PJ, January 2023, Vol 310, No 7969

Only 21 community pharmacies have provided hepatitis C testing since service launch

Exclusive: Out of more than 650 community pharmacies signed up to provide the hepatitis C antibody testing service, only 21 have carried out testing.…

Quarter of hospitalised patients taking clozapine admitted with infection, study finds

Researchers found 25% of patients hospitalised while taking clozapine had an infection, and highlighted that safety protocols around the drug tend to focus on other side effects.…

Newborn genome screening: a step too far?

A project to screen the genomes of 100,000 babies for rare diseases is set to begin recruiting in 2023, but it will face ethical and societal challenges.…

Three-quarters of public support pharmacists prescribing their medication, survey results show

Of more than 2,000 respondents to a survey inviting people to give their views on community pharmacy, 77% said they were highly confident in pharmacists prescribing medication.…

Should we be genetic testing before prescribing analgesics?

Managing pain is difficult because there are various factors that can influence how it is perceived, but pharmacogenomic testing may be able to help fine tune pharmaceutical interventions.…

Shortage of cold and flu medicines increases pressure on pharmacies

Community pharmacists are claiming the current medicine supply system is broken, as price concessions reach record levels.…

Government admits ‘remote risk’ that drug manufacturers may withdraw supply following proposed tax increase

A proposed tax rise, from 24.4% to 27.5%, for manufacturers signed up to the statutory tax scheme for branded medicines would cause a "remote and limited risk" of companies withdrawing products from the UK market, the government has said.…

Pharmacy vaccination advice scheme sees more than 800 patients choose to be vaccinated against COVID-19

Pharmacies in Tower Hamlets, East London, provided more than 1,800 consultations on COVID-19 vaccination, with 831 people then deciding to get vaccinated.…

Studies of public opinion bring the dangers of laxity to light

A pick of the academic papers from the past month from Parastou Donyai, chief scientist at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.…

Derek Lawson Smith (1943–2022)

On 1 November 2022, Derek Lawson Smith, aged 79 years, of Blackburn, Lancashire. Mr Lawson Smith registered with the Society in 1966. Tribute I was very sad when I heard about the death of Derek Smith of Blackburn, Lancashire. I first met Derek at the Bradford Institute of Technology in…