PJ August 2026, Vol 321, No 8012

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.…

UKHSA launches toolkit for tackling AMR inequalities

The toolkit compiles existing resources to assist healthcare providers address antimicrobial resistance-related health inequalities in populations such as care leavers, migrants, minority communities and people experiencing homelessness.…

Alex Williams: ‘There’s a risk to the resilience of the supply chain if government doesn’t invest’

Increased costs and low medicines reimbursement could jeopardise the service that wholesalers provide to pharmacies, says the new chief executive of the Healthcare Distribution Association.…

Escalation pathways for complex anticoagulation introduced after patient death

A patient died from prosthetic aortic valve thrombosis with sub-therapeutic anticoagulation, after clinicians were unable to keep her international normalised ratio within a therapeutic range.…

Updated hypertension case‑finding service draws calls for impact assessment

Changes to the specification for the 'Community pharmacy hypertension case-finding service' exclude people who have previously had a blood pressure check via the service in the previous five years.…

Boots launches private gonorrhoea vaccination service

The high street chain said that gonorrhoea vaccines, which will cost £220 for the full course of two doses, will be available at 160 of its pharmacies.…

Test your knowledge of medicines safety       

Our self-assessment quiz covers the principles of medicines safety and some scenarios that pharmacists might encounter in daily practice.…

Arthur Williams (1932–2026)

On 15 July 2026, Arthur Williams, aged 93 years, of Ashbourne, Derbyshire. Mr Williams registered with the College in 1955 and become a Fellow in 1992. He left the College in 2023. Tribute It is with great sadness we learnt of the death of Arthur Williams, past president of the Guild of He…

New pharmacy minister confirmed

Newly appointed pharmacy minister Diana Johnson has replaced Stephen Kinnock, as he moves to secretary of state for Wales.…

MHRA approves orforglipron weight-loss pill

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency said its approval of orforglipron makes the UK the first country in Europe to authorise the medication.…