News summary
Research & Development / News
in brief
Anthrax threat prompts announcement of fluoroquinolone
adverse events Ciprofloxacin and other fluoroquinolone antibiotics
could be associated with severe and permanently disabling adverse peripheral
nervous system effects, says Dr Jay Cohen, associate professor of family
and preventive medicine, University of California, San Diego...[more]
NHS deal on beta-interferon for MS under discussion
A deal between the National Health Service and the manufacturers
of beta interferon and related products that might overcome obstacles
to their use in multiple sclerosis is being discussed...[more]
Mass smallpox vaccination not recommended says
the WHO Vaccination of entire populations against smallpox
is not recommended, the World Health Organization (WHO) said this week
following a review sparked by the current threat of bioterrorism...[more]
Modernising the NHS: roles for pharmacy Ways
in which community pharmacy can contribute to modernising the National
Health Service are set out in a document, launched this week, produced
by the South East Regional Forum of Local Pharmaceutical Committees...[more]
UniChem unveils joint pharmacy and convenience
store in Sussex UniChem Ltd and Londis Holdings, a convenience
store symbol group, have unveiled their first combined pharmacy and convenience
store...[more]
Five GSL licence extensions proposed Extensions
to the availability of five products as general sale list medicines have
been proposed by the Medicines Control Agency...[more]
MCA checks its own standards The Medicines
Control Agency is currently reviewing the standards of service it provides
to the pharmaceutical industry...[more]
Pharmacists likely to lose jury service exemption
Most practising pharmacists can expect to lose their automatic
exemption from calls to serve on juries...[more]
NHS University may offer degree courses Plans
to create a National Health Service University include offering courses
resulting in the award of degrees, according to the university's prospectus...[more]
Heroin on prescription keeps some addicts in
treatment schemes Heroin-assisted substitution treatment might
be an effective option for chronically addicted patients for whom other
treatments have failed, say Swiss researchers...[more]
Parliamentary group calls for Cancer Act A
national Cancer Act, to put funding for cancer research and treatment
on a statutory basis, as in the United States, has been called for by
the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Cancer...[more]
Interactions between nicorandil and sulphonylureas
highlighted Sulphonylureas can cause potentially harmful interactions
with the potassium channel activator nicorandil (Ikorel), say researchers...[more]
EPA helps cancer patients gain weight Patients
with advanced pancreatic cancer suffering from cachexia (severe muscle
wasting and weakness) gain both weight and lean body mass from taking
a high calorie, high protein feed supplemented with eicosapentaenoic acid
(EPA) in addition to their normal meals, research shows...[more]
Rizatriptan more effective than other triptans
for migraine pain Rizatriptan is more effective at relieving
migraine pain than other oral triptans, say researchers...[more]
Question raised over benefit of HRT in cerebrovascular
disease Oestrogen hormone replacement therapy does not reduce
the risk of stroke or death in post-menopausal women with cerebrovascular
disease, researchers say...[more]
RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
Tacrolimus ointment shows promising results in
improving atopic eczema Tacrolimus ointment shows similar efficacy
to the topical steroid hydrocortisone-17-butyrate ointment 0.1 per cent
in adult atopic eczema, a study shows...[more]
Pimecrolimus prevents atopic eczema flare-ups
Pimecrolimus (Elidel), a non-steroid cream being developed
for the treatment of atopic eczema, prevents disease flare-ups and reduces
the need for topical corticosteroid treatment, research shows...[more]
Receptor for anthrax toxin identified A
receptor for anthrax toxin on the surface of human cells has been identified
by American researchers. Identification of this receptor, a 368-amino-acid
protein, holds promise for developing new approaches to treating anthrax,
they say...[more]
Additional data for using alefacept to treat
psoriasis Patients with chronic plaque psoriasis who experience
a reduction in symptoms after treatment with alefacept, a recombinant
protein, remain in remission for a median duration of seven months, new
data show...[more]
Cytokine provides new therapeutic target for
inflammatory bowel disease The cytokine macrophage-migration
inhibitory factor (MIF) plays an essential role in the pathogenesis of
Crohn's disease, a new study shows...[more]
Imatinib active against inoperable gastrointesinal
stromal tumours Imatinib (Glivec) is active against gastrointesinal
stromal tumours (GISTs) and its toxic effects are manageable, results
of a phase I study show...[more]
Anti-cancer agent of benefit in pleural mesothelioma
Pemetrexed, an anti-cancer agent, could be beneficial for the
treatment of pleural mesothelioma (a malignant tumour of the lining of
the lung), newly presented data suggest...[more]
New breast cancer treatment as effective as anastrozole
ICI 182,780, an oestrogen-receptor downregulator, is as effective
as the aromatase inhibitor anastrozole at treating breast cancer, a combined
analysis of two studies shows...[more]
NEWS IN BRIEF
NHS 24 and pharmacy NHS 24, the Scottish
equivalent of NHS Direct, expects that around 5 per cent of its estimated
2.5 million calls per year will result in patients being referred to see
a community pharmacist. The figure is based on experience with NHS Direct
in England. Nurse advisers at NHS 24 will have the option to refer callers
to pharmacists.
Nucare plans pharmacy spree Nucare
is planning to buy 50 pharmacies over the coming year with £12m it has
borrowed from the Bank of Scotland. The London-based company currently
has 10 pharmacies around the country and intends to increase its holding
to 100 pharmacies over the next four years, retaining their existing staff
teams.
Pfizer Consumer Healthcare Having
successfully integrated itself with Warner Lambert Consumer Healthcare,
Pfizer has relaunched its consumer health division as Pfizer Consumer
Healthcare.
Lloyds donation Lloydspharmacy has
donated over 600 Glucotrend I blood glucose monitors to World in Need,
a Christian organisation that intends to use them in Nigeria, Kenya and
Tanzania. The meters, produced by Roche Diagnostics, have been superseded
by the Accu-Chek Active system.
Avandia wins award The Society for
Medicines Research has given its 2001 drug discovery award to a team from
GlaxoSmithKline for its work on Avandia (rosiglitazone), a treatment for
type 2 diabetes.
Smokers give up Just over half of
the 56,600 people who set a date to stop smoking during April to June
under smoking cessation schemes operated by health authorities in England
successfully gave up within four weeks, according to Department of Health
statistics.
OFT to investigate private dentistry
The Consumers' Association has called on the Office of Fair Trading to
investigate charging, transparency, and competition in private dentistry.
Using new powers granted to a range of consumer bodies, the Consumers
Association has made a "supercomplaint" which has to be give formal consideration
by the OFT. The director general of fair trading OFT has 90 days in which
to decide whether to launch a formal investigation. If the complaint is
rejected, he has to explain why he believes there is not a problem.
Evidence for laxatives reviewed There
is no good evidence that laxatives prevent constipation in older patients,
according to the latest issue of Effective Health Care. The bulletin,
produced by the National Health Service Centre for Reviews and Dissemination,
University of York, summarises the evidence on the effectiveness of laxatives
for constipation in adults.
It also concludes that, in terms of treatment, a stepped approach seems
justified, involving initial treatment with cheaper laxatives before proceeding
to the more expensive alternatives (2001; 7:1).
MeReC update The latest issue of the
MeReC Bulletin reviews the role of Helicobacter pylori in the management
of dyspepsia. It concludes that "test and treat" strategies appear to
be as effective as early endoscopy in dyspeptic patients referred for
investigation, and that they reduce costs. However, the cost effectiveness
of such strategies in primary care is uncertain, it says (2001;12:1).
The MeReC Bulletin is produced by the National Prescribing Centre, Liverpool.
Combination treatment better for breast cancer
In patients with metastatic breast cancer, capecitabine (Xeloda) in combination
with docetaxel (Taxotere) improves survival by a median of three months
compared with docetaxel monotherapy (P=0.0126), a study shows. The study,
presented at the European Cancer Conference in Lisbon on 24 October, also
showed that patients treated with the combination therapy experienced
better tumour response rates (41.6 versus 29.7 per cent, P=0.006) and
a longer time to disease progression (median 6.1 months versus 4.2 months,
P=0.0001).
New approach to developing vaccines against HIV
In a study published in Nature Medicine this month, Dr Xueni Chen, Laboratory
of Immunoregulation, Maryland, and colleagues provide a new approach to
the design of broadly protective vaccines against human immunodeficiency
virus (2001;7:1225).
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