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Community Pharmacy England (CPE) has notified pharmacy teams that starting 1 August 2024, three Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) medicines will be discontinued and will no longer be covered under the NHS HRT Prescription Prepayment Certificate (HRT PPC) scheme. These are Bedol® 2mg tablets, Climanor® 5mg tablets and Clinorette® tablets. Since Climanor® 5mg tablets have been discontinued, Medroxyprogesterone 5mg tablets will also be removed from the HRT PPC list, as this generic product is no longer available as a licensed HRT medicine. The CPE also noted that Provera® 5mg tablets, being an unlicensed HRT medicine, are not covered by the HRT PPC. Pharmacy staff are advised to check the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) website for the most current list of HRT medicines covered by the HRT PPC. The CPE has updated its HRT PPC medicines list to reflect these changes, which will also be updated in Part XVI of the August 2024 Drug Tariff.

Researchers at the University of Oxford have received a grant of up to £600,000 from Cancer Research UK to develop the world's first vaccine to prevent ovarian cancer. Named OvarianVax, the innovative vaccine aims to train the immune system to recognise and attack the earliest stages of ovarian cancer. Ovarian cancer is the sixth most common cancer among women in the UK, with approximately 7,500 new cases diagnosed annually-equating to about 21 cases each day. It is also a leading cause of cancer-related deaths in women, with around 4,100 deaths each year, accounting for five per cent of all cancer deaths in UK females. Projections suggest that by 2038-2040, there could be around 9,400 new cases of ovarian cancer annually in the UK. Several factors influence a person's risk of developing ovarian cancer, including age, genetics, hormone replacement therapy (HRT), smoking, asbestos exposure, medical conditions such as endometriosis or diabetes, and obesity. Faults in the inherited genes, particularly BRCA1 and BRCA2, are linked to a higher risk of ovarian cancer, contributing to 5-15 per cent of cases.