Pre-clinical research

Government opens £400m investment programme to boost UK clinical trials

The investment programme will increase the UK’s capacity for clinical trials and give researchers greater access to the latest equipment and technology, the government said.…

Getting into research

In this episode of The PJ Pod, we speak to pharmacy professionals who have developed research careers to find out the practical steps pharmacists can take to thrive as researchers.…

Writing for pleasure or pain?

This month’s pick of academic papers from Parastou Donyai, chief pharmacist at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.…

Transparency over negative results in antidepressant trials is improving, data show

Analysis of trial data shows that there has been an increase in reporting of negative outcomes in antidepressant trials, from 11% in trials published between 1987 and 2002 to 47% in research published between 2008 and 2013.…

The COVID-19 vaccines being backed by the UK and when we might get them

The UK government has ordered 340 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from several manufacturers, with the hope that at least one will prove successful in large clinical trials over the next few months. However, there are no guarantees and some of the strategies are not without their challenges.…

Beyond antibiotics: harnessing bacteria’s natural predators

With antibiotic resistance set to cost 10 million lives per year by 2050, there is a renaissance of interest in the potential of bacteriophages to be the next generation of bacteria killers.…

The hunt for an effective treatment for COVID-19

As researchers around the globe drop everything to find a treatment for COVID-19, we look at the likely frontrunners for managing this deadly disease.…

Binning the sharps: the quest for oral insulin

The pharmaceutical industry has been trying to develop oral formulations of insulin since the 1920s without success, but, over the past few years, several new oral delivery systems have shown promise in clinical trials.…

Repurposing Viagra: the ‘little blue pill’ for all ills?

Study results suggest that PDE-5 inhibitors could have a role in treating cancer, heart failure, neurodegenerative diseases, circulatory disorders and even infectious diseases, but the road to approval for new indications may not be smooth.…

Body bionics: how the next generation of biosensors could revolutionise drug delivery

Smaller, smarter and more sensitive — how four new technologies could change the way drugs are monitored and administered.…