Effectiveness of statins similar for men and women Incremental reductions in major vascular events with statin therapy is similar in men and women, according to research published in The Lancet.…
2014: The Pharmaceutical Journal’s news in review Looking back at some of the biggest news stories from the past year. …
Pharmacy-led statin support service in general practice helps patients reach cholesterol targets Using pharmacists to support statin-prescribing in general practice improves patients’ chances of reaching their cholesterol targets and has a lasting effect on the prescribing behaviour of GPs.…
Text messages can help patients adhere to their medicines A third of patients prescribed blood pressure or lipid-lowering drugs to prevent coronary heart disease or stroke fail to take their medicines properly, but text messages could improve adherence.…
Major bleeding risk higher for dabigatran than for warfarin, study suggests Research suggests that dabigatran is associated with a higher risk of bleeding compared with warfarin in a US population sample.…
Genes influence response to statins, research finds Four genes are responsible for about 5% of the variation in an individual’s response to statin treatment, research suggests.…
Evolocumab shows promising results in familial hypercholesterolaemiaEvolocumab, a fully human monoclonal antibody to PCSK9, reduced LDL cholesterol when added to background lipid-lowering therapy in patients with familial hypercholesterolaemia.…
Statin target linked to increased risk of diabetes and weight gain Inhibition of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase is partly responsible for the increased risk of type 2 diabetes seen with statin treatment.…
How fruit juice interacts with common medicines How fruit juices can interact with common medicines and put your patients at risk.…
Patients taking warfarin should self-monitor their coagulation status, says NICE NICE recommends two point-of-care coagulometers for use by patients – Roche Diagnostic’s CoaguChek XS system and Alere’s INRatio2 PT/INR monitor.…