Group items tagged

AstraZeneca on Wednesday (April 5) said a combination of its cancer drugs Imfinzi and Lynparza met the main goal in a late-stage trial in patients with advanced ovarian cancer. The drugmaker said treatment with a combination of those drugs, along with chemotherapy and bevacizumab - the existing standard of care - improved progression-free survival in newly diagnosed patients with advanced ovarian cancer without certain mutations. Lynparza is jointly developed with U.S.-based Merck & Co as a treatment for breast cancer in early stage with certain mutations. Imfinzi alone, along with chemotherapy and bevacizumab, did not reach statistical significance in its interim analysis, the drugmaker added. Philipp Harter, director, Department of Gynaecology and Gynaecologic Oncology, Evangelische Kliniken Essen-Mitte, Germany and principal investigator for the trial, said: "DUO-O showcases the power of academia and industry collaboration in advancing new treatment combinations for patients with ovarian cancer. I'm grateful for the academic cooperative study groups and patients around the world that made this trial possible and look forward to sharing the results with the clinical community." Susan Galbraith, executive vice president, Oncology R&D, AstraZeneca, said: "While there has been significant progress for patients with advanced ovarian cancer, an unmet need still remains. These data from the DUO-O trial provide encouraging evidence for this this Lynparza and Imfinzi combination in patients without tumour BRCA mutations and reinforce our continued commitment to finding new treatment approaches for these patients. It will be important to understand the key secondary endpoints as well as data for relevant subgroups."

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has advised 'no one should stop taking valproate without advice from their healthcare professional.' The latest data on the use of valproate in England revealed that in the last 6 months the number of pregnant women prescribed valproate in a 6-month period has fallen from 68 women in April to September 2018, to 17 women in October 2021 to March 2022. In light of concerns that the current regulatory requirements for safe use are not being consistently followed, the MHRA conducted a review of the available data and asked for advice from the independent Commission on Human Medicines (CHM). "The CHM has advised that no one under the age of 55 should be initiated on valproate unless two specialists independently consider and document that there is no other effective or tolerated treatment," said MHRA. "Where possible, existing patients should be switched to another treatment unless two specialists independently consider and document that there is no other effective or tolerated treatment or the risks do not apply."

New data published by NHS England on Thursday (4 January) showed that more than 31.4 million GP appointments (excluding vaccinations) were delivered in November 2023. This is four million more than the number recorded in the same month before the pandemic, and is considered the busiest November on record for GP teams. Compared to the previous month (October 2023), 3.3 per cent more appointments were booked and attended on the same day in November. Almost seven in ten patients attended their appointments within seven days of booking, an increase of 4.5 per cent from the previous month.

In a recent report released by the Company Chemists' Association (CCA), data from the NHS Pharmacy First service indicates a substantial uptake and positive impact on patient care just two months after its launch. The CCA's findings shed light on the service's efficacy in meeting patient needs and its potential to alleviate pressure on General Practices (GPs) within the NHS. According to the report, over 90,000 Pharmacy First consultations were conducted solely by CCA members within the initial two-month period. Impressively, 88 per cent of these consultations, totaling 81,627, were deemed eligible for NHS-funded care indicating a significant demand for the service among patients. In the first month, the data revealed that more than 90 per cent of eligible patients received necessary care directly through Pharmacy First, bypassing the need for further referral.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) in recent response to the questions asked by members of the House of Lords addressed the concerning trend of pharmacy closures in rural areas across the UK. Led by The Bishop of St Albans, inquiries focused on the number of community pharmacies that had ceased operations over the past five years and the ongoing financial challenges faced by those remaining in rural regions. Lord Markham, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health and Social Care, provided insights into the stark reality confronting rural communities. Highlighting data as per Guide to applying the Rural Urban Classification to data (2019-2023) Markham illustrated the significant closure rates of rural pharmacies compared to the limited number of new openings between 2019 and 2023. The figures revealed a fluctuating trend over the past five years, indicating a dynamic landscape within rural pharmacy provision.

Pfizer on Thursday said a single dose of its new respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine Abrysvo maintained its ability to protect against the illness through a second year of respiratory disease season. The company said in a press release that the vaccine's efficacy against RSV-associated lower respiratory tract disease with three or more symptoms was 77.8 per cent through season two, compared with efficacy of 88.9 per cent after the first RSV season, which led to the shot's US approval. The data is from a late-stage trial of more than 37,000 participants being conducted in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres. Cumulative efficacy over both seasons after around 16.4 months of disease surveillance was 81.5 per cent, Pfizer said. The data is similar to the efficacy of GSK's rival RSV shot Arexvy over two seasons, which was released in June.

The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has promoted Louise Edwards to the position of Chief Strategy Officer and Deputy Registrar. Louise is currently the Director of Regulation and Digital Transformation at the Electoral Commission, responsible for the organisation's regulatory work and digital, data, technology and facilities infrastructure. This includes funding and spending at elections and referendums, registering political parties, enforcement work, and data and information management. Louise will take over Mark Voce, the GPhC's current Chief Strategy Officer and Deputy Registrar, who is retiring early in July 2024. Louise said: "Pharmacy services are at the heart of health care for many people. Having effective regulation and standards in place can transform and give confidence in the quality of care that people receive.

EMA will launch a final round of targeted consultations with key stakeholders on its draft policy on proactive publication of and access to clinical-trial data at the beginning of May 2014.

Randomization and stratification are necessary components for recruitment patient for most multi-armed clinical trials. The purpose of randomization methods is to eliminate selection bias and to insure a balance of measured and unobserved covariates between the treatment groups. Block and permuted block randomization with stratification are typically used to avoid selection bias and insure balance between observed and unobserved confounding variables.

Clinical data management software

MarksMan Healthcare Communications, one of the renowned and eminent organizations in the healthcare space offers Health Economics and Outcomes Research

Medcloud is a patient-centered platform for diagnosis, focused on simplifying test management in all its phases. Unlike other medical imaging solutions..

Seven new 'data hubs' are set to revolutionise medical research across Britain, making the medical histories of millions of NHS patients available to doctors, scientists and academics.

The full-time equivalent community pharmacy workforce saw a 6 per cent decline in a year, while the overall number of pharmacists remains nearly constant, according to NHS England's Community Pharmacy Workforce Survey 2022. However, vacancy rates among pharmacists rose 16 percent, suggesting an increased reliance on locum pharmacists who, on average, work fewer hours, the data revealed. According to NHSE, the mandated survey released (Aug. 3) achieved a 95 per cent completion rate among pharmacy contractors, marking a substantial increase compared to only 47 per cent in the previous year. The survey results indicate a shift in working patterns within community pharmacy, with locum pharmacists being utilised more frequently as part of the staffing model. The survey revealed a 6 per cent decrease in the community pharmacy workforce across all roles combined. The number of full-time equivalent pharmacists working in community pharmacy decreased by 2,411, from 20,255 in 2021 to 17,844 in 2022, the survey found. The employed pharmacists decreased by 16 per cent from 12,774 in 2021 to 10,943 in 2022, while locum pharmacists increased by 26 per cent from 4,297 in 2021 to 5,477 in 2022, NHSE said.

Community pharmacies were responsible for dispensing over 99 per cent of items in 2022/23, revealed General Pharmaceutical Services for Northern Ireland, Annual Statistics 2022/23 published on Thursday (29 June). While the remaining one per cent dispensed by appliance contractors and dispensing doctors. According to the statistics, on average, each community pharmacy dispensed over 84,000 items in 2022/23, witnessing a growth of over 3 per cent on the previous year to 44.6 million in 2022/23, which is the highest level of dispensing recorded. This equated to BSO processing 2.1 million prescription forms per month, on average, throughout the year, representing a 4 per cent increase on the just over 2.0m processed each month last year. The total ingredient cost over the year was £486.9 million. This was an increase of approaching 7 per cent on the previous year, which was around double the percentage increase in the number of items dispensed. The annual ingredient cost total has fluctuated since the beginning of the series but was over 18 per cent higher in 2022/23 than in 2013/14.

NHS England is rolling out a range of tech and data solutions, including an artificial intelligence (AI) system, across the health service to tackle winter pressures. The AI system will be used to identify patients at risk of hospital admission so community NHS teams can get to them first and reduce pressures on A&E departments. On a trial basis, four GP practices in Somerset have started using the innovative technology which can highlight registered patients with complex health needs. Health coaches, nurses, or GPs will then reach out to the people most at risk, and provide them with a range of preventive care such as monitoring, food parcels, cleaning, shopping, as well as escalating care to specialist doctors.

Frontline doctors have sounded the alarm over the rising pressure on emergency departments in hospitals across the country as winter virus cases are "creeping up". An average of 234 people were in hospital with flu every day last week, a 53 per cent increase compared to the week before, according to new NHS data. Hospital norovirus cases increased by 15 per cent last week, with an average 406 people hospitalised each day, a 28 per cent increase from the same week last year. Measures to stop the spread of norovirus to other patients led to the closure of an average of 92 beds were closed each day last week.