-
5 days ago | 
pharmaceutical-journal.com | Sophie Willis
Immunotherapy treatment pembrolizumab (Keytruda; Merck Sharp & Dohme) helps patients with head and neck cancers to live extra years disease free when compared with standard treatment, according to the results of a study.
-
6 days ago | 
pharmaceutical-journal.com | Sophie Willis
Only one-third of pharmacies will be able to meet new Pharmacy First ‘bundling’ threshold requirements that are coming into force this year, according to report by the Company Chemists’ Association (CCA). In its report, published on 2 June 2025, the CCA said that “latest data from February 2025 suggest only 3,429 of pharmacies provide each of the three services bundled for payment”.
-
1 week ago | 
pharmaceutical-journal.com | Sophie Willis
The proportion of flu vaccines administered to patients aged over 65 years in community pharmacies in England has increased by almost 20 percentage points over the past five years, according to data from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA). Data shared withThe Pharmaceutical Journal on 27 May 2025 revealed that in 2024/2025, 28.1% of flu vaccines were administered to patients aged over 65 years via pharmacies compared with 8.3% in 2019/2020.
-
1 month ago | 
pharmaceutical-journal.com | Sophie Willis
Pharmacy minister Stephen Kinnock has said that the government will publish the response to its consultation on pharmacy supervision and introduce legislation later in 2025.
-
1 month ago | 
pharmaceutical-journal.com | Sophie Willis
The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has discontinued a project in which it anonymised ethnicity data for registrants involved in fitness-to-practise (FtP) cases. In council papers, published on 22 April 2025, ahead of its council meeting on 24 April 2025, the regulator said the project team had recommended the project be discontinued for reasons including the amount of time taken to redact information and additional staff resource needed.
-
2 months ago | 
pharmaceutical-journal.com | Sophie Willis
Community pharmacies exceeded targets for the pharmacy contraception and hypertension case-finding services in 2024/2025, according to data published by NHS England. Board papers, published on 27 March 2025, revealed that from April 2024 to February 2025, community pharmacies exceeded targets for blood pressure checks and oral contraception consultations by 181% and 57%, respectively.
-
2 months ago | 
pharmaceutical-journal.com | Sophie Willis
Nearly eight in ten pharmacies are not financially sustainable in the short term, according to results of an economic analysis of the pharmacy sector in England conducted by Frontier Economics and IQVIA. The NHS England-commissioned analysis, published on 28 March 2025, looked at “the full economic costs of delivering NHS pharmaceutical services,” as well as whether community pharmacy businesses are sustainable under the current funding model.
-
2 months ago | 
pharmaceutical-journal.com | Sophie Willis
With the announcement of a new contract for community pharmacy in England for 2024/2025 and 2025/2026, contractors can expect to see a 30% uplift in funding by 2026. Under the contract, pharmacies will receive more than £3bn per year in funding, with an additional £215m for Pharmacy First, the pharmacy contraception service and hypertension case-finding service.
-
2 months ago | 
pharmaceutical-journal.com | Sophie Willis
The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has advised its 6,000 member pharmacies in England to limit pharmacy services from 1 April 2025 “if no new and sufficient funding is delivered”. In a statement published on 18 March 2025, the NPA said the action was being taken “to protect patients, in the absence of a financial settlement that covers a swathe of new costs due to hit pharmacies from the start of next month”.
-
2 months ago | 
pharmaceutical-journal.com | Sophie Willis
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has launched a genomic surveillance programme for hepatitis C virus (HCV), “in a bid to monitor drug resistance, tackle harder to treat viral strains and detect outbreaks sooner”. In an announcement published on 12 March 2025, the UKHSA said the technology will allow “a better understanding of treatment outcomes to inform national treatment programmes, as well as transmission patterns to stop ongoing transmissions among populations at risk of HCV”.
