News | Medicines safety

Letter

Improving safety of warfarin prescribing and administration using clinical decision support

There are several benefits of electronic prescribing and medication administration (EPMA) systems, including the ability to support the reduction in medication omission errors[1,2]. Researchers suggest that medication administration errors account for ju…

Published: 20 September 2023

News

Every community pharmacy in Scotland to stock emergency supplies of naloxone from October 2023

The naloxone emergency supply service will be added to the community pharmacy public health service in Scotland from 30 October 2023.…

Published: 13 September 2023

News

‘Blanket switch’ to greener inhalers not recommended in prescribing guidance

The Scottish government has published a consultation on draft guidance emphasising that patients should only be switched to greener inhalers “if effectiveness, safety or adherence is not compromised”.…

Published: 11 September 2023

News

Bupropion to be made available in the UK again from December 2023, says manufacturer

Exclusive: GSK has told The Pharmaceutical Journal that bupropion tablets will be available “across the EU and Europe on or before the end of December 2023”.…

Published: 6 September 2023

News

Projects awarded £5m funding for AI and drone technology to tackle UK drug deaths

The funding will be used to develop prototype technologies to detect drug overdoses and deliver antidotes.…

Published: 5 September 2023

News

RPS says codeine linctus should be made a prescription-only medicine, in response to MHRA consultation

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society says reclassification will make it easier to monitor codeine linctus use, because it will be recorded in GP systems.…

Published: 17 August 2023

News

MHRA issues drug safety warning on hyoscine bromide patches

The regulator told The Pharmaceutical Journal that there had been seven yellow card reports of anticholinergic syndrome as a side effect of hyoscine hydrobromide patches.…

Published: 28 July 2023

News

Patient safety commissioner begins work on compensating families affected by sodium valproate

Exclusive: The patient safety commissioner will publish a report on redress options for people affected by sodium valproate and pelvic mesh.…

Published: 20 July 2023

News

MHRA consults on reclassifying codeine linctus as a prescription-only medicine

The Commission on Human Medicines previously said that codeine linctus is being used as an ingredient of 'purple drank', an illegal recreational drink that has been popularised through social media and music.…

Published: 18 July 2023

Feature

Depression and ‘the pill’: untangling the evidence

A closer look at the conflicting evidence around links between the oral contraceptive and mood changes, following calls for more research in this area.…

Published: 6 July 2023