Health news round-up: travel warnings, AMR in children, and the latest on medicine supply

This week, The Pharmaceutical Journal has dug deep into community pharmacy prescribing, rounded up everything you need to know about GLP-1s for weight loss and investigated how quickly online pharmacies are inspected by the sector’s regulator. We’ve also investigated whether a cure for epidermolysis bullosa is on the horizon, and shared our view that access to rare disease treatment should not be a rarity.

Read on for more health news you may have missed this week from The Pharmaceutical Journal and elsewhere.

Medicine supply and recalls

Medicines shortages should be treated as a national security issue, a House of Lords report warned this week, following widespread shortages of common medications such as aspirin.

Access to new medicines was also in the news, as the Department of Health and Social Care confirmed that National Institute for Clinical Excellence threshold uplifts would come out of its budget.

Meanwhile, specific batches of ibuprofen 200mg tablets and ibucalm 200mg tablets have been recalled, following findings of foil perforations in some blisters

In addition, all batches of quetiapine oral suspension (Seroquel) manufactured by Eaststone Limited have been recalled, as they contain twice as much quetiapine fumarate as they should.

Vaccinations: HPV, flu, COVID-19 and HIV

The government’s national cancer plan, published on 4 February 2026, will see pharmacies offering human papillomavirus ‘catch-up’ vaccines and early cancer detection initiatives.

A US poll has suggested many over-50s have not had flu and COVID-19 vaccinations because they do not believe themselves to be at risk, suggesting the need for more communication about the power to reduce risk of severe illness, researchers from the University of Michigan have suggested.

Research published this week includes an HIV vaccine candidate that can induce neutralising antibodies against HIV, after a single immunisation in nonhuman primates. The approach, published in Nature Immunology, could significantly shorten and simplify HIV vaccination protocols, making them more accessible worldwide, researchers said.

Shigella and salmonella linked to Cape Verde travel

People travelling to Cape Verde this month have been warned to reduce risk of food poisoning by being careful about water sources, after 112 of the 158 confirmed Shigella cases reported since 1 October 2025 were linked with travel to the country. Since then, 43 cases of Salmonella from 3 separate clusters identified using whole genome sequencing have also been linked to travel to Cape Verde, the UK Health Security Agency said.

Ketamine not reclassified but patient register recommended

On 28 January 2026, the government announced its decision not to reclassify ketamine from a Class B to a Class A substance.

However, a report from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs recommended a patient register of legitimate, off-label use of ketamine — such as when it is used therapeutically to treat depression — to enable patient safety monitoring and report outcomes from long-term use.

More research needed to tackle AMR and treat infections in children

Two reviews published in The Lancet Regional Health — Western Pacific found that a lack of data on antibiotics in children meant that there were limited licensed options for treating infections in children, as concerns rise about antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

Amanda Gwee, researcher and associate professor in paediatrics at the University of Melbourne, said: “To confront the challenge, we need coordinated action that improves AMR surveillance systems, supports more clinical trials involving children, removes licensing restrictions and upgrades laboratory infrastructure and technical expertise.”

Diabetes, weight loss and eye disorders

A study, published on 3 February 2026 in BMJ Open Ophthalmology by researchers from the University of Liverpool, found that diabetes medication metformin is associated with less progression of age-related macular degeneration, the most common cause of blindness in western countries.

Pharmacists delivering diabetes care or weight-loss services should be aware of updated guidance from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) around the risk of the very rare occurrence of non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy in patients taking semaglutide.

Alison Cave, chief safety officer at the MHRA, said that clinicians and patients should be alert to symptoms, such as sudden loss of vision in one eye, and urgently attend eye casualty or A&E, as well as report side effects to the Yellow Card scheme.