PJ, May, Vol 298, No 7901

How drug prices are hiked and what is being done to tackle the problem

There has been negative publicity in the national press about drug manufacturers increasing the price of some medicines significantly: so called ‘price gouging’. These increased prices are then passed on to the NHS, and lead to headlines quoting multi-million pound figures.…

Heart attack risk raised in week after respiratory infection, say researchers

The risk of having a heart attack is 17 times higher in the week after a respiratory infection and remains high for a month, say Australian researchers.…

Large pharmacy chains to set up ‘crisis team’ following cyber attack on NHS

The Company Chemists’ Association (CCA), a trade body that represents multiple pharmacy chains in the UK, is planning to set up a ‘crisis team’ in the wake of the malware attack that hit the NHS on 12 May 2017.…

Facilitating anticipatory prescribing in end-of-life care

Anticipatory prescribing enables patients in the last days and weeks of their lives to have their symptoms managed at home. Pharmacists are ideally positioned to provide practical support and advice to other healthcare professionals on the prescribing and administration of anticipatory medicine…

Drugs for PTSD linked to increased risk of dementia

Certain psychotropic drugs used to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) increase the risk of developing dementia, including in patients who do not have PTSD but take the drugs for other conditions, study results published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society show.…

ICO report warns pharmacies about data protection breaches

Losing confidential personal data when transferring patient records is one of the data protection breaches committed by community pharmacists, according to the Information Commissioner’s Office’s good practice department.…

‘The last 18 months have been very tough’ reflects Sharpe following decision to resign

Pharmacy bodies…

Alcohol addiction drug may help treat stuttering

A drug which faced controversy over its unlicensed use in treating alcohol addiction might also be useful in stuttering, researchers have found.…

A barrier to progress: getting drugs to the brain

Getting drugs across the blood-brain barrier could be key to developing more successful therapies to treat central nervous system disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease, depression and epilepsy. Scientists are investigating a number of ways to achieve this, from using Trojan horses to smuggle …

Chief pharmaceutical officer of England ought to be congratulated

From Graham Phillips’s letter about his attendance at the ‘Quality for patients: pharmacy practice now and in the future’ conference ( The Pharmaceutical Journal 2017;298:234), I thought he was going to report on the conference but all he offered was…