News

Little enthusiasm for asthma self-management

Health professionals and patients are unenthusiastic about asthma self-management plans, a pilot study has found. The study explored the views of patients, nurses and general practitioners about guided self-management plans for asthma.…

Published: 23 December 2000

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Venlafaxine for hot flushes?

The Pharmaceutical Journal Vol 265 No 7128p907December 23/30, 2000 Clinical Venlafaxine (Efexor) is effective at treating hot flushes in menopausal women who cannot or do not wish to take hormonal treatment, say American researchers. Professor Charles Loprinzi and colleagues (Mayo Cl…

Published: 23 December 2000

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Study shows long-term benefits of pravastatin in unstable angina

Evidence that pravastatin is of long-term benefit when started after hospital admission for unstable angina is provided by the results of a new trial. A substudy from the LIPID (long-term intervention with pravastatin in ischaemic disease) trial showed that pravastatin improved survival…

Published: 23 December 2000

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Rituximab combination beneficial in aggressive non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, say researchers

Adding rituximab (Mabthera) to standard combination chemotherapy for aggressive non-Hodgkin?s lymphoma (NHL) can prolong overall survival, according to the results of a recent trial. …

Published: 23 December 2000

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Statins found to have immune system effect

The Pharmaceutical Journal Vol 265 No 7128p908December 23/30, 2000 Clinical Research suggests that statins may modulate immune responses. Swiss researchers have discovered that statins suppress the expression of major histocompatibility complex class II, which is directly i…

Published: 23 December 2000

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Drug therapy in HIV infection

The fifth international congress on drug therapy in HIV infection was held in Glasgow from October 22 to 26. Elizabeth Davies and John Morlese summarise the key points from the conference.…

Published: 18 November 2000

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Peppermint case

In our account of the proceedings at Chester Crown Court on March 4, when two Boots employees pleaded guilty to supplying a medicine not of the nature or quality demanded (PJ, March 11, p390), we reported that a dispenser had told one of defendants that he would need 3.75ml of concentrated chlorofor…

Published: 18 March 2000

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Boots pharmacist and trainee cleared of baby’s manslaughter, but fined for dispensing a defective medicine

A Boots pharmacist (Miss Lisa Taylor-Lloyd of Kestral Drive, Crewe) and a former preregistration trainee (Mr Ziad Khattab of Alton Road, Eccles) have been cleared of manslaughter charges arising from the death of a baby after the Crown Prosecution Service asked the judge, Mr Justice Forbes, to rule …

Published: 11 March 2000

News

Fines in Boots peppermint water baby death case

Manslaughter charges against two staff at Boots the Chemists have been dropped after they pleaded guilty to a charge under Section 64 of the Medicines Act 1968 of supplying a medicine "not of the nature or quality demanded". Miss Lisa Taylor-Lloyd, a pharmacist, and Mr Ziad Khattab, a preregistratio…

Published: 4 March 2000

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Herbal medicine interactions

Herbs may mimic, magnify or oppose the effects of conventional medicines if taken concurrently, says Dr Adriane Fugh-Berman (George Washington university school of medicine, Washington, US). In a review article in the Lancet, he describes documented herb-induced interactions (2000;355:134). P…

Published: 29 January 2000