News summary
Research & Development
Independent pharmacies are "unlikely to
survive" Trent researchers claim Independent community
pharmacies face a bleak future in which they are unlikely to survive,
according to a report published by the Trent Institute for Health Services
Research...[more]
Ethics training wins funding bid
The consortium set up for advancing the provision of pharmacy law and
ethics teaching (APPLET), involving schools of pharmacy from Nottingham,
Aston and De Montfort universities, has won funding of £250,000
for its three-year project from the Higher Education Funding Council for
England (HEFCE)...[more]
Continuous HRT may protect against endometrial
cancer Women who use long-term continuous hormone replacement
therapy (HRT) do not have an increased risk of endometrial cancer and
may even be protected from the disease, results of a study suggest...[more]
Big multiples get seats on NPA board
Moss Pharmacy and Lloydspharmacy are to gain places on the National Pharmaceutical
Association's board of management from September...[more]
Reliever inhalers linked to increased asthma
deaths Increased risk of death from asthma is associated with
excessive use of short-acting beta-agonist inhalers, according to a new
study...[more]
SSRI withdrawal reactions highlighted
The Committee on Safety of Medicines and the Medicines Control Agency
have received more reports of withdrawal reactions associated with the
selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor paroxetine (Seroxat) than with
any other drug...[more]
Nosebleeds following sildenafil use
Two cases of nosebleeds following the use of sildenafil (Viagra) for erectile
dysfunction are reported...[more]
Zyban safety update continues to reveal only
recognised reactions The latest safety update for bupropion
(Zyban) from the Medicines Control Agency shows that up to 24 July, a
total of 7,630 reports of suspected adverse reactions have been received
via the yellow card scheme in the United Kingdom. All are recognised reactions
and are listed in the summary of product characteristics for bupropion...[more]
Third generation pill "not more risky"
Third generation oral contraceptive pills do not carry a significantly
greater risk of causing venous thromboembolism than second generation
contraceptives, a High Court judge has ruled...[more]
Patients with Parkinson's disease should not
be started on selegiline The use of selegiline, either alone
in early stage Parkinson's disease (PD) or in combination with levodopa
for more advanced disease, is not justified in new patients, concludes
a review...[more]
Tirofiban similar to abciximab over long-term
The two platelet glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors tirofiban (Aggrastat)
and abciximab (ReoPro) have similar long-term beneficial effects for patients
who undergo angioplasty for narrowed coronary arteries, a follow-up study
has shown...[more]
Controversy over smallpox vaccine
The Government has been accused of choosing the wrong strain of smallpox
for the emergency vaccine reserve stock it has ordered from Powderject
Pharmaceuticals...[more]
Varicella-zoster vaccine launched
A vaccine containing live, attenuated varicella-zoster virus, Varilrix,
has been launched this week by GlaxoSmithKline. The vaccine was previously
available on a named-patient basis...[more]
Are multivitamins beneficial? The
beneficial effects of multivitamin preparations have been called into
question...[more]
Boots sells Halfords for £427m...[more]
COX-2 safety investigated...[more]
Research and Development
Vasopeptidase inhibitor is an effective treatment
for chronic heart failure Omapatrilat, a vasopeptidase inhibitor,
is effective in treating heart failure, a new study shows. It reduces
all-cause mortality and admission to hospital for chronic heart failure
requiring intravenous treatment...[more]
Calcium sensitiser lowers mortality
A novel calcium sensitiser, levosimendan (Simdax), lowers mortality and
improves cardiac function in patients with low output heart failure, a
new study shows...[more]
Therapeutic vaccine controls HIV
A therapeutic vaccine, Remune, has been shown to stimulate HIV-specific
immune responses in 243 HIV infected subjects taking antiretrovirals...[more]
New drug regimen effective in HIV
A drug regimen containing a non-peptide protease inhibitor, tipranavir,
has been shown to reduce HIV-1 levels in patients who have previously
received multiple protease inhibitor regimens, according to new phase
IIb data...[more]
Fusion inhibitor "vital component"
of new cocktail therapies for HIV infection A fusion inhibitor,
T-20 (enfuvirtide), is expected to be a vital component of new cocktail
therapies in children as well as adults with HIV infection, according
to Roche and Trimeris, the two companies co-developing the new agent...[more]
Cancer vaccine elicits appropriate immune response
in patients A gene-based vaccine in development has shown promise
for the treatment of colorectal cancer. The vaccine, TroVax, is being
developed by Oxford Biomedica, a biotechnology company...[more]
Drug that modulates glutamate levels promising
for Alzheimer's disease Memantine (Axura), a non-competitive
receptor antagonist that modulates levels of the neurotransmitter glutamate,
looks promising for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, new data show...[more]
New cream for eczema prevents flare-ups in infants
Pimecrolimus (Elidel), an anti-inflammatory cream in development, prevents
flare-ups of atopic eczema in children as young as three months, according
to new data presented at the 2002 World Congress of Dermatology, held
in Paris, France, last month...[more]
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