NHS chief executive Amanda Pritchard today (March 1) announced a new campaign to promote early detection of cancer, when it is easier to treat.
The campaign, which would run across TV, radio, and social media from Wednesday (March 2), is the first to focus on tackling the fear of cancer rather thanspecific symptoms.
It is in line with the NHS Long Term Plan's commitment to increase cancer detection at an early stage by 2028.
As per the NHS figures, the number of people getting checked for cancer increased by over half a million between December 2020 and December 2021.
Speaking ahead of the launch, Pritchard, said: "We know that the prospect of a cancer diagnosis can be daunting for people and that is exactly why we are launching this potentially lifesaving campaign - we want to allay people's fear about cancer and encourage them to get checked without delay.
Working towards its five-year strategy, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has put some plan in place to change its existing structure at the executive level, which could potentially render some senior positions redundant.
Though the process is in nascent stage, "two roles have been identified at potential risk of redundancy," RPS said in a statement on Thursday (March 3) afternoon, adding: "This is very much at proposal stage and no final decisions or outcomes have been reached."0
It didn't specify which two roles were going to be axed, saying: "We are unable to go into the specifics of the process for individuals due to its confidential nature, but we will of course go through a fair, reasonable and confidential consultation process and are supporting the individuals involved.
"No one should be in any doubt that our commitment to education and the profession's development remains the highest priority for us, and equally support for our members, thought leadership and advocacy are core to what we do as a professional leadership body."
Dr Bharat Shah CBE regrets that neither community pharmacists nor pharmaceutical wholesalers in the UK have any control over how Category M reimbursement prices in Part VIII A of the Drug Tariff are determined.
The co-founder and chief executive of Sigma Pharmaceuticals was speaking at a conference organised by Avicenna in West London on Sunday (March 6).
Introduced into the Drug Tariff in April 2005, Category M is used to set the reimbursement prices of over 500 drugs.
The Department of Health and Social Care makes the final decision on the amount of reimbursement (cost of drugs and appliances supplied against an NHS prescription
form) and remuneration (fees paid as part of the NHS community pharmacy contract for the provision of a service).
Gisela Abbam today (March 14) officially succeeded Nigel Clarke as new chair of the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC). She was appointed in mid-Feruary.
The council paid tribute to its outgoing chair for his major contribution to pharmacy regulation and his focus on patient safety for the past eight years on the role.
During his tenure Clarke has overseen significant changes to how the GPhC regulates pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and pharmacies to help drive improvements in
professional practice and protect patient safety.
Chief executive of the GPhC, Duncan Rudkin, said: "I would like to pay tribute to Nigel for everything he has done to support continuous improvement and assure the
quality and safety of pharmacy for the benefit of patients and the public.
Covid-19 vaccine makers are shifting gears and planning for a smaller, more competitive booster shot market after delivering as many doses as fast as they
could over the last 18 months.
Executives at the biggest Covid vaccine makers including Pfizer and Moderna said they believe most people who wanted to get vaccinated against Covid have already done so - more than five billion people worldwide.
In the coming year, most Covid vaccinations will be booster shots, or first inoculations for children, which are still gaining regulatory approvals around the world, they said.
Pfizer, which makes its shot with Germany's BioNTech and Moderna still see a major role for themselves in the vaccine market even as overall demand declines.
Upstart US vaccine maker Novavax and Germany's CureVac, which is working with GlaxoSmithKline, are developing vaccines they hope to target at the booster market.
The roles of AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, whose shots have been less popular or effective, are expected to decline in this market.
Pfizer said on Tuesday it will pay $11.6 billion to buy Biohaven Pharmaceuticals, making a big bet on its ability to boost sales of the top-selling pill in a new class of migraine drugs.
The boards of both companies have approved the deal, they said. Biohaven shares jumped 70 per cent to $141.31, while Pfizer was up slightly at $48.83.
Pfizer is flush with cash from a once-in-a-lifetime surge in revenue from Covid-19 vaccines and therapeutics and has said it is looking to buy companies or drugs
that could add at least $25 billion in annual sales by the end of the decade.
"The CGRP oral medications, though still somewhat newer entrants in a deeply entrenched space, continue to make steady inroads in disrupting the broader migraine market in the U.S.," said BioHaven chief executive Vlad Coric.
Biohaven forecast Nurtec sales of $825 million to $900 million in 2022.
Pfizer said it expects the pills to eventually overtake the shots.
Community pharmacies in England could soon be allowed to make cancer referrals to hospitals under new plans to improve early detection of the disease.
An NHS pilot scheme, which starts later this year as a pilot in an undisclosed number of places of England, will see community pharmacy staff spotting signs of
cancer in people who might not have noticed symptoms.
Pharmacy teams will be trained to spot red flags, such as patients with symptoms such as a cough that lasts for three weeks or more, difficulty swallowing or blood
in their urine, and send them for scans and checks without needing to see a GP if they think it could be cancer.
Amanda Pritchard, the NHS chief executive, will unveil the plans at the NHS Confed Expo conference in Liverpool on Wednesday (June 15), and say: "These plans have
the power to truly transform the way we find and treat cancer, and ultimately spare thousands of patients and their families from avoidable pain and loss."
The plans include new "roaming liver trucks" - which will be parked near GP surgeries, in town centres and food banks - to encourage people most at risk of getting liver cancer to get "on the spot scans" for diagnosis.
The pharmacy regulator can hold hearings and meetings either remotely or in-person in future as the Council of the GPhC has agreed to a change in its rules.
The rules are expected to come into force on 1 October 2022. Until the rules and new policy and guidance come into force, the GPhC will continue to only hold
remote hearings with the consent of the person concerned and/or their legal representative.
Following positive feedback from those taking part in remote hearings, the GPhC consulted on a proposed permanent change to its rules so it could continue to hold
hearings remotely in the future, when it is fair and appropriate to do so.
The proposal to continue remote hearings, including fitness to practise hearings, received wide support with 78 per cent of respondents agreeing.
"During the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown and restrictions we had to hold many meetings and hearings remotely by videolink. As such we were granted - along with other regulators - a temporary provision to enable us to do this and carry out our statutory role," Duncan Rudkin, chief executive of the GPHC, said.
Following concerns raised about cracked cartridges and insulin leaks, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has issued a national
patient safety alert for the NovoRapid PumpCart prefilled insulin cartridge and the Roche Accu-Chek Insight Insulin pump system.
The regulator have asked patients to check the pre-filled glass insulin cartridge for cracks before use. It advised against using the cartridge if it has been dropped even if no cracks are visible and urged to closely follow the updated handling instructions in the pump user manual when changing pre-filled glass insulin
cartridges.
In some of the reported leakage incidents, the cartridges were found to be cracked and provided an inadequate supply of insulin to patients. Leakages also occurred in cases where no cracks in the cartridge were visible, the regulator said.
In some patients there were consequences of not receiving enough insulin from their pump system, including reports of severely high blood sugar and diabetic ketoacidosis, a serious complication of diabetes when the body produces high levels of blood acids called ketones.
Healthcare professionals are being advised to contact patients over the next six months using said device to discuss their individual needs and source an alternative pump where appropriate.
"Because of the rare risk of insulin leakage from the Roche Accu-Chek Insight Insulin Pump, patients should check the pre-filled glass insulin cartridge for any cracks prior to usage," Dr June Raine, MHRA chief executive, said.
A group of 21 community pharmacies in the Midlands and Yorkshire will have a new name - Pickfords Pharmacy.
The group has been created by combining three independent pharmacy businesses which traded as Mr Pickford's, McGills Pharmacy and D&R Sharp.
All pharmacies in the new group will be rebranded over the coming months, with a series of launch events planned by local teams.
Speaking after the unveiling of the first branch to receive new signage in Hexthorpe Doncaster, Mimi Lau, Pickfords Pharmacy's chief operating officer, said:
"This is a turning point for the group, with all our pharmacies operating under one name with a consistent, contemporary brand.
"Initial reaction has been fantastic and very soon the name Pickfords Pharmacy will be widely recognised for the great service we deliver to customers and patients
every day."
Speaking of the consolidation, Nick Yarrow, the newly appointed group chief executive officer, commented: "Since the enlarged group came together last year, we have
been striving to ensure that the best elements of each business have been retained for the benefit of our customers and team members.
"This is part of our journey to be more than just a pharmacy - we want to be a trusted source of healthcare services at the heart of each one of the communities we
serve".
The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) is asking independents to vote 'yes' to reform of pharmacy representation in England as a three-week voting period opens on Friday, May 27.
The NPA is also calling on PSNC to complete unfinished business and present 'the compelling case for change' that the Review Steering Group was unable to deliver.
The Associations says it is "on balance" and with some degree of reluctance supporting an affirmative vote, because the benefits marginally outweigh the several valid arguments for a "no" vote.
NPA chief executive, Mark Lyonette, said on Thursday (May 19): "After much deliberation and engagement with members, we are recommending our members vote yes, because the alternatives are either the flawed status quo or a further period of uncertainty for the sector, with months or even years of introspection to come. There is no guarantee that going back to the drawing board, particularly with the same actors, would bring about a better outcome.
The NHS has signed the first-of-its-kind subscription deal for two antimicrobial drugs - cefiderocol and ceftazidime-avibactam, manufactured by Shionogi and Pfizer respectively - that will help around 1700 patients per year with severe bacterial infections.
Under this deal, pharmaceutical firms will receive a fixed yearly fee - capped at a level that represents value to taxpayers - in order to incentivise funding for innovation that can generate a pipeline of new antibiotics for NHS patients.
NHS said the deal will help patients with serious infections that have evolved so much that antibiotics and other current treatments are no longer effective can be
given a potentially life-saving alternative. The drugs will provide a lifeline to patients with life-threatening infections like sepsis, hospital or ventilator pneumonia and blood stream infection.
Announcing the deal at NHS ConfedExpo, NHS Chief Executive Amanda Pritchard called the revolutionary subscription deal a game-changer and the latest NHS success in using its commercial power to benefit NHS patients in line with the NHS Long Term Plan.
"Superbug-busting drugs on the NHS will save lives and strike a blow in the global battle against antimicrobial resistance," Pritchard said.
The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has raised its concerns over rising cost of rent for its members.
The association highlighted that pharmacy spending is shrinking, and therefore, the NHS Property Services must ensure viability of health centre pharmacies.
In May, the NPA wrote to NHS Property Services to voice its concerns over the rising cost of rent after some of its members reported demands for a three-fold increase in rent.
Many pharmacies operate in premises of which NHS Property Services is the landlord.
In a letter last month to chief executive Martin Steele, NPA said: "The past years have seen far fewer patients in health centres and therefore using the on-site pharmacy - whilst the situation will change somewhat as we move out of the pandemic we expect a permanent impact on workload as practices handle more of their interactions virtually.
"The NPA encourages NHS Property Services to review lease agreements involving community pharmacies and consider favourable changes to terms that are in line with
current financial realities affecting the sector. This could avoid the loss of a pharmacy service to communities and the resulting loss of rental income to NHS Property Services."
US biotech firm Moderna will build a new research and manufacturing centre in Britain to develop vaccines against new Covid-19 variants, other respiratory
illnesses and help improve readiness for any future pandemics.
The facility is expected to start producing shots in 2025 and Britain has made a commitment to buy Moderna's vaccines for the next decade under the agreement.
Moderna's Covid-19 vaccines, which use messenger RNA (mRNA) technology, were among those deployed in Britain to tackle the crisis and enable prime minister Boris
Johnson to reopen the economy from stringent lockdowns.
Moderna chief executive Stephane Bancel said the priority was to develop a shot combining refreshed boosters against Covid, flu and Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV).
"By building a plant in the UK, we are also providing the UK Government - which has a long term partnership with us, with this agreement - with the ability to be
pandemic ready," Bancel said on Wednesday.
Clinical trials for BioNTech's cancer vaccines should start this year in Britain, marking an important step towards their possible sale on the open market,
the German company's top executive Ugur Sahin told magazine Der Spiegel.
BioNTech, known for its COVID vaccine with U.S. partner Pfizer, is currently deciding which types of cancer it wants to test its personalized cancer immunotherapies
on and the locations where it will conduct the trials, Sahin said.
The company wants these therapies, which are based on messenger RNA (mRNA) technology similar to the one that underpins its COVID-19 vaccine, to soon become a regular
treatment for cancer patients.
"We believe that this should be possible for large amounts of patients before 2030," Sahin said.
When Ignasi Biosca-Reig heard there were shortages of amoxicillin in Spain, he quickly added shifts at his drug company's factories to boost production of the
popular antibiotic.
But a few extra shifts was as far as he could go.
Much as he would have liked to significantly increase supplies, Biosca-Reig said he couldn't justify investing millions of euros in new production lines unless he
was paid more for the generic drug to cover sharply rising costs.
But, like many other European countries, Spain set the price manufacturers are paid for paediatric amoxicillin when the generic version of the drug was first
launched in the country two decades ago, and it has barely budged since.
"It's a non-business," said Biosca-Reig, chief executive of Spanish drugmaker Reig Jofre.
"We wanted to react, but we had a problem," he said. "The costs go up, the price remains the same."
Chair of the health and social care committee Steve Brine and England's chief pharmacist David Webb are among a raft of speakers who will be addressing
delegates at the 13th Annual Sigma Community Pharmacy Conference to be held in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic from Sunday (March 5).
Day I of the conference will also feature a Q&A session with PSNC CEO Janet Morrison and her lead negotiator Mike Dent, which will be presented as a live webinar
via YouTube for those unable to attend in person.
Sigma Pharmaceuticals has invited all interested community pharmacists and stakeholders in the UK to join the 90 minutes session by clicking this link.
Those joining the session will not only be able to listen to the Q&A session - which will run between 6.30PM and 8.00PM in UK on Sunday - but also ask questions to
the PSNC executives via a live YouTube chat.
Sigma says the operating landscape for community pharmacy has altered dramatically since it last held its 'away conference' in the Philippines in February 2020. The
role of the independents - post pandemic - has rapidly evolved and has now been recognised by the health secretary as playing a significant part in the health of
the nation.
The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) and Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has been appointed as a core participant in the Covid-19 public inquiry.
The independent public inquiry has been set up to examine the UK's response to and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and learn lessons to shape preparations for
future pandemics. It is chaired by Baroness Heather Hallett, a former Court of Appeal judge.
The NPA and RPS will be part of Module 3, which covers the impact of Covid-19 on healthcare systems across the United Kingdom. The preliminary hearing for that
module takes place on Tuesday 28 February.
This will give the association an opportunity to make opening and closing statements, consider evidence provided to the Inquiry and propose questions to be asked by
the Inquiry of witnesses.
NPA chief executive, Mark Lyonette, said: "This is an historic opportunity to place on record the achievements of community pharmacy during the pandemic and to ensure
that the inquiry's recommendations are based in the practical realities faced by health workers such as our members.
The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) has raised concerns over the NHS ad campaign highlighting how community pharmacies can support patients
with non-health advice amidst the growing pressure on pharmacies.
It believes the campaign will only 'worsen' the pressure on pharmacies.
"It is always deeply concerning to see campaigns directing people to pharmacies without any regard for the pressures they are under: it is irresponsible and extremely
unhelpful," said PSNC Chief Executive Janet Morrison.
She called the campaign 'particularly irritating' just weeks after the committee rejected a series of proposals from NHS England and DHSC on relief measures to ease
pressure on pharmacies as being totally inadequate.
"NHS England Board Members have noted the pressure on pharmacies - so why are their teams so often acting to make these pressures worse? We need to see a radical
change in how NHS England treats pharmacies and we're continuing to press for that via our influencing and campaigning work," she added.
The NHS launched the new campaign on Monday (27 February) to highlight how high-street pharmacies can support patients with non-urgent health advice for minor
conditions including coughs, aches and colds.
Independent charity group, Pharmacist Support has appointed five new trustees to its board - David Downham, Karen Harrowing, Mohammed Hussain, Mala Khiroya, and Alison Scowcroft, for a term of three years.
The new recruits will join the existing Board members Anita Cawley, Catherine Harper, Paul Johnson, Steve Lutener, Esther Sadler-Williams, Mark Sweeney and Sarah Willis.
Harrowing, Downham and Hussain have begun their 3-year term in January 2022, while Scowcroft and Khiroya would join the board in June.
The new appointments are in line with the Charity's plans, announced last year, to enhance its volunteer schemes.
"Since the launch of the charity's new strategy in January 2020, the profession has been faced with many new challenges. We are really proud of the work we have done in the last few years to address some of these challenges," said Pharmacist Support chief executive Danielle Hunt.
