Group items tagged

Kent and Medway prescribe the highest number of semaglutide, liraglutide and tirzepeptide - drugs that are commonly used for treating type 2 diabetes, weight loss, or both - in the UK, according to recent research by Click Pharmacy. Called GLP-1 agonists, these drugs mimic the effects of the GLP-1 hormone, which is released by the body after eating. This hormone slows digestion, stimulates insulin release, and inhibits glucagon, a hormone that raises blood sugar, making GLP-1 agonists effective treatments for diabetes and weight management. The online pharmacy's research reveals that Kent and Medway prescribed the most of these drugs in the month of June 2024, with 6,326 prescriptions. Other NHS Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) with high prescription rates included: Black Country and West Birmingham (5,019) Hampshire, Southampton, and Isle of Wight (4,960) Birmingham and Solihull (4,775) North Central London (4,528) North East London (3,557) North West London (3,498) Cambridgeshire and Peterborough (2,973) Coventry and Warwickshire (2,912) Norfolk and Waveny (2,575) Brighton and Hove topped the list for prescribing Wegovy, a weight-loss drug containing semaglutide, with 35 prescriptions made out in June alone.

Atorvastatin was the most dispensed drug in England in 2021/22 with 53.4 million items, revealed the annual Prescription Cost Analysis (PCA) published by NHS Business Services Authority. According to the official statistics, Apixaban (an anticoagulant) was the drug with the highest cost of £401 million. The statistics revealed that the cost of prescription items dispensed in the community in England was £9.69 billion, a 0.87 per cent increase of £83.7 million from £9.61 billion in 2020/21. "The number of prescription items dispensed in the community in England was 1.14 billion, a 2.58 per cent increase of 28.7 million items from 1.11 billion in 2020/21." FreeStyle Libre 2 Sensor kit (a glucose monitoring system) was the presentation with the largest absolute increase in cost between 2020/21 and 2021/22 of £69.8 million, from £2.84 million to £72.6 million.

The NHS has launched plans to expand pioneering subscription-style drug contracts to develop lifesaving antibiotics of the future. It is building on its world-first pilot to incentivise the pharmaceutical industry to develop new antibiotics that could be offered to NHS patients when they need them the most. The consultation has launched almost a year to the day that contracts for two superbug-busting drugs were rolled out as part of a world-first pilot. Cefiderocol and ceftazidime-avibactam, new antibiotics manufactured by Shionogi and Pfizer respectively, were awarded world-first subscription contracts which provided the companies with a fixed annual fee based primarily on the availability of the drugs and their value to the NHS, as opposed to the volumes used. By breaking the link between the payments companies receive and the number of their antibiotics prescribed, the NHS is removing any incentive to overuse antibiotics, decreasing the risk of life-threatening infections, such as sepsis and pneumonia, becoming resistant to treatment.

Data crunched by an online pharmacy delivery company paints a concerning picture for the pharmacy sector in England. Gophr's 'Prescription For Pressure' initiative reveals a challenging time for the sector and is supported by separate analysis by the BBC showing that the number of pharmacies in England is at its lowest since 2010. In addition, new powers being introduced for pharmacists to prescribe common prescription drugs and perform routine tests create an even greater workload for already overstretched pharmacists. Gophr's data reveals that: * Each pharmacy in England serves an average of 6,078 people. * In 2022, pharmacists dispensed 1.043 billion prescriptions, 26.3 million more than 2021. * A single pharmacy in England dispensed 248 prescriptions a day on average in 2022. Based on the most up-to-date statistics from the Office for National Statistics, NHS England and Statista, Gophr's calculations show that pharmacists have around 116 seconds to dispense a prescription, which is less time than the 180 seconds it takes to make a Quarter Pounder at McDonald's.