CP, June 2018, Vol 10, No 6

Lung cancer: advances in management and therapy

An overview of traditional and emerging immunotherapy-based targets and treatments available for lung cancer, their side effects and the impact immune checkpoint inhibitors have had on the treatment of non–small-cell lung cancer.…

Targeted medicines: how pharmacists can lead a pharmacogenomics revolution

Though commonplace in other countries, pharmacogenomic testing is yet to become a mainstay of NHS healthcare. Here, David Wright and Dhiren Bhatt argue how this process could improve the chance of therapeutic success and why pharmacists should be at the heart of its implementation.…

Antibiotic prescribing in a clinician-first telephone triage setting in a general practice

In May 2016, a general practice with around 16,000 registrants introduced a clinician-first triage system, which moved the practice’s more traditional face-to-face approach to one in which the majority of the consultations were conducted over the telephone. As a result, many prescriptions have…

Pharmacy’s role in antimicrobial resistance and stewardship

This article summarises the evidence supporting the role of pharmacists and pharmacy teams in antimicrobial stewardship and outlines the impact of their activities.…

Omega-3 supplements do not improve dry eye symptoms, study finds

There is no evidence for the benefit of omega-3 acid supplementation in treating symptoms of dry eye disease, a study has shown.…

Increase in potentially inappropriate medicines use seen in all older adults, study results suggest

After assessing patterns of medicines use in patients with and without dementia, researchers found that the risk of potentially inappropriate medicines use significantly increased in all groups…

Andexanet shows promise in patients taking new anticoagulants

Results from an ongoing trial of 228 patients with acute major bleeding show that patients taking andexanet experienced a reduction in anti-FXa activity.…

Study identifies genes potentially linked to depression

Researchers have identified 14 new independent risk variants associated with depression following a genome-wide association study of 322,580 people.…

Antihypertension diet also lowers depression risk in older adults

It is well known that older adults with cardiovascular risk factors are more likely to experience depression than others. However, research has shown that dietary modification could help lower depression risk in this group.…

Rheumatoid arthritis drug may reduce inflammation after stroke

The pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-1 plays a significant role in brain injury following ischemic stroke by inducing peripheral inflammatory mediators, such as interleukin-6. However, pre-clinical studies show its effects are reduced by the interleukin-1 receptor antagonist.…