News summary
R & D News
in brief
Four per cent more after 10 years is "pitiful recompense", says Sue Sharpe
A four per cent real terms increase in remuneration over 10
years is pitiful recompense for the cost of dispensing 44 per cent more
prescriptions, says Sue Sharpe, chief executive of the Pharmaceutical
Services Negotiating Committee...[more]
Minister gets cool reception at NPA triennial
dinner Hazel Blears, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State
for Health, was given a cool reception when she spoke to the National
Pharmaceutical Association's triennial chairman's dinner held earlier
this week...[more]
Pharmacy records confirm protective benefit of
NSAIDs against Alzheimer's Computerised pharmacy records in
the Netherlands have been used to show that the long-term use of non-steroidal
anti-inflammatory drugs protects against Alzheimer's disease...[more]
Study smoothes POM to P switch The
first pharmacy-based actual-use trial to be conducted in Europe (designed
to support the deregulation of a prescription-only medicine to pharmacy
status) was described this week by Dr Joseph Veltri, chairman, Pegus Research
Inc, Utah, at the United Kingdom Clinical Pharmacy Association autumn
symposium in Blackpool...[more]
Health Committee to investigate NICE The
House of Commons Health Select Committee is to hold a short inquiry into
the National Institute for Clinical Excellence and its work during January...[more]
NICE seeks citizens council members The
National Institute for Clinical Excellence is to seek up to 30 members
of the public to serve on its citizens council...[more]
NICE: "yes, but" rather than "no" The
National Institute for Clinical Excellence can be characterised as saying
"yes, but" to new health technologies rather than just saying "no", according
to a review of its first 22 reports by health economist Professor James
Raftery of the Health Services Management Centre, University of Birmingham...[more]
Influenza vaccination does not worsen asthma
Administering inactivated influenza vaccine to adults and children
with asthma, including those with severe asthma, is safe, say researchers
from the United States...[more]
WTO reaches agreement on drug patents The
World Trade Organization has reached an agreement among its members that
should make it easier for developing countries to gain access to medicines
that are still under patent...[more]
Wales budgets for beta interferon The
National Assembly for Wales has set aside £1.7m a year for the next
three years to pay for beta interferon for patients with relapsing recurring
multiple sclerosis...[more]
France tries to curb antibiotic use The
French government has launched a Fr190m (£19m) programme to reduce
antibiotic misuse...[more]
EC fines vitamins cartel euro855m The
European Commission has fined eight pharmaceutical and chemical manufacturers
a total of euro855m (£530m) for taking part in a cartel to fix the
price of bulk vitamins as raw materials for supplements and foodstuffs...[more]
Self-monitoring in type 2 diabetes causes stress
Self-monitoring of blood glucose is associated with higher
glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c) levels and psychological burden
in patients with type 2 diabetes who are not treated with insulin, say
researchers...[more]
More patients get free medicines from pharmacies
over the counter A scheme to allow patients who do not pay
prescription charges to get free treatment for minor conditions from pharmacies
without troubling a general practitioner for a prescription has been extended
in Merseyside...[more]
Diabetes review wins student award A
review of the services community pharmacists can provide to patients with
diabetes has won two students from Sunderland school of pharmacy the first
Pfizer Consumer Healthcare Pharmacy School award...[more]
Society fee complaint by young pharmacists The
Royal Pharmaceutical Society has not done enough to justify the large
increase in next year's retention fees for members, according to the leaders
of the Young Pharmacists Group and the British Pharmaceutical Students
Association...[more]
New name for WCCC The Welsh Central
Contractors Committee was relaunched as Community Pharmacy Wales at a
reception at the National Assembly for Wales on 21 November...[more]
Early monitoring predicts response to HIV treatment
Assessing changes in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) levels
as early as one week after the start of therapy can be used to predict
the long-term effectiveness of antiretroviral treatment, say American
researchers...[more]
Research & Development
Growth hormone receptor antagonist effective
treatment for acromegaly Pegvisomant, a new growth hormone
receptor antagonist produced by Sensus Drug Development Corp, is effective
in the long-term treatment of acromegaly, a new study has shown...[more]
Pegylated interferon demonstrates long-lasting
effect in hepatitis C Peginterferon alfa-2a (Pegasys) shows
long-term sustained virological effects in patients with chronic hepatitis
C, according to data from ongoing phase III trials...[more]
New drug hope for hepatitis B Trial
results suggest that adefovir dipivoxil, a nucleoside analogue under development
by Gilead Sciences, holds potential for treating chronic hepatitis B infection...[more]
Antimicrobial peptide provides defence Researchers
from the University of California, San Diego, have demonstrated, in
vivo, that endogenous expression of a mammalian antimicrobial peptide,
cathelicidin, provides defence against Group A Streptococcus infection...[more]
New antithrombotic more effective than enoxaparin
in surgical patients Fondaparinux, a new antithrombotic agent,
is more effective than enoxaparin in preventing venous thromboembolism
in patients who have had hip fracture surgery, a new study shows. It is
also more effective in patients who have undergone elective major knee
surgery...[more]
Measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox combination
vaccine in trials in Europe Trials of a quadruple vaccine combining
measles, mumps, rubella and varicella vaccines are currently underway
in Europe, but not in the United Kingdom...[more]
Peptide injection prevents progression of diabetes
An immunomodulatory petide, DiaPep277, developed by Peptor,
prevents further destruction of insulin-producing pancreatic beta cells
in patients with newly diagnosed diabetes, a phase II trial shows...[more]
Structure of MAO B elucidated The
crystalline structure of human monoamine oxidase B (MAO B) has been elucidated
by Claudia Binda, University of Pavia, Italy, and colleagues.
The researchers reveal structural insights into the enzyme and say that
these should be valuable in designing future inhibitors that would specifically
target each form of MAO (to be published in the January 2002 issue of
Nature Structural Biology).
NEWS IN BRIEF
Lloyds design award The rebranding
of the Lloydspharmacy chain, after the merger of Hills Pharmacy and Lloyds
Chemists, has won the company the corporate and brand identity category
of the DBA International Design Effectiveness awards. Around 800 of the
1,300 pharmacies are expected to be rebranded by the end of 2001.
IDIS distribution centre IDIS World
Medicines, a specialist medicines importer, has opened a 6,000 sq ft distribution
centre near its head office at Surbiton, Surrey. The new facility can
handle 3,000 stock lines, including refrigerated and frozen items. The
centre has been built to meet increasing demand for the company's services.
ADRs under reported
by GPs General practitioners
under-report suspected adverse drug reactions associated with newly marketed
drugs, a new study shows. Researchers at the Drug Safety Research Unit,
Southampton, used prescription-event monitoring to determine what types
of ADRs were being under-reported by family doctors. They found that 53
per cent of events classified as serious were reported to the Committee
on Safety of Medicines. However, overall, only 9 per cent of ADRs were
reported, indicating that GPs selectively report suspected reactions (Lancet
2001;358:1872).
Standards for
diabetes NSF The Diabetes National Service Framework standards
are expected to be published this year. Responding to a Parliamentary
question about the expected date of publication for the delayed NSF, Lord
Hunt, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health, said that the
standards would be published "this autumn" and that an implementation
group would be set up to develop a delivery strategy. The agreed delivery
strategy will be published next summer, he said.
Frequent eating
lowers lipid levels Eating
frequently is associated with lower concentrations of total cholesterol
and low density lipoprotein cholesterol, new data indicate. Researchers
from Cambridge used data from a population based study to determine the
relation between self reported eating frequency and serum lipid levels.
They found that mean cholesterol levels differed by about 0.15mmol/L between
people eating more than six times a day and those eating once or twice
daily (BMJ 2001;323: 1286).
Hormones and
chronic migraine An abnormal
pattern of hypothalamic hormonal secretion is seen in patients with chronic
migraine, say researchers. In a study involving 17 chronic migraine sufferers
and nine healthy volunteers, they saw a decreased night-time prolactin
peak, increased cortisol concentrations and a delayed night-time melatonin
peak in the migraine sufferers. In addition, those with chronic migraine
and insomnia had lower melatonin concentrations than those without chronic
migraine (Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry 2001;71:747).
Patients accept
risk of bleeding Research
has shown that patients who are candidates for antithrombotic treatment
place more value on the avoidance of stroke and less on the avoidance
of bleeding than the doctors who treat them (BMJ 2001;323:1218).
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