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2 weeks ago | 
pharmaceutical-journal.com | Medicines regulation |Ellie Philpotts
Medical and pharmacy regulators have published an enforcement notice warning that advertisements for named prescription-only medicines (POMs) for weight-management are prohibited. The notice was published jointly by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) on 11 April 2025.
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2 months ago | 
pharmaceutical-journal.com | Medicines regulation |Katherine Price
More than 17 million doses of illegally-traded medicines, with a potential street value of more than £40m, were taken out of circulation in 2024 by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and its law enforcement partners. This includes 5.5 million doses of erectile dysfunction medicines, 5.5 million doses of painkillers, 2.8 million doses of sedatives and 1.6 million doses of sleeping tablets, the MHRA said in a statement published on 29 January 2025.
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Dec 4, 2024 | 
pharmaceutical-journal.com | Medicines regulation |Graham Clews
The majority of pharmaceutical manufacturers responding to a survey have said the UK’s medicines regulatory environment has an ‘unfavourable’ impact on their decision to invest in research development.
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Nov 18, 2024 | 
pharmaceutical-journal.com | Medicines regulation |Sophie Willis
Weight loss drugs, such as semaglutide, make up a “very small part” of medicines being illegally trafficked into the UK, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has said. Speaking at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s (RPS) annual conference in London on 8 November 2024, Andy Morling, deputy director of criminal enforcement at the MHRA, said that weight loss drugs are a “very small part of the current illegal trade in medicines”.
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Sep 10, 2024 | 
pharmaceutical-journal.com | Medicines regulation |Sophie Willis
Changes to original-pack dispensing (OPD) rules mean pharmacists will be able to dispense up to 10% more or less than the quantity prescribed for NHS prescriptions from 1 January 2025, following Parliamentary sign-off.
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Jul 31, 2024 | 
pharmaceutical-journal.com | Medicines regulation |Corrinne Burns
Pharmacists must not be criminalised over the supply of puberty blocking hormones, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has said. The Society published its statement on 31 July 2024, following a High Court ruling on 29 July 2024, which ruled that an emergency prohibition order for gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH) analogues used to suppress puberty remains valid.
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Jul 16, 2024 | 
pharmaceutical-journal.com | Medicines regulation |Katherine Price
More than a third (38%) of pharmacy organisations believe current draft standards would have a positive effect on chief pharmacists, according to General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) council papers. The papers, published on 16 July 2024 ahead of a council meeting on 18 July 2024, reported that 27% of organisations said there would be both a positive and negative impact on chief pharmacists, while 8% said the impact would be negative.
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Jul 8, 2024 | 
pharmaceutical-journal.com | Medicines regulation |Sophie Willis
Drug manufacturer Novo Nordisk has been reprimanded by the Prescription Medicines Code Of Practice Authority (PMCPA) for failing to disclose payments of around £7.8m to individuals and organisations in the UK between 2020 and 2022. The self-regulatory body, established in 1993 by the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry to independently administer its codes of practice, said on 5 July 2024 that it had “” the company following a voluntary submission from Novo Nordisk in 2023.
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Jul 2, 2024 | 
pharmaceutical-journal.com | Medicines regulation |Dawn Connelly
Pharmacy2U is dispensing over 1 million NHS prescription items per month from a facility it owns in Leicestershire despite having its application to be included on the pharmaceutical list refused by the NHS’s litigation arm. NHS Resolution refused the application in January 2020 for Pharmacy2U’s Leicestershire facility to be included on the pharmaceutical list, a requirement for opening any new pharmacy in England.
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Jul 2, 2024 | 
pharmaceutical-journal.com | Medicines regulation |Dawn Connelly
Pharmacy2U is dispensing over 1 million NHS prescription items per month from a facility it owns in Leicestershire despite having its application to be included on the pharmaceutical list refused by the NHS’s litigation arm. NHS Resolution refused the application in January 2020 for Pharmacy2U’s Leicestershire facility to be included on the pharmaceutical list, a requirement for opening any new NHS pharmacy in England.
