The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended first new treatment - 'romosozumab' for osteoporosis for over a decade.
Thousands of people in England and Wales with severe osteoporosis who are at high risk of fracture are set to benefit from a new treatment - romosozumab - after
NICE published the final draft guidance.
Over 20,000 people could be eligible for the treatment according to the company. Clinical trial evidence showed that romosozumab (also known as EVENITY and made by
UCB) followed by alendronic acid is more effective at reducing the risk of fractures than alendronic acid alone.
Osteoporosis is a disease that causes bones to become thin and fragile. Many people with osteoporosis show no symptoms, but they may be at increased risk of fracture.
Osteoporosis leads to nearly 9 million fractures around the world each year, and over 300,000 people per year attend hospitals in the UK with fractures caused by
osteoporosis.
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.
Ahead of the launch of UK's first state-of-the-art automated hub for independent community pharmacists, HubRx has announced the appointment of Karl Wooldridge
as operations director and Matthew Tollefson as chief financial officer.
Karl brings more than 14 years of sector experience to his new role with HubRx. Having begun his career as an independent community pharmacist, Karl has gone on
to hold key roles within pharmacy automation, including managing Phoenix Medical Supplies' offsite dispensing service.
Commenting on his appointment, Karl said: "I'm delighted to have joined the team. The pandemic has further highlighted the important role pharmacists can play in
keeping the nation healthy, not least in the delivery of the latest vaccination programme. The focus is now on pharmacists offering more clinical services, but
to be able to achieve that the dispensing burden needs to be reduced.
"HubRx is pioneering, our approach will transform community pharmacy. We're investing in cutting-edge technology to create an automated dispensing hub that will
create capacity for pharmacists, allow them to grow and expand their skills."
Matthew joins from Leeds-based corporate finance firm, Sentio Partners having also held positions with Mazars and Ernst & Young.
In continuation of the NHS Covid vaccine programme, Covid jabs for five and six-year olds will be available at the local vaccination centres or community pharmacies outside of school hours.
Following the recent JCVI guidance that recommended all children between 5 and 11 would benefit from a non-urgent offer of the COVID vaccine, the NHS will send
invitations to one million families with five and six-year-olds this week.
"Invitations being sent to families this week will set out how easy and convenient it is to take up the offer of a vaccine as part of the NHS COVID vaccination
programme by booking through the National Booking Service, or visiting their nearest walk-in site," NHS said.
Between April 25 and May 1, there are already more than 33,500 children aged five to 11 booked in for their dose of the life-saving vaccine, with a further 50,000 slots still available.
Dr Nikki Kanani, GP and Deputy Lead for the NHS COVID-19 vaccination programme, said: "It is great to see so many families already booked in for their children to receive their Covid vaccine this week, helping to protect themselves against potential future waves of the virus.
Three leading pharmacists - professor Mahendra Patel, Asif Aziz and Ade Williams - have been recognised in Queen Elizabeth's annual New Year's honours list.
Professor Patel, an academic pharmacist from West Yorkshire, was awarded an OBE for his "services to pharmacy." He told Pharmacy Business: "I am truly honoured and deeply humbled by this highly prestigious award that I have always believed was more deserving for others.
"That's not to say I'm not proud of it - far from it, although for me it's not necessarily about rewards and recognition but more the intricacies of the journey I embark on and the learning and joy that those encounters bring with it.
Most recently, Professor Patel - who has had a broad ranging portfolio career spanning community pharmacy, health education and health promotion, academia, and research - has been involved in promoting clinical trials across community pharmacies in the UK.
His latest work has seen him act as one of the national leads for the PRINCIPLE and PANORAMIC trials, run by Oxford University - both trials seek to pioneer repurposed and new drug treatments in the community to prevent hospitalisation due to Covid-19.
Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) has launched two surveys to gather data on the pressures that people working in community pharmacies are facing.
Pharmacy teams have informed the negotiator about the ongoing financial and operational pressures and expressed concerns that these pressures could impact patients' care.
The surveys would give a snapshot of the problems faced by pharmacies and the results will be used in ongoing discussions with NHS England & NHS Improvement and the Department of Health and Social Care.
The results will also help PSNC to make pharmacy's case in conversations with the MPs, ministers and the national media.
The two separate surveys are for:
Pharmacy business owners/head office representatives - This survey covers the pressures faced by businesses, including financial and staffing pressures.
Pharmacy teams - It covers the day-to-day pressures experienced by pharmacy teams including supply chain issues, patient interactions/experience and staff morale.
Prime minister Boris Johnson announced on Wednesday (January 19) that restrictions re-imposed in England last month would be lifted by from next Thursday (January 27).
In the latest development, the government has decided to end the guidance on working from home, asking employers to make adequate arrangements to return safely to work.
From the start of next Thursday, mandatory certification based on vaccines and tests will end, however, organisations can still choose to use the NHS Covid Pass voluntarily.
Besides, the legal mandate to wear face masks will go away from next week.
Making a statement to the House of Commons on Covid-19, he said that infection levels are falling in England mainly because of the country's "extraordinary booster campaign".
He noted more than 36 million Covid-19 booster jabs had been delivered, with over 90 percent of over-60s now given a third dose.
"Our scientists believe it is likely that the Omicron wave has now peaked nationally," Johnson added, while cautioning "the pandemic is not over".
"I encourage everyone across the country to continue with all the cautious behaviours that we know help to keep each everybody safe."
A pair of pharmacist brothers, who also own a popular restaurant in Kent, have started an innovative initiative 'Jabs with Kebabs' to encourage their community in England to come forward and take their Covid-19 vaccines.
Rav and Raj Chopra, who own V's Punjabi Grill, an Indian restaurant in Gravesend, established the walk-in vaccine site after their father, Jagtar Chopra, became unwell with Covid-19 last year.
The duo is among thousands to volunteer for the National Health Service (NHS) vaccine programme.
Talking to the PA news agency, Raj said he was inspired by the experience of his father, who got infected with the virus and has fully recovered since then.
"From a personal point of view, it was very debilitating to see Dad like that," said Raj Chopra. "It got everyone's emotions in play.
Independent pharmacies played a leading role in administering Covid-19 vaccines in the country, latest data compiled by the National Pharmacy Association has revealed.
According to the latest research conducted by the NPA and PharmData, independent community pharmacies were the biggest deliverers of Covid vaccines during January -
September 2021 as compared to corporate-run pharmacy sites.
The PharmData figures which looked at 610 pharmacy sites around the country showed that 85 per cent of them were independents, most of whom are NPA members.
NPA chief executive Mark Lyonette said: "These figures show us that flexible, locally engaged, entrepreneurial independent community pharmacies are making a huge contribution to the vaccine programme.
Britain on Monday (January 10) put the biggest private health companies on high alert to deliver crucial treatments such as cancer surgery should Omicron
overwhelm National Health Service hospitals in England.
The United Kingdom's death toll from the Covid-19 pandemic stands at 150,154, the world's seventh worst official Covid toll after the United States, Brazil, India, Russia, Mexico and Peru.
Prime minister Boris Johnson has bet on refraining from lockdowns to deal with the Omicron variant which in recent weeks has swept across the UK, albeit with death
rates significantly lower than previous waves.
In a sign of just how stretched the NHS could become, health secretary Sajid Javid ordered England's NHS to strike a three-month deal with private health companies to allow patients to get treatments such as cancer surgery outside.
"Millions of patients have already got their tests and treatment quicker thanks to our existing deal with independent providers," said David Sloman, NHS England chief operating officer and Covid incident director.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) announced on Monday (November 22) that it would integrate NHS Digital, NHSX and Health Education England into NHS England and Improvement (NHSE&I) as part of major workforce planning and technology reforms.
The merger is part of the government's long-term strategy for the recruitment, training and retention of healthcare staff coupled with a digital transformation of
working practices.
The overhaul is based on recommendations made by NHS Digital chair Laura Wade-Gery who led a government-commissioned review to improve patient care, centralise the NHS workforce and accelerate digital delivery.
Commenting on her recommendations, Wade-Gery, said: "In the rest of our lives, digital has really changed how we live and we must now make this true in healthcare.
The goal of my review is to equip the national centre with the right capability to support Integrated Care Systems to deliver better citizen health. We need to have
the culture, operating model, skills, capabilities and processes to put data, digital and technology at the heart of how we transform health services."
Boehringer Ingelheim's UK & Ireland managing director Uday Bose has been elected chair of the European Medicines Group (EMG).
Established in 2001, the EMG is a voice for UK operations of continental European headquartered research-based pharmaceutical companies and seeks to promote a
dialogue between the UK Government, the NHS and wider stakeholders.
"I am delighted to share the news that I have been elected chair," Bose wrote in a LinkedIn post, adding: "I look forward to working with the EMG to help support
the ambition set out in the Life Sciences Vision for the UK to be a world leader in life sciences."
Bose is a vastly experienced pharmaceutical industry leader who has had over 20 years' experience spanning general management, health economics, sales and marketing roles with national, regional and global accountability.
With the government gearing up and pushing community pharmacies in England to adopt the hub and spoke dispensing model, stakeholders of the sector and industry
leaders analyse the pros and cons related to the new concept.
The model rose to prominence in 2015 in community pharmacy and the medicine supply chain in the UK, and has undergone a few consultations and reviews at the
professional and governmental level since then.
From a broader perspective, the industry agrees that the model will bring in efficiency to the system, much needed amid community pharmacy's flat funding settlement in England, at the same time highlighting some real challenges.
The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has so far released three reports on this matter and a review of the challenges and enablers of the hub and spoke in the UK in 2016. Besides, a review of international evidence and the report of a roundtable meeting was brought together in the supply chain with government
and regulators in early 2020.
Two new medications which fight drug-resistant superbugs could soon become available to NHS patients in England after the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) said they offered value for money.
NICE said Cefiderocol and ceftazidime-avibactam will be the first antimicrobial drugs to be made available as part of a subscription-style payment model that incentivises research and development of antimicrobials by testing new approaches to evaluating and paying for them.
As part of part of a project with the NHS and the Department of Health and Social Care, the new payment model is designed to address the growing threat posed by antimicrobial resistance - a serious global problem - which develops when the pathogens that cause infection evolve to make antibiotics and other antimicrobial
drugs less effective or stop them from working altogether.
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.
A second Global Covid-19 Summit will be held virtually next month for countries to discuss efforts to end the pandemic and prepare for future health threats, according to a joint statement on Monday (April18).
"The emergence and spread of new variants, like Omicron, have reinforced the need for a strategy aimed at controlling Covid-19 worldwide," the White House said in a news release with the Group of Seven and Group of 20 nations.
The announcement comes amid a surge of Covid-19 cases around the world prompted by easily transmissible variants of the virus.
China's most populous city, Shanghai, is trying to return to normal after a nearly three-week shutdown, which, along with wider China curbs, are taking a toll on the world's No. 2 economy.
The summit will build on efforts and commitments made at the first global summit in September, including getting more people vaccinated, sending tests and treatments to highest-risk populations, expanding protections to health care workers and generating financing for pandemic preparedness, the statement said.
His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales is to host a reception at St James's Palace in early May to celebrate exemplary work of community pharmacist during
the Coronavirus pandemic.
Up to 200 community pharmacists have been invited by Prince Charles to the event organised to "celebrate community pharmacists", which commences at 5:30pm on
Wednesday, May 4 at the London residence of the Prince of Wales.
The invitation comes in less than six months after Prince Charles praised community pharmacists for their efforts during the Covid-19 pandemic in a video message sent to the National Pharmacy Association (NPA)'s centenary dinner at Apothecaries' Hall in central London in November last year.
He said throughout the pandemic pharmacy teams' "commitment to patient care has never wavered, despite the many enormous pressures you have faced.
"During this pandemic period, we have learned, as never before, that pharmacies are one of those vital places where science and society meet. Crucially, they are about people and places, not just pills."
'Tepotinib' has been recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to patients with a specific gene mutation of advanced
non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
The new potentially life-extending drug is available from Thursday (14 April). It has been recommended for routine use across the NHS in England through Project
Orbis, a programme to review and approve promising cancer drugs helping patients access treatments faster.
NICE has published its final appraisal document recommending tepotinib (also known as Tepmetko and produced by company Merck Serono Ltd) as an option for treating
advanced NSCLC with METex14 skipping gene alterations in adults.
People with METex14 skipping alterations of NSCLC make up between 1-2% of all adults with lung cancer in England.
Tepotinib, which requires people to take two tablets once daily, provides a new targeted treatment for adults with METex14 skipping gene alterations. Just over 700
people in England would be eligible to receive tepotinib as either a first or second-line treatment.
A roundtable organised by National Pharmacists Association (NPA) discussed how an enhanced role of community pharmacies could help people with obesity.
Seven action points were recommended by the delegates at the virtual event which took place on March 31, in collaboration with Novo Nordisk.
It was chaired by Professor Maggie Rae, president of the Faculty of Public Health and featured representatives from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, Royal Society for Public Health, Patients Association, UK Health Security Agency, Diabetes UK and NHS England.
The roundtable also heard testimony from a parent of a young adult living with obesity and a presentation of the personal experience of someone living with the condition by Sarah Le Brocq, director of campaign group, All About Obesity.
Private healthcare provider CityDoc has partnered with the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) in its bid to widen a "nationwide network of vaccine clinics" to
increase footfall to community pharmacies that come onboard.
The company says NPA member pharmacies that join the network will have their own dedicated page on the CityDoc website, while benefiting from having online marketing
done on their behalf via an extensive Google AdWords campaign and local listings optimisation - all paid for by CityDoc.
The participating pharmacies will also have access to their own booking system, marketing materials and access to the latest vaccine and private healthcare
information.
NPA member Nick Daines, who runs Lifestyle Pharmacy in Bath, said he has partnered with CityDoc for six years and seen "a significant increase in revenue from
private services."
He added: "The CityDoc partnership has allowed us to establish Lifestyle Pharmacy as a go-to venue for healthcare within Bath.
"We have seen significantly increased footfall thanks to our partnership with CityDoc, which in turn has allowed us to grow the NHS and retail aspects of the business."
