PJ April 2026, Vol 316, No 8008

SMRs cut prescribing of potentially inappropriate medicines by up to 40%

Researchers studying data from 635,698 patients discovered that non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs were the most commonly stopped prescription following a structured medication review.…

Pharmacists left to plug ‘major gaps’ in allergy care, charity warns

Tanya Ednan-Laperouse, co-founder of the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation, has called for the appointment of an allergy tsar, who could advocate for allergy training for all healthcare professionals.…

From competence to confidence: supporting foundation trainees to become culturally competent independent prescribers

Hafsah Anwar highlights the support needed to help trainees leave the foundation training year confident that they can safely prescribe, trust their judgment, understand their values and form an identity that will evolve throughout their careers.…

Royal College of Pharmacy appoints head of professional standards and patient safety

The College has also announced three more additions to its trustee board.…

Adverse effects of CAR T-cell therapy for non-specialist teams

This article offers non-specialist healthcare professionals information on how to recognise and respond to toxicities following chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy.…

Coroner raises concern over prescribing errors following prison death

A prisoner at HMP Thameside died of cardiac arrest as a result of an epileptic seizure with the coroner stating that a “significant contributing factor” was “toxicity related to pregabalin and sodium valproate level in someone with epilepsy”.…

Pharmacy regulator publishes AI position statement

The General Pharmaceutical Council said that pharmacy professionals should remember that they remain “personally accountable for their professional practice, even when AI is being used”.…

Pharmacies deliver almost 16,000 RSV vaccinations as programme found to cut newborn hospitalisations by up to 85%

Babies born at least four weeks after their mother received a respiratory syncytial virus vaccination had nearly 85% protection against the virus.…

NICE recommends take-at-home tablet for chronic lymphocytic leukaemia

Pirtobrutinib has been approved for patients with recurrent chronic lymphocytic leukaemia — who have already been given a covalent BTK inhibitor (BTKi) — and for whom further covalent BTKi treatment is not suitable.…

Government is reviewing enforcement mechanisms on medicines shortages reporting

In its response to a House of Lords Public Services Committee report on medicines security, the Department of Health and Social Care said it hoped to improve compliance and timeliness of shortage reporting.…