Health news round up: diabetes, vaping and biologics

This week, The Pharmaceutical Journal has explored the new community pharmacy contract in detail, including whether it will stabilise medicines funding, its promises of long-term reform, and how new national prescribing services could fit in with local commissioning.

We’ve also covered several National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) approvals: a specific ‘artificial pancreas’ for pregnant women with type 1 diabetes and new treatments for ovarian cancer and chronic liver disease.

Also this week, we have reported on studies that suggest selective non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents reduce the risk of gastrointestinal bleeding, tezepelumab may reduce the need for oral corticosteroids in severe asthma, ocrelizumab significantly reduced the risk of disability worsening in wheelchair-dependent patients with multiple sclerosis, and virtual clinics could help improve access to adverse drug reaction services for children.

Read on for more health news you might have missed this week.

Online support for type 2 diabetes

On average, people with type 2 diabetes who used the NHS Healthy Living online programme experienced moderate health benefits that would be expected to reduce risks for diabetes-related complications at a population level. This included lower HbA1c, systolic and diastolic levels than those who didn’t use the programme, as well as higher odds of completing care processes. The analysis of patient-level Healthy Living and National Diabetes Audit (NDA) data was published in PLOS One on 3 June 2026.

Toxic chemicals in vapes and e-cigarettes

The liquid heated in reusable e-cigarettes becomes more toxic over repeated use, causing “measurable damage” to human lung cells, a study published in ACS Omega on 28 May 2026 has suggested. Prue Talbot, professor at the University of California, Riverside, who advised on the study, said this meant the “puff count” — used to convey how many times an e-cigarette can be used — “is a variable that directly affects chemical exposure and must be incorporated into safety assessments”.

The specific flavours used in vapes have varying effects on the body, a separate study published in Frontiers in Oncology on 1 June 2026 has suggested. Vapers showed a higher rate of altered gene expression than smokers, and different flavours were linked to different levels of change in different genes, researchers found.

Lower-dose biologics could maintain results

Biologic medicines kept stable psoriasis under control even when reduced to half dosage, a study in the Netherlands has suggested. Researchers said the drugs should still be used but that they would like to see guidelines about reducing dosage, thereby also reducing cost and treatment burden. Results of the trial were published in The Lancet Regional Health Europe on 1 June 2026.

Paracetamol could help close ductus arteriosus in preterm neonates

Paracetamol started shortly after birth could help close the foetal blood vessel connection between the aorta and the pulmonary artery in preterm infants born before 28 weeks of gestation or weighing less than one kilogram at birth, a joint study by the University of Oulu, Finland, and Oulu University Hospital has found. In patients receiving paracetamol, closure of the ductus arteriosus occurred within three days on average, compared with 14 days for the placebo group, the study, published in Neonatology on 14 May 2026, found. Larger studies are needed to build upon this early-stage pilot study before this can be incorporated into clinical guidelines.

Fovinaciclib and statins for breast cancer

A phase 3 randomised clinical trial of 417 patients, published in JAMA Oncology on 1 June 2026, showed that adding fovinaciclib to first-line letrozole or anastrozole conferred significant and clinically meaningful progression-free survival benefit and consistent improvements in other efficacy outcomes, along with manageable safety and unaffected quality of life.

A separate cohort study, published in JAMA Network Open on 2 June 2026, of patients with early breast cancer suggested that postdiagnostic statin use was associated with lower all-cause and breast cancer–specific mortality among patients with hormone receptor–positive intrinsic subtypes.