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183 Codeine
and dihydrocodeine limited to 32 per pack Pharmacy packs of analgesics containing codeine or dihydrocodeine are to be limited to a maximum pack size of 32 and new warnings are to be added to the patient information leaflets, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has announced
...more
183 Concerns
raised over communication on national programme for IT Concerns
by senior NHS managers about the progress of the national programme for
IT are highlighted in an article published in the BMJ ...more
183 Changes to
professional regulation must be evidence based Changes made to the regulation of health care professionals need to be based on appropriate evidence, the Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence said this week
...more
183 Society plans
to introduce concessionary retention fees Reduced retention fees for long-serving retired pharmacists and for most overseas pharmacists are included in the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s proposed fee structure for 2006
...more
184 SMC endorses
use of a further seven medicines Seven medicines, including the colon cancer treatment capecitabine (Xeloda), were approved for use within NHS Scotland by the Scottish Medicines Consortium this week
...more
184 Bug busting
more effective than insecticides Use of the Bug Buster kit is four times more effective at eliminating head lice than use of two over-the-counter insecticides, a study has found
...more
184 Flaws revealed in Alzheimer’s disease trials Recommendations on the use of cholinesterase inhibitors in dementia have a questionable scientific basis, according to a review in last week’s BMJ ...more
184 Routine vitamin
and mineral supplementation in elderly does not reduce infections Further evidence to suggest that routine use of multivitamin and mineral supplements in elderly patients living at home does not reduce infections was published last week
...more
185 Scotland’s e-pharmacy programme moves forward Progress in the development of IT to support the new pharmacy contract in Scotland means that the four core services of the contract will be phased in as IT to support them becomes available. Implementation is still on track to begin in April 2006
...more
185 Substance
misuse could be tackled through new contract Substance misuse treatment programmes in Scotland could be improved if NHS boards make use of the new community pharmacy contract
...more
185 Guidance
issued on declaring dispensing process hours In order to make
it easier for contractors in England and Wales to fill in details of
dispensing staff on the FP34C submission form, the Department of Health
and the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee last week issued
a statement explaining the dispensing staff declaration ...more
185 Poor analgesia standards in A&E The Healthcare Commission has revealed that 47 per cent of children and 58 per cent of adults with fractures are not offered pain relief within an hour of arrival at accident and emergency departments
...more
185 Welsh STI
campaign Awareness of sexually transmitted infections is the theme of a health campaign launched by the Welsh Assembly Government last week
...more
185 Prescription
refunds A new version of the FP57 NHS prescription charges receipt form has been made available in Scotland
...more
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186 Updated guidelines
for first-line treatment of HIV Updated guidelines, published
last week by the British HIV Association, review recent clinical trial
data and provide clearer advice on which nucleoside backbone combinations
should be used as first-line treatment in HIV patients ...more
186 Switching
to anastrozole has benefits for breast cancer patients Switching
to anastrozole (Arimidex) after two years’ treatment with tamoxifen
results in a 40 per cent reduction in the risk of relapse for postmenopausal
women with early breast cancer, compared with continuing tamoxifen for
five years, a Lancet paper has shown ...more
186 HAART reduces
rate of progression to AIDS Highly active antiretroviral therapy
(HAART) can reduce the rate of progression to AIDS or death by 86 per
cent in HIV patients, researchers have found, and the therapy becomes
more effective over time ...more
186 Newer antiemetics
not always used effectively Selective 5HT3-receptor antagonists
are not always used effectively as antiemetics in the treatment of cancer
patients, a review in this month’s Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin argues
...more
R&D NEWS
187 DNA vaccine
against bird flu to enter trials next year Next year will
see the start of clinical trials of a vaccine against avian influenza,
a UK company announced this week ...more
187 Genetically
modified probiotic could protect against HIV infection Naturally
occurring bacteria that have been genetically modified to protect against
HIV infection have been successfully tested in mice, according to US
researchers ...more
188 Transdermal
testosterone patch increases sexual desire in women after surgical menopause A
transdermal patch that delivers 300µg of testosterone daily produces
modest increases in sexual desire in women who have undergone surgical
menopause, according to a new study ...more
188 Amphetamine
derivatives could be useful in treating Parkinson’s disease symptoms Amphetamine-type
drugs may be beneficial for treating symptoms of Parkinson’s disease,
according to new data from the US ...more
188 Cannabis
relief in IBD Scientists investigating anecdotal evidence
that patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) find relief from
using cannabis have found a possible explanation for this effect ...more
188 Nanocell
drug delivery shows cancer treatment promise Problems delivering
chemotherapy to cancer cells along with drugs that inhibit blood vessel
growth may be overcome by the use of nanotechnology ...more
188 Gefitinib
resistance marker Researchers have identified a protein — epithelial
membrane protein-1 — whose expression in tumour cells correlates
with resistance to gefitinib (Iressa) ...more
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The
Pharmaceutical Journal