Well Pharmacy has acquired three new pharmacies taking the total number of pharmacies owned by the chain across the UK to 746.
The UK's largest independent and third largest pharmacy chain has bought Pharmacy Express in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, and two Frosts Pharmacy's in Banbury, North
Oxfordshire, and Marston, near Oxford. All three pharmacies will be rebranded. #
Well did not disclose the amount it paid for the new acquisitions.
Operations director of Well Pharmacy Louis Purchase said that the group was "excited" to expand. "We believe passionately in community pharmacy, and we want our
offering to be the best experience of this in the UK. We also hope our new colleagues can keep progressing and develop their clinical skills even further by being
part of Well Pharmacy."
Frosts Pharmacy teams have joined Well from their pharmacies based in Ferriston, Banbury, North Oxfordshire and Marston, near Oxford. They both serve local people
from the heart of their communities and offer a successful travel vaccination clinic in Marston.
In a significant move to address health disparities and enhance clinical research, community pharmacies across several regions are set to become central
players in the Genes and Health study.
Led by Queen Mary University of London and funded by the Wellcome Trust, this national initiative aims to improve health outcomes within British-Bangladeshi
and British-Pakistani communities.
Professor Mahendra Patel, Director of the Centre for Research Equity at the University of Oxford, highlighted the importance of this approach.
"By engaging the broader pharmacy workforce, including technicians, we aim to establish a research-ready infrastructure within community pharmacies," Patel
told Pharmacy Business.
He shared that the initiative marks a transformative step in integrating pharmacies into the clinical research landscape.
The Thames Valley and South Midlands Clinical Research Network (CRN) is managing a pioneering pilot program for this study, which will initially focus on
pharmacies in Banbury, Oxford City, Reading, Slough, High Wycombe, and Aylesbury.
In partnership with Oxford University Press, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has launched the 'RPS Pharmacy and Pharmacology' reports.
RPS Pharmacy and Pharmacology Reports is a new, fully open access journal and the sister journal to Journal of Pharmacy & Pharmacology.
The journal is edited by Professor Dennis Douroumis, professor in Pharmaceutical Technology and Process Engineering at the University of Greenwich.
RPS said: "The journal aims to create a truly interdisciplinary forum for members of the pharmacy, pharmacology, chemistry, biochemistry, physiology, and microbiology
communities alike to come together to develop life-changing medicines of the future. The journal prioritises scientifically sound results from pharmacy and
pharmacology researchers across the world."
The journal operates a rapid review and publication process to ensure impactful research is disseminated as quickly as possible.
All RPS members are eligible to receive a 20 per cent discount on the article processing charge.
Researchers from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) have been tasked to evaluate the impact, safety and effectiveness of the
Pharmacy First service, which was launched across England in January 2024.
They have been awarded £2.4million by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) to generate evidence on the new service that allows
pharmacies to provide advice and treatment for seven common conditions without the need for a GP appointment.
After consultation, if necessary, a community pharmacist can supply some prescription-only medicines to treat earache, sore throat, sinusitis, impetigo,
shingles, infected insect bites or uncomplicated urinary tract infections in women.
The LSHTM researcher team will be working together with experts at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and the Universities of Oxford, Manchester and
Nottingham on the project.
Dr Rebecca Glover, assistant professor in Antimicrobial Resistance at LSHTM, who will lead the three-year project, said they will evaluate "Pharmacy First's
impact on GPs and the wider NHS, pharmacy services and patients."
Health services in the UK today (January 4) marked the first anniversary of the deployment of the Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccine in fight against Covid-19.
Exactly a year ago, the UK became the first country in the world to administer the vaccine by jabbing Brian Pinker, 82 at Oxford University Hospital.
So far, around 50 million AstraZeneca vaccines have been administered to people in the UK.
Commenting on the landmark day, vaccines minister Maggie Throup said: "The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is a UK success story and demonstrates what can be achieved when researchers, scientists and the government work together.
"The at-cost vaccine has given billions of people around the world a way to fight back against this virus."
Further, she urged people to get vaccinated to protect themselves and their families this winter.
Community pharmacy is at the heart of one of the most ambitious clinical trials ever undertaken by the UK's primary care network, says senior academic pharmacist
Professor Mahendra Patel.
The PANORAMIC trial has been designed to rapidly evaluate several antiviral treatments over time that could help people at high risk of Covid-19 recover sooner,
prevent the need for hospital admission and so ease the burden on the NHS.
The Platform Adaptive trial of NOvel antiviRals for eArly treatMent of Covid-19 In the Community (PANORAMIC) is a national priority trial led by Oxford University's
Primary Care Clinical Trials Unit.
Lead investigators say the study will enable early and rapid testing of novel antiviral agents and help repurpose existing drugs against Covid-19. As soon as the trial is set up for delivery, it will be open to eligible participants from across the UK.
Prof Patel, a key member of the trial's core team, said: "I'm really excited with this news and also by the prospect that there is a huge potential for pharmacy teams to help play a vital role in supporting this highly ambitious trial, as they have with the PRINCIPLE trial, now the world's largest community based clinical trial for Covid19."
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.
Professor Mahendra Patel OBE, CEO of the Oxford University Centre for Research Equity (CfRE), has been appointed as an independent expert member of the UK
Pharmacy Professional Leadership Advisory Board.
The newly established Board comprises nine independent expert members (IEMs) with outstanding leadership capabilities, who were appointed through open recruitment,
ensuring a "broad, balanced, and diverse" representation.
Sir Hugh Taylor KCB, the Independent Chair of the Board, and the UK Chief Pharmaceutical Officers (CPhOs) - Andrew Evans (Wales), Cathy Harrison (Northern Ireland),
Alison Strath (Scotland), and David Webb (England) - announced the appointment of IEMs in an open letter to the UK pharmacy professions.
"Bringing a wealth of experience and expertise, they will play a pivotal role in the Board's work to deliver an exciting vision through supporting a new and dynamic
phase of collaboration," the CPhOs said.
As the CEO of CfRE, Professor Patel spearheads efforts aimed at addressing inequalities in healthcare.
Future pandemics could be even more lethal than Covid-19 so the lessons learned from the outbreak must not be squandered and the world must ensure it is prepared for the next viral onslaught, one of the creators of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine said.
"The truth is, the next one could be worse. It could be more contagious, or more lethal, or both," Prof Dame Sarah Gilbert said in the Richard Dimbleby Lecture, the BBC reported. "This will not be the last time a virus threatens our lives and our livelihoods."
Gilbert, a professor of vaccinology at the University of Oxford, said the world should make sure it is better prepared for the next virus.
"The advances we have made, and the knowledge we have gained, must not be lost," she said.
Efforts to end the Covid-19 pandemic have been uneven and fragmented, marked by limited access to vaccines in low-income countries while the "healthy and wealthy" in rich countries get boosters, health experts say.
The Galien Foundation recently announced the winners of the 2024 Prix Galien UK Awards, with the University of Oxford receiving accolades for its
groundbreaking contributions to public sector innovation through the PRINCIPLE and PANORAMIC Trials.
These trials, spearheaded by Oxford's team of experts, have set a new standard for scientific innovation aimed at improving global health outcomes.
Led by University of Oxford, the PRINCIPLE and PANORAMIC Trials epitomize a remarkable collaboration aimed at combating the COVID-19 pandemic.
The University of Oxford on Tuesday said there was no evidence that vaccines would not prevent severe disease from Omicron, but that it was ready to rapidly develop an updated version of its vaccine developed with AstraZeneca if necessary.
Earlier on Tuesday, the head of drugmaker Moderna said that Covid-19 shots were unlikely to be as effective against the variant, jolting global markets.
The University of Oxford said that there was limited data on Omicron so far, and that it would carefully evaluate the impact of the variant on its shot, echoing an AstraZeneca statement last week.
"Despite the appearance of new variants over the past year, vaccines have continued to provide very high levels of protection against severe disease and there is no evidence so far that Omicron is any different," it said in a statement.
The British scientists behind one of the major therapeutic Covid-19 trials have turned their focus to treatments for monkeypox, a viral disease that has been
labelled a global health emergency by the World Health Organization.
The team from Oxford University behind the so-called RECOVERY trial - which honed in on four effective Covid treatments - on Tuesday unveiled a new trial, dubbed
PLATINUM, to confirm whether Siga Technologies' tecovirimat is an effective treatment for monkeypox.
Although there are vaccines developed for the closely related smallpox that can reduce the risk of catching monkeypox, there are currently no treatments that have
been proven to help hasten recovery in those who develop the disease.
The UK has over 3,000 confirmed cases of monkeypox.
The virus is transmitted chiefly through close contact with an infected person. It typically causes mild symptoms including fever, rash, swollen lymph nodes and
pus-filled skin lesions. Severe cases can occur, though people tend to recover within two to four weeks.
Siga's drug, branded Tpoxx, has been cleared to treat diseases caused by the family of orthopoxvirus that includes smallpox, monkeypox and cowpox by the European
Union and United Kingdom, but due to limited trial data it is generally only used in severe cases in Britain.
The NIHR Research Delivery Network (RDN) has published a new paper highlighting the learnings from a major COVID-19 research trial conducted in primary
care settings.
The paper, which draws on insights from the PANORAMIC study, emphasised the importance of prioritising primary care studies from the very start of any pandemic
to prevent worsening of patient symptoms and reduce hospital admission.
Additionally, it recommended considering the use of UK-wide pharmacy networks, including community pharmacies, to promote research inclusion for future similar
trials in primary care to increase recruitment in underserved communities.
Authored by Professor Phil Evans, GP and Deputy Health and Care Director at the NIHR RDN together with colleagues from the NIHR and University of Oxford, the
80-page paper concluded that primary care research should be at the forefront of future pandemic preparedness.
During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, much research was carried out on critically ill patients in secondary care settings.
The British scientist who led the research underpinning AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine said at the weekend that a new jab could be developed against the emerging Omicron variant "very rapidly" if needed.
Professor Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, also said existing vaccines should work against the new strain, but that would only become apparent
after more research in the coming weeks.
"It's extremely unlikely that a reboot of a pandemic in a vaccinated population like we saw last year (with the Delta variant) is going to happen," he told BBC radio.
But if required, "The processes of how one goes about developing a new vaccine are increasingly well-oiled, so if it's needed that is something that could be moved very rapidly."
In a statement, AstraZeneca said it had "developed, in close collaboration with Oxford University, a vaccine platform that enables us to respond quickly to new variants that may emerge".
Oxford Cannabinoid Technologies Holdings plc, which specialises in developing cannabis-derived medicines with pain-relieving properties, has successfully
administered the first-in-human dose of its lead pharmaceutical drug compound, OCT461201, in its phase 1 clinical trial. The company holds a portfolio of four
drug candidates intended for use as licensed pain medications.
The drug is a selective cannabinoid receptor type 2 agonist with the potential to treat chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy and irritable bowel syndrome.
The UK trial, conducted by Simbec Research Limited, part of Simbec-Orion Group Ltd., is progressing with healthy volunteers, OCTP said in a statement. Using a single
ascending dose protocol, the primary objective is to demonstrate OCT461201's safety and tolerability, while providing information on its pharmacokinetic profile, to
confirm its value as a potential drug.
Results from the trial, funded entirely by OCTP's existing resources, are expected in the third quarter of 2023, the statement added.
Pfizer's oral Covid-19 therapy will be evaluated as a potential treatment for patients hospitalised with the illness in a major British trial, scientists said on Monday, as cases rise in some parts of the world.
The world's largest randomised study of potential medicines for Covid-19, dubbed the RECOVERY trial, will assess Paxlovid across hospitals in Britain, which has already approved the drug for early-stage treatment.
"Paxlovid is a promising oral antiviral drug but we don't know if it can improve survival of patients with severe Covid-19," said Peter Horby, a professor at the University of Oxford and joint chief investigator of the RECOVERY trial.
The scientists said they aim to mainly find whether Pfizer's Paxlovid reduces the risk of death among patients admitted to hospitals with Covid-19.
Prince Charles formally opened a new 1 billion pound AstraZeneca research and development (R&D) facility in Cambridge on Tuesday (November 23), as the company
aims to fuel the growth of its drug pipeline.
AstraZeneca has supplied two billion doses of its Covid-19 vaccine, developed at Oxford University, and is also looking to bring a preventative antibody cocktail
against Covid-19 to market.
Prince Charles, son of Queen Elizabeth and heir to the throne, saw an exhibit on the pandemic and a demonstration of how augmented reality headsets can help with
lab work, before hearing about the company's net-zero targets.
"The last two years have been some of the most difficult of a generation," Prince Charles said in a speech.
Researchers from the University of Oxford today (December 8) started recruiting for a clinical trial to test novel antiviral Covid-19 treatments for early use in the illness by people in the community and those who are at higher risk of complications.
Partnering with the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), colleagues in several UK universities, and the NHS UK-wide, the Platform Adaptive trial of NOvel antiviRals for eArly treatMent of Covid-19 In the Community (PANORAMIC), is a national priority trial, and will be open to participants from across the UK.
The first treatment to be tested by the UK Antiviral Taskforce will be molnupiravir, a Covid antiviral pill already licensed by the MHRA.
Britain became the first country in the world to approve molnupiravir, which was jointly developed by U.S.-based Merck & Co Inc and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, in November.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and the Office for National Statistics (ONS) will jointly launch a new study to gather data on COVID-19 this winter.
The Winter COVID-19 Infection Study (WCIS) will run from November 2023 to March 2024, involving up to 200,000 participants, UKHSA has said on Monday (October 2).
UKHSA previously commissioned the Coronavirus Infection Survey (CIS), conducted by the ONS in collaboration with scientific study leaders from Oxford University,
analysing more than 11.5 million swab tests and 3 million blood tests from April 2020 to March 2023.
Meanwhile, the Winter CIS study involves conducting up to 32,000 lateral flow tests weekly, providing vital insights into COVID-19 prevalence in the broader
community. The sample will be structured to broadly reflect key population characteristics.
British scientists said on Thursday (December 30) they would be studying whether higher doses of a cheap and widely used steroid called dexamethasone could work better for patients with severe Covid-19 compared to the standard low doses.
Last year, the same scientists conducting the large trial, dubbed RECOVERY, showed that dexamethasone was able to save the lives of Covid-19 patients in what was called a "major breakthrough" in the coronavirus pandemic.
They had found that a 6 mg daily dose of dexamethasone, which is used to reduce inflammation in diseases such as arthritis, cut death rates by around a third among the most severely ill Covid-19 patients in hospitals.
"Given how quickly the Omicron variant is spreading, we can expect to see patients admitted to hospital with severe Covid-19 for a while to come," said Peter Horby, an Oxford University professor co-leading the trial.