Health news round-up: new NICE guidance, ‘online hospital’ and the environmental burden of medicines

The new year has already brought change for the pharmacy sector, with supervision changes taking effect from 7 January 2025. Updates to pharmacy technician training could follow, although employers have raised concerns about increased costs.

Further change could be on the horizon, particularly for community pharmacy, with a leading HIV charity urging the government to make PrEP available through community pharmacy in 2026 and the NHS primary care lead emphasising the importance of pharmacies in palliative care delivery.

However, as with any change in practice, such initiatives must be underpinned by research and support. Delays to a long-awaited PrEP pilot for pharmacies in Wales may not bode well for progress in reducing HIV transmissions, while access to palliative care drugs is patchy owing to inadequate funding, pharmacy leaders have said.

The same issue plagues clinical initiatives in other areas: the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) wants the NHS to pilot AI tools to support spirometry testing for asthma; however, national charity Asthma + Lung UK told The Pharmaceutical Journal this will not solve other barriers to testing in general practice, such as the cost of the machines and training for clinicians.

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

New NICE guidance for MS, leukaemia and others

NICE has begun the new year with a flurry of technology appraisals, including the recommendation of a new treatment for highly active relapsing multiple sclerosis, final guidance on venetoclax with obinutuzumab for untreated chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, final guidance on avelumab with axitinib for untreated advanced renal cell carcinoma and draft guidance on daratumumab with bortezomib, lenalidomide and dexamethasone for untreated multiple myeloma when a stem cell transplant is unsuitable.

Meanwhile, a phase III clinical trial in China has found that adding carboplatin to adjuvant anthracycline/taxane-based chemotherapy significantly improved survival outcomes in patients with high-risk, early stage, triple-negative breast cancer, driven by reduction of early recurrence risk without new safety concerns.

Nine conditions announced for NHS ‘online hospital’

NHS England has announced its new “online hospital” service, which will scale-up access to digital appointments with specialists for menopause, menstrual problems, prostate problems, iron deficiency anaemia, inflammatory bowel disease and eye conditions, including cataracts, glaucoma and macular degeneration.

NHS England has also launched a chicken pox vaccination programme, offered as part of a combined measles, mumps, rubella and varicella vaccine for children aged one year and 18 months.

Weight-loss jab users need ongoing support

University of Oxford researchers have stressed the importance of ongoing support for patients using weight-loss drugs, after the findings of a major study revealed that they regained weight much faster than traditional dieters.

A study from researchers at the University of Cambridge also found that a lack of support for people using weight-loss jabs leaves them vulnerable to nutritional deficiencies owing to reduced food intake.

In the United States, Novo Nordisk has released its daily Wegovy (semaglutide) pill at lower-than-anticipated prices for self-paying patients.

Sustainability of pills and packaging

Our latest opinion piece considers the environmental burden of oral nutritional supplements, suggesting that pharmacists can help to reduce unnecessary prescribing of these products and that manufacturers embed sustainability in their design and disposal information.

In addition, the findings of a new study conducted by the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing University of Chemical Technology and Dalian Jiaotong University, published in Environmental Science and Ecotechnology, suggests that sound and sunlight could be used to degrade persistent pharmaceutical pollutants.