leaves the sufferer feeling helpless. If you know someone who is struggling with depression, there are ways you can help them. In this blog post, we will discuss seven ways you can help someone with depression. ENCOURAGE THEM TO GET HELP If you know someone who is depressed, one of the best things you can do is encourage them to get help. Depression is a serious illness, and it is important to seek professional help if you are struggling with it. There are many different types of treatment available for depression, and a mental health professional can help determine which type of treatment is right for the individual. If you've found a good treatment center, encourage your loved one to check them out and they might even give it a chance. Just make sure not to pressure them into it, as this can cause more harm than good.

The term "unilateral tubal blockage" is used when one of the fallopian tubes gets damaged or blocked. As fallopian tubes play a significant role in the fertilization process, it becomes essential to comprehend their function, the myth they carry, and how we can deal with the ongoing health issues that arise due to their failure in processing.

HayMax, maker of the famous organic drug-free allergen barrier balm has been awarded the 'British Made Award' for Best British Allergy Product 2022. The award celebrates businesses that work tirelessly to make their region one of the most diverse and dynamic the UK has to offer. HayMax MD and creator Max Wiseberg comments: "This award means a great deal to us. We've always been proud that our products have been manufactured in the UK. We are passionate about reducing the cost to the environment so being British-made means we keep the miles down and reduce our carbon footprint." HayMax balms are manufactured in the UK. It buys local to reduce the cost to the environment, even if it means it costs a bit more. HayMax's current pots are now made in the UK, which has been great for reducing their carbon footprint. Its tins come from London. The new pots can be recycled and re-used. The brand has now switched to using sugar cane to make its pots and has also reduced the amount of material used in the pots by just over 54%. And they have switched from the plastic labels to paper labels.

The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Pharmacy published a new report on Monday (January 23) that calls for "urgent action" to relieve funding pressure so there are "opportunities" for community pharmacy teams to deliver even more for their patients. The report highlights the need for a new "strategic vision" for pharmacy and highlights opportunities for the network to be empowered to deliver even more for patients. However, the manifesto also underlines that there are the very real risks that this opportunity may be lost if significant and ongoing pressures are not addressed. The recommendations are based on written and oral evidence gathered from frontline pharmacists, GPs, professional bodies and healthcare experts. To harness the potential of pharmacy, the report recommends the Government must take urgent action to relieve the funding pressures on the community pharmacy sector in the short term and review the long-term funding model for pharmacy. It also suggested the Government must harness the power of pharmacy to help the NHS deal with the COVID-19 backlog and the UK's growing healthcare challenges. It further recommended that future commissioning and funding must recognise that community pharmacy is the front door to the NHS for many patients.

The Pharmaceutical Society NI (PSNI)'s Council has decided to freeze the annual registration fee for the current financial year 2023/24. The annual registration fee is considered each year by the PSNI's council. At its meeting in November 2022, Council members in recognition of the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, the personal and professional impact of the cost of living crisis on pharmacists, and the overall cost of regulation agreed to maintain registration fees at their current level for the next financial year. Pharmaceutical Society NI's Chief Executive Michaela McAleer said: "I am pleased with Council's decision to continue the freeze on registration fees for the 7th successive year. We are acutely aware of the pressures facing the pharmacy profession and hope this can provide some reassurance to the profession as we deal with these financially difficult times.

Dry eye syndrome is incredibly common and prevalence is increasing globally. Studies show that prevalence rates vary from five to 50 per cent but can be as high as 75 per cent in people over the age of 40, in people who wear contact lenses and those who work with computers. It is more common in women than in men, particularly during and after the menopause. According to a new real-world research commissioned by world experts in eye-care, Rohto, more than eight in ten women (83 per cent) indicate that they suffer from the condition, but only once they have had the symptoms of dry eye syndrome described to them. Without detailed explanation, 56 per cent of people say they have never even heard of dry eye syndrome, showing just how under diagnosed it may be. Causes of dry eye Dry eyes are a clinical cause of eye irritation, fatigue, and discomfort, often causing feelings of itchiness, grittiness, and excess watering. If left untreated, dry eyes can even lead to long-term damage and sight problems. Dry eyes may occur if enough tears aren't produced if poor-quality tears are generated or if the tears evaporate from the surface of the eye too quickly. This leads to poor lubrication of the tear film. In a normal eye, the tear film4- the multilayer moist protective film - covers the cornea and lubricates the eye. However, if the lubricative process is faulty dry spots appear on the surface of the eye and this causes irritation and discomfort. The tear film has several layers: fatty oils, aqueous fluid, and mucus. This combination normally keeps the surface of your eyes lubricated, smooth and clear. But problems with any of these layers can cause dry eyes.

National pharmacy bodies have called on the government and NHS leaders to take appropriate action to keep pharmacy teams safe from violence and abuse. The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) - in collaboration with the Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies (AIMp), the Company Chemists' Association (CCA), the National Pharmacy Association (NPA), and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) - is supporting an important petition started by Mike Hewitson, a community pharmacy contractor, who has been threatened with stabbing and robbed in his own pharmacy. The PSNC and the other national pharmacy bodies strongly believe that no healthcare professional should have to deal with this, that and pharmacists and their teams should be better protected. It said: "Community pharmacies play an integral role in the delivery of primary care and most patients are highly appreciative of the hard work of local pharmacists and pharmacy teams from dispensing medicines and administering vaccines to providing medical advice and health monitoring services.

Alitam has announced that it has merged with clinical skills training provider MHRx to upskill UK pharmacists so that its chain of community pharmacies in the UK can diagnose and treat minor medical ailments "quickly and safely". This is a second merger deal announced by the group that has 100-plus pharmacies, just days after its merger with Pharmadoctor to "radically transform the UK and Ireland's community pharmacy sector" into a truly preventative healthcare system. Following the merger with MHRx, Alitam will now be providing a career development platform for its pharmacy teams, which also include nurses and other healthcare professionals. MHRx's training incorporates every aspect of general practice alongside relevant topics including making appropriate patient consultation records in line with NHS guidelines. This, Alitam believes, will allow community pharmacies to carry out formal diagnoses, formulate differential diagnosis plans, and perform full clinical examinations. According to the founder and CEO Feisal Nahaboo, mergers such as these will lead to "a healthcare revolution predicated on building the world's first truly preventative healthcare model".

Viveca Biomed has launched an innovative and clinically-proven bladder support device that offers women immediate relief from stress urinary incontinence (SUI) and provides community pharmacy contractors with a way to build a new consumer base, customer loyalty and sales margins. The product, named 'Contrelle Activgard', has already recorded millions of sales in Scandinavia over a decade. The company behind the UK launch is female healthcare business Viveca Biomed, founded in 2019 by Andrew Tasker who has spent 30+ years in senior roles within the OTC and pharma industry. Contrelle is manufactured, packed and distributed in the UK at Viveca Biomed's factory near Newcastle, with no outsourcing, and thus offering the best possible continuity of supply. Ahead of the launch, the company commissioned a large consumer lifestyle survey with 500 women over 40 years of age who experience bladder leaks, to reveal the extent of its detrimental impact. Contrelle Activgard is a safe, discrete, easy-to-use and highly effective, single-use vaginal device, designed to immediately prevent SUI rather than just deal with the leakage.

The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) chief executive Janet Morrison has assured contractors that PSNC will continue to raise with the new prime minister all concerning issues that are bothering pharmacy businesses. She felt the "fixed five-year funding settlement that is declining in real terms" was one of the serious factors that is putting a lots of pressure on contractors. PSNC has provided a compelling portfolio of evidence on the impact that pressures are having on the sector, and requested urgent additional funding, she said. Morrison, in her video message shared yesterday (August 24), urged contractors to keep sharing and sending evidences to act on their behalf. She said she is aware "this one of the toughest periods for the businesses" and "I believe that it demands more action from the government." Morrison assured the sector she was aware that contractors were also facing difficulties in "dealing with global medicines market and the challenges on been able to procure medicines within the drug tariff." "I know how hard it is to see the future sustainability of your businesses. I can see you are facing serious workforce pressure, rising cost, shortage of pharmacists, inflation pressure. I know your using facing increase in demand from the patients who has given up on their GPs and turning to you for support and advice."

You work hard for your money, so you should make sure that when something terrible happens - like a car accident or a fire in your home - you're fully compensated. That's where insurance comes in. But sometimes, the premiums for good coverage can be expensive. So how do you get the best deal on insurance without compromising your peace of mind? It all starts with knowing how to haggle. Insurance companies are always looking for new customers and want to make as much profit as possible on each one. That means they're often willing to negotiate on price. But you have to know what to say and how to say it. Here are a few tips. DEFINE WHAT YOU WANT IN MIND The first step is to understand what you want from your insurance policy. What kind of coverage do you need? How much are you willing to pay? When you know the answers to these questions, it's easier to start negotiating with insurers. This precise information will also help you during the application process. Many insurance companies will ask you questions about your needs. The more specific you can be, the better your chance of getting a policy that meets your needs without breaking your budget.

Businesses have a responsibility for the safety of their employees, as well as visitors that are on their premises. If an injury occurs on their property, a company can be held responsible. There are various issues and rules that may apply, so it is important to know the facts regarding such situations. Here are 4 impacts legalities to consider for your business when dealing with such incidents. STATUS OF ENVIRONMENT AND RESPONSIBILITY OF PREMISES When you are looking into injury cases that occur and involve the premises or property of a business, one of the most important aspects to consider is the status of the property itself. All property that has access to the public owned by an individual or business must be maintained in a manner that is safe for people to reasonably move around. This is often associated with sidewalks and pathways, as well as corridors, hallways, and various rooms in businesses. You must ensure that areas where people may be around are safe such as ensuring no water or substance is present on floors that would cause falls or slips, and otherwise having the signage to indicate the need for caution. This is not limited to people, but can also apply to vehicles and equipment, ensuring oil stains and spills do not endanger the operators and employees in the area. Businesses should recognize any risks that are present and also be mindful to address environmental concerns in the immediate area as they are made aware of them. If a business fails to address such potential dangers, they are indeed potentially liable for any injuries and health concerns that come as a result of willful ignorance of the situation.

Well Pharmacy, a subsidiary company of Bestway Group is donating US$400,000 worth of medicines to help the victims of those impacted by the recent flooding in Pakistan. The Bestway Group has raised funds to the tune of $2.3 million, which will be deployed urgently on the ground in Pakistan. The monies raised has been pledged to build homes (or shelters) for 5,000 families, provide usable water for more than 100,000 individuals and provide food and medical supplies to over 20,000 people. In addition to appealing for donations, the Group held a fund-raising event (23 September) at London's Intercontinental on Park Lane, which was attended by over 650 guests including the Lord Chancellor, the Deputy State Bank of Pakistan, UK Cabinet Ministers, and Members of Parliament in addition to leading City' figures and business community. The Lord Chancellor Rt Hon Brandon Lewis MP said that the British Government has committed funds of £16.5 million for Pakistan and we are dealing with wider climate change issues as well and we are committing to that effort.