Preet Kaur Gill, Shadow Minister for Primary Care and Public Health, has paid a recent visit to a community pharmacy in Staffordshire to personally experience
the services it provides to patients, while staying updated on the latest sector developments.
Her visit to Eason's Pharmacy in Tamworth on September 22nd marked her first since assuming new responsibilities for pharmacy policy matters within Labour's health
team. Gill was also joined by a member of the National Pharmacy Association staff.
The Minister received a comprehensive briefing on Eason's Pharmacy from its third-generation owner, Kieran Eason (R). He outlined the NHS services, which include
the New Medicines Service and blood pressure monitoring, and showcased two consultation rooms and an operational dispensary.
"It's great that Preet came to learn firsthand about the challenges we face and the substantial potential of community pharmacies nationwide," Eason said. "As an
independent prescriber, I have the expertise to provide even more convenient care, but the current funding levels severely limit our contribution."
"Only around half of ICSs have a Chief Pharmacist," indicating a significant gap in leadership that hampers the pharmacy sector's ability to influence
critical healthcare decision, a report on medicine optimisation by the Public Policy Projects (PPP) highlights.
In PPP's latest report, a notable concern highlighted is the inadequate representation of pharmacy leadership within Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) despite the
role of pharmacy being "central in the delivery of system priorities, with pivotal roles in improving population health and tackling inequalities".
In recent years, the role of pharmacy within the NHS has evolved significantly with recent developments including Pharmacy First Services and legislative
amendments that allows pharmacy technicians under PGDs to administer and supply medicines.
Victoria Atkins MP, the new Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, visited NPA board member Sukhi Basra (L) at CliniChem pharmacy in Central London
on Thursday (16 November).
Basra was accompanied by NPA Chief Executive Mark Lyonette.
This was among Atkins' first appointments following her recent promotion in the recent Cabinet reshuffle.
Atkins met with staff and patients to explore clinical services and discuss the evolving role of the community pharmacy sector.
"Welcoming politicians and officials to my pharmacy is always a pleasure," Basra said.
Basra highlighted the opportunity to brief the Health Secretary on the latest developments, including Pharmacy First.
Jonathan Burton will receive the 2022 RPS Charter Award for his outstanding work for the Society and the wider profession in promoting the interests of pharmacy.
The award will be presented by the President at a future meeting of Fellows and Members to take place at the Society's Edinburgh office on 22nd March 2023.
Jonathan's main role is as a practising, patient-facing pharmacist within the community in NHS Forth Valley where he uses his advanced practice skills and independent
prescribing qualification to assess and treat acute ENT, dermatology, and respiratory conditions.
He was one of the first community pharmacist prescribers in Scotland and has always been at the forefront of innovation and service development.
Jonathan has demonstrated outstanding commitment and passion for the pharmacy profession throughout his career. He has excelled as a pharmacist in the Right Medicine
Pharmacy group, on local and national committees, in advocacy for the pharmacy profession and as a local and national leader who is highly regarded as an exceptional
role model for the profession.
Britain's GlaxoSmithKline will receive $1.25 billion (about £921 million) from Gilead Sciences as part of a settlement between its HIV medicines unit and the
US-based drugmaker, ending a long-drawn patent dispute.
The settlement, announced by GSK on Tuesday (February 1), relates to Gilead's antiretroviral drug Biktarvy, a medicine used to check the AIDS-causing virus, which
GSK said in 2018 infringed on its unit ViiV Healthcare's dolutegravir and other similar compounds.
HIV medicines developed by ViiV, in which Pfizer and Japan's Shionogi also hold small stakes, are a major part of GSK's plan to support its lagging pharmaceuticals business as it readies to spin off its consumer healthcare arm.
The payment is expected to be made in the first quarter this year, London-listed GSK said. Gilead will also pay a 3 per cent royalty until 2027 on sales of Biktarvy and on future US sales of any product containing its main component.
Anglo-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca said on Monday (January 9) that it had struck a deal to buy US-based drug developer CinCor Pharma for up to $1.8 billion
to increase its stock of heart and kidney drugs.
Core to the deal is CinCor's experimental therapy baxdrostat, which is in development to treat conditions including high blood pressure and chronic kidney disease.
AstraZeneca aims to combine baxdrostat with its own Farxiga, a diabetes drug whose sales ballooned after it was also shown to benefit patients with heart failure
and kidney disease.
Farxiga, whose sales jumped by almost 50 per cent during the first nine months of 2022 to reach $3.2 billion, belongs to a highly competitive class of drugs that
includes rivals such as Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly's Jardiance.
AstraZeneca gets about a third of its revenue from cancer drugs, but its heart, kidney and diabetes medicines are its second most lucrative business by sales,
generating roughly $6.9 billion of the drugmaker's total revenue of more than $33 billion in the first three quarters of 2022.
Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline aims to get its respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine to regulators for review later this year, after interim data
showed the vaccine was effective in a keenly-watched late-stage study involving older adults.
RSV is a leading cause of pneumonia in toddlers and the elderly, but the complex molecular structure of the virus and safety concerns have stymied efforts to
develop a vaccine since the virus was first discovered in 1956.
Companies including Pfizer, J&J, Sanofi, Moderna and AstraZeneca are also racing to get an RSV therapy or vaccine approved.
The latest GSK trial is the first to show statistically significant efficacy for RSV in adults aged 60 years and older, the British drugmaker said of the ongoing
study on Friday (June 10).
If approved, the RSV vaccine is expected to generate billions for GSK, which is already the world's biggest vaccine maker by sales but has faced pressure from
activist investors such as Elliott Management who have urged the London-based company to shore up its drug pipeline.
GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi said on Wednesday (December 15) they expect data from late-stage clinical trials of its booster dose of their Covid-19 vaccine candidate in the first quarter, instead of this year, another delay for the potential shot.
The news came as two companies said preliminary data from trials showed the single-dose booster provided strong immune responses. They added that they need more
time to test the booster on more people who have not been infected by the virus before they can submit data to regulators.
The Phase III trial for the recombinant adjuvanted Covid-19 vaccine recruited most participants in the third quarter, coinciding with a significant increase in the number of people infected globally due to the Delta variant, it said.
"To provide the necessary data to regulatory authorities for the booster vaccine submission, the trial will continue to accrue the number of events needed for analysis, with results expected in Q1, 2022."
No safety concerns were identified.
This is the latest delay for the vaccine's development, putting the companies further behind rivals in the race for Covid-19 shots.
American biotechnology company Novavax said on Monday (February 28) it would pursue full approval of its Covid-19 vaccine in the second half of this year and forecast total revenue of between $4 billion and $5 billion for 2022.
"We expect to gain additional authorizations where we have already filed, including in the US. We will pursue full approval of our vaccine including filing our BLA (biologics license application), in the second half of 2022," CEO Stanley Erck said during a post-earnings call.
Novavax late last month filed for emergency use authorization of the shot in U.S. adults, a much-awaited step following months of struggles with development and
manufacturing problems.
Novavax said it has completed delivery of around nine million vaccine doses to Indonesia, 6 million to Australia and two million to South Korea and expects to supply 69 million doses to Europe in the first half of this year.