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Alphega Pharmacy Oncology Support Programme allows community pharmacists from six European countries to enhance support and guidance they provide to cancer patients. The programme aims to help upskill pharmacists and their teams to provide more expert advice to patients living with cancer, raising their profile in the community as key healthcare providers. Enhancing knowledge amongst community pharmacists about cancer treatment and its side effects is vital as cancer cases are set to increase if current trends continue. The programme covers practical help topics, such as oral care, nutrition advice and skin, hair and nail care among others, helping patients to get more of the support they need because community pharmacists are easily accessible, rather than needing to book a GP or consultant appointment. With rates of cancer forecast to rise throughout Europe , and cancer patients likely on average to visit hospital less often, community pharmacists are well-placed to look to support cancer patients with managing the side-effects of their treatment.

The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) has supported the Department of Health and Social Care's recommendation to 'aggressively expedite and roll out new medicines' that have gone through trials. The ABPI welcomes government report on cancer services in England and the opportunity it provides to refocus how the pharmaceutical industry, NHS and government can improve the lives of cancer patients. David Watson, executive director, Patient Access at the ABPI, said: "Despite progress, UK patients still have much worse five-year survival rates for many cancers than those in similar nations. Early diagnosis and fast and equal access to the latest treatments for all patients is key to reversing poor trends in NHS cancer care. "We are pleased that the report reflects concerns about variable access to cancer medicines. We support the Committee's recommendations to 'aggressively expedite and roll out new medicines' that have gone through trials and to ensure regulatory innovation results in swift uptake in the UK.

Boots UK in association with Macmillan Cancer Support and the NHS has launched a Palliative Care Service in its pharmacies to provide easy access to vital medicines and specialist pharmacist advice and support to patients. As part of the new service, Boots has created a list of recommended medicines most used by terminally ill patients. It has committed to maintain stock of these medicines, or formulary, at over 2,000 of its pharmacies with an NHS contract. To further support the launch of the new service, all 4,200 Boots Macmillan Information Pharmacists (BMIP) have received additional training on palliative care, including a range of cancer-related advice and side effects of medication. Marc Donovan, chief pharmacist at Boots said: "Discussing end-of-life care is never easy, but it is very important. At this extremely difficult time for patients and their families and carers, ease of access to medicines and support can make a big difference.

The UK must act swiftly to fend off competition if it wants to build the world's leading life sciences sciences hub, a new report suggests. A year on from the launch of the government's life science vision, the report commissioned by the the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry said although achieving the ambition remained feasible, the UK would need an attractive business environment because its competitor countries were becoming more adept at attracting investment. To achieve the ambition of the vision, the PwC-produced report suggested raising pharmaceutical R&D investment in the UK to build a 'stronger manufacturing and research infrastructure', alongside better investment in, access to and uptake of innovative medicines. It said the UK would also need to adopt a renewed approach to the priority healthcare challenges identified in the government's 'Life Science Vision', which would mean cutting the overall burden on health of dementia, cancer, cardiovascular and respiratory disease and mental health. The report quantified the size of the prize if the vision was implemented in full and the UK could emulate the successes of leading EU countries, which included: £68 billion in additional GDP over 30 years, owing to increased R&D investment £16.3 billion additional annual GDP from increased pharmaceutical exports Supporting 85,000 additional jobs Up to 40 per cent decrease in disease burden across the whole UK - for areas like cardiovascular disease, mental health conditions and Cancer. Reduced variation in speed of access to new medicines within three months of licensing for all NHS patients.

What initially began as two close friends taking a leisurely walk to escape their everyday routine has evolved into a meaningful endeavour to support the fight against cancer. Jamie Sparrow, Senior Vice President - Commercial, EMENA at Accord Healthcare, and Jamie Durbidge, Owner & Managing Director of Perennial Pharma, will be undertaking a 5-day walking challenge to support The Luke Hart Foundation in raising funds for Cancer Research UK. The two Jamies have been friends for more than 15 years and worked together at Mylan, now Viatris, where Jamie S served as Managing Director, while Jamie D held the position of Sales Director for some years. During the COVID pandemic when everybody was stuck at home, the two friends, both early risers, used to spend hours in the mornings walking and talking over the phone, about anything and everything - work, life, family, the Pharmaceutical Industry, politics, sport, and about challenges that people were having during the lockdown. After continuing this routine for several months, they eventually planned to transform their daily ritual into a "walking and talking" trip to reconnect, catch up on things, and enjoy some time together and with friends who wanted to join them.

The Health and Social Care Secretary has announced over £175 million funding to boost genomics research in the UK. Through this funding, the government aims to create the most advanced genomic healthcare system in the world. "Patients with cancer and children born with treatable rare genetic diseases are set to benefit from earlier diagnosis and faster access to treatment, following a £175 million boost to cutting-edge genomics research announced by the Health and Social Care Secretary today (Tuesday)," said DHSC. The funding will enable research which could deliver world-leading genomic healthcare to patients, which involves the study of people's DNA. "£105 million to be funded to kickstart a world-leading research study, led by Genomics England in partnership with the NHS, to explore the effectiveness of using whole genome sequencing to find and treat rare genetic diseases in newborn babies," said DHSC. "An initial £26 million to support an innovative cancer programme, led by Genomics England in partnership with the NHS, to evaluate cutting-edge genomic sequencing technology to improve the accuracy and speed of diagnosis for cancer patients and use artificial intelligence to analyse a person's DNA, alongside other information such as routine scans.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended abemaciclib also called Verzenios, made by Eli Lilly, for people with hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative, node-positive early breast cancer at high risk of recurrence who have had surgery to remove their tumour. The clinical trial result showed that people having abemaciclib with hormone therapy had a more than 30 per cent better chance of their cancer not coming back following surgery compared with people having hormone therapy alone. Helen Knight, interim director of medicines evaluation at NICE, said: "Today's positive draft recommendation, which comes less than a month after abemaciclib received its licence, is fantastic news. The fact that we have been able to produce draft recommendations so quickly is testament to the success of our ambition to support patient access to clinically and cost effective treatments as early as possible. "Until now there have been no targeted treatments for people with this type of breast cancer. Abemaciclib with hormone therapy represents a significant improvement in how it is treated because being able to have a targeted treatment earlier after surgery will increase the chance of curing the disease and reduce the likelihood of developing incurable advanced disease."

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has appointed Jennifer Laskey as Scotland's first consultant pharmacist, marking a significant step forward for pharmacy profession in the country. Laskey's new role involves providing support to the West of Scotland Cancer Network, where she will play a pivotal role in enhancing healthcare outcomes. Her appointment underscores the commitment of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to improving patient care and highlights the growing importance of pharmacist-led initiatives in Scotland's healthcare landscape. Laskey, a pharmacist from Scotland, will extend her expertise to bolster the West of Scotland Cancer Network, aiming to enhance outcomes and survival rates across various healthcare settings. As part of recruitment to become a consultant pharmacist, Laskey obtained credentials from the RPS serving in an accredited consultant post ensuring standardisation across the UK for patients and the system.