MHRA approves first vaccine in ten years to protect children against pneumococcal diseases The drugs regulator has approved an extension for Vaxneuvance (PCV15) to cover children as well as adults.…
Compassionate medicine schemes help patients with cancer live better and for longer — why are they not more widely used? Use of unlicensed or off-label medicines for patients with cancer can extend survival or improve quality of life, but access remains patchy.…
Government decision on tougher online pharmacy regulation expected ‘shortly’ Exclusive: The Department of Health and Social Care has said it hopes to publish a review of the Care Quality Commission's functions "shortly", which will inform its decision on whether the regulator's proposals for legislative changes around online prescribing are needed.…
The role of pharmacists in increasing patient access to ‘compassionate use’ programmes Pharmacists should be helping to ensure that 'compassionate use' regulations evolve to address urgent patient needs.…
Advanced therapy medicinal products: a comprehensive overview for pharmacy professionals An overview of the clinical, institutional, regulatory, safety and economic considerations of advanced therapy medicinal products.…
Pharmacy regulator to anonymise fitness-to-practise investigations as safeguard against racial bias Owing to overrepresentation of individuals from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds in fitness-to-practise cases, the General Pharmaceutical Council will redact information relating to ethnicity in case papers.…
Prescribing of cannabis-based medical products increased almost ten-fold in 2021 Despite the increase in the private healthcare sector, data on the number of cannabis-based medical products prescribed on the NHS were so low they could not be reported.…
Online pharmacies are eight times more likely to fail regulatory standards, data show Exclusive: Investigation reveals how some online pharmacies are repeatedly prescribing large amounts of opioids and z-drugs, in one case using an accountant to approve medicine orders.…
MPs vote in favour of continued online provision of medical abortion drugs Temporary measures to allow women to have early-stage abortions at home following a video consultation during the COVID-19 pandemic will now be made permanent.…
One in five drugs approved by EMA in 2021 lacked full environmental risk data Exclusive: Analysis of European Medicines data has revealed that 17 marketing authorisations were approved in 2021 despite being submitted with insufficient environmental risk data.…
