Research and evaluation

Personalised cancer vaccine with immunotherapy cuts risk of melanoma returning by 42%, study finds

After two years, 82% of patients who received the combination of pembrolizumab with the intismeran autogene vaccine were alive without recurrence of high-risk melanoma.…

ADHD medication not associated with raised self-harm risk, study concludes

Researchers found that the risk of self-harm was highest before patients were started on ADHD medication and reduced in the 90 days following initiation and beyond.…

Research to be part of every pharmacy professional’s career under UK strategy

One measure of success of the pharmacy research strategy will be the number of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians engaging in research training and mentorship, NHS England said.…

Pharmacy technicians should not just support research — they should lead and shape it

In this month’s column, Amira Guirguis, the Royal College of Pharmacy’s chief scientist, speaks to pharmacy technician Rebecca Chamberlain to consider her case for supporting others in her profession to shape pharmacy research.…

Practice guidelines, systematic reviews and meta-analyses

Part of a comprehensive series on drug information literacy and critical evaluation. This article explores how to utilise resources that synthesise and interpret findings from multiple studies.…

Understanding equivalence and non-inferiority studies

Part of a comprehensive series showing how to evaluate clinical studies or research papers. This article explains the purpose, limitations and key differences between equivalence and non-inferiority studies.…

Industry gifts and payments can influence prescribing, Cochrane review finds

The Cochrane review authors noted that food and drink, consultancy payments, and educational expenses were among offers associated with ‘inappropriate’ authorisations.…

Supporting biosimilar development could unlock “massive demand”, says trade body

Medicines UK said that prioritising biologic products due to come off patent would shift their use from “last-resort to early-line therapy” and significantly reduce NHS treatment costs.…

Understanding correlation, regression and survival analysis 

Part of a comprehensive series showing how to evaluate a clinical study or research paper. This article shows how to analyse the association between variables in clinical trial data.…

Understanding commonly used statistical tests 

Part of a comprehensive series showing how to evaluate a clinical study or research paper. This article explains when different statistical tests should be used to interpret trial data.…