News | Advanced therapies

News

Regulator encourages development of microbiome-based medicines

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s position paper is aimed to provide clarity on microbiome medicinal products and how to bring them forward “with confidence”.…

Published: 18 August 2026

Feature

A faster route to rare disease treatments: the MHRA’s proposals 

Could a shake-up of the UK’s medicines approval process make a meaningful difference for people living with rare diseases? Here, we explore the government’s proposals and the role pharmacy could play in improving patient care.…

Published: 13 August 2026

News

Health news round-up: coffee, ADHD prescribing, and GLP-1s and hair loss

The Pharmaceutical Journal’s weekly summary of the important developments in pharmacy and health news you may have missed.…

Published: 24 July 2026

News

People with MS in England to be given fampridine as patent expires

Fampridine, taken twice daily, improves nerve signalling and walking speed in some patients with multiple sclerosis.…

Published: 23 July 2026

News

Minimum age set for puberty blockers trial

To participate in the ‘PATHWAYS’ clinical trial, a modified protocol has ruled that birth-registered females must be aged between 11 and 16 years, and birth-registered males must be aged between 12 and 16 years.…

Published: 22 June 2026

Opinion

Advanced therapy medicinal products: a tsunami in clinical medicine 

Advanced therapy medicinal products offer life-changing benefits for patients with little to no alternative treatments, but realising their full potential requires action across the entire healthcare system.…

Published: 1 June 2026

News

MHRA asks for views on rare disease therapy plans

The ‘Rare disease therapies regulatory framework’ would incorporate a compressed regulatory pathway, aimed to reduce the cost of developing rare disease therapies and make them more affordable, the MHRA said.…

Published: 21 May 2026

Feature

‘Moving the goalposts’: the worrying rise of testosterone replacement therapy

Rising prescription rates, illicit supply chains and lack of monitoring and support mean that men could be damaging their health by using testosterone without a formal prescription — and pharmacists may have a role to play in spotting harm.…

Published: 30 April 2026

Feature

The long road to replacing animals in pharmaceutical research

Researchers, regulators and industry are working to develop and implement alternatives to animal testing as part of a new government strategy, but experts warn that it may be impossible to completely phase out animal use entirely.…

Published: 23 April 2026

News

NHS proposes removing masculinising and feminising hormones as routine treatments for under-18s

In consultation documents, NHS England said it had concluded there was not enough evidence to suggest that feminising and masculinising medicines are safe or clinically effective enough for the treatment to be routinely available for children and young people.…

Published: 10 March 2026