Pharmacy.Biz News

NICE chairman questions patient access schemes

The chairman of the National Institute for health and Clinical Excellence, Sir Michael Rawlins, has suggested that upfront discounts on new drugs may offer a simpler way to widen patient access to expensive medicines.
In an interview with the Financial Times, he said the present variety of patient access schemes designed by pharmaceutical companies to try to improve uptake of newer and more expensive products might not always be the best way.
“These schemes can sometimes be complicated for NHS trusts to implement due to factors such as difficulties of measurement or associated costs. In such cases, a simple discount may eliminate the need to put in place complicated schemes that require substantial management input,” he said.
Rawlins added that NICE, however, supported the use of patient access schemes because they could increase the cost-effectiveness of treatments, potentially helping patients to get treatment with costly products.

Germany is "hardly an attractive location" for generic drugs manufacturers, says Actavis CEO

Actavis chief executive, Dr Claudio Albrecht, has controversially suggested that Germany is not a good breeding ground for the manufacturing of generic drugs.

Albrecht, who was appointed to his current position at the Icelandic generic drug manufacturer in June, claimed that the company was making progress in pinning down niche markets despite the global recession biting hard, but insisted that “Germany is not an attractive location for business.”

“Germany has changed very much over the last years and is now hardly attractive as a location for a generic drugs manufacturer,” he told Pharma Adhoc in his first interview since assuming his post at Actavis. “The sell-out of the once world-leading German generics industry gives proof of this. Despite this situation, we do not want to leave the market but want to expand out market share.

“In addition to a wide range of generic drugs, we also have a line of well-known brand products that do not fall under the ruinous competitive bidding process in Germany, as well as an established hospital organisation that is already very strong in areas of local anaesthetics and antibiotics, and that will be increasingly present in oncology in the future. The range of OTC products can still be improved but we are on the right track to claiming niche markets.”
The global finincial crisis appeared to accelerate the sale of Actavis this year, with creditors around Deutsche Bank agreeing on a refinancing plan and appointing Albrecht, the former head of Ratiopharm, as chief executive. Albrecht played down rumours that Actavis was up for sale.

“Our industry is notorious for the speed at which rumours spread,” he said. “I cannot confirm that we were actively seeking a buyer for Actavis. There are of course talks about a closer co-operation with our competitors time and again, but we never officially entered a selling process. We are firmly aiming at restoring the company's financial strength, investment attractiveness and consequently its competitiveness for the future.”

The future for the generic drugs industry and drugs companies, Albrecht mainatained, depends on the companies investing “significantly higher amounts in research and development.” He added: “With the emerging tendering niche suppliers will occasionally score successes, but this cannot be a long-term strategy or a calculable corporate concept. Focusing on short-term profits through tendering is no sustainable plan, it is pure gamble.

“Dimensions are changing, the future lies with those who are financially and technologically able to push development of the new generation of pharmaceuticals and to sell it across a wide territory. Germany is currently basing its provision of pharmaceuticals on niche suppliers; that, too, is not a sustainable strategy.”
Albrecht believes that brand name generic drugs, in the short term, are losing their importance, particularly on the Western markets. “The eastern European markets will follow the trend, at the latest once the social security systems force the states to lower costs. In the long run, however, the significance of brands will increase,” he said.

“The entire big future market of biosimilars is entirely located in the brand segment. The more unique selling points products have, the more of a role the brand is going to play. In addition, there will be room for a wide spectrum of mass medication indicating nothing but the names of active ingredients – but this will hardly be products of Europe or the USA. The winners in this area will be the good suppliers from the Asian markets.”

Stock shortages sends pharmacy into crisis

Pharmacy has been plunged into disarray after it emerged that stock shortages have soared and high profile government talks to solve the crisis have had no impact at grassroots level.

Over 80% of pharmacists revealed that getting hold of branded medicines was tougher than ever, a survey in Chemist and Druggist highlighted. Sinemet, Femara, Zyprexa and Cipralex were named among the most difficult to obtain.

Nearly 90% of pharmacists spent over an hour a week trying to source key medicines. The figure equates to seven working days a year spent chasing drugs. Most said they were braced for worse to come in 2011, with 60% predicting wide shortages.

The findings come despite an emergency stock summit called by the health secretary in March and six months of talks between the Department of Health, manufacturers, pharmacy bodies and wholesalers. Eighty six per cent of respondents branded these efforts to solve shortages as "poor." Some respondents said more than 50 drugs were still out of stock at their wholesalers.

A third of patients fail to get tested for chlamydia because they are too embarrassed

The National Pharmacy Association has found that around one in three patients do not get tested for chlamydia because they are too embarrassed.
The survey of 2,000 people found 35% of 16 to 25-year olds cited embarrassment as a reason not to get tested for the STI. Overall only 42% of those surveyed were aware people with chalmydia could be asymptomatic.
However, young people came out on top in terms of education about where to go for help, with only 2.3% unable to name a location they could be tested. Nine out of 10 18 to 24-year olds surveyed knew a GP could provide screening, with one in four listing pharmacies as an option for testing.
People aged 45-54 years were the least aware of sexual health services, with 6.7% of those surveyed unable to name any location they could be screened for chlamydia.

Research states that antivirals are safe for women in the first trimester of pregnancy

A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association claims that antivirals are safe to prescribe to women in the first trimester of pregnancy.

In the national registry-based study, the link between exposure to aciclovir, valaciclovir, and famciclovir in the first trimester of pregnancy and major birth defects was investigated. The team also examined risks in subgroups of major birth defects by organ system.

A total of 837,795 infants were born over the 13-year study period. Among 1,804 pregnancies exposed to aciclovir, valaciclovir, or famciclovir in the first trimester, 40 infants (2.2%) were diagnosed with a major birth defect compared with 19,920 (2.4%) among those not exposed. The team also found no associations between antiviral drug exposure and 13 different subgroups of birth defects, although the number of exposed cases in each subgroup was small.

The authors commented that their study "may support informed decisions on safety when prescribing antivirals for herpes infections in early pregnancy" and one added: "Aciclovir is the most extensively documented antiviral and should therefore be the drug of choice in early pregnancy, while data on valaciclovir and famciclovir are still insufficient."

The EMEA investigates link between swine flu vaccine Pandemrix and narcolepsy

The European Medicines Agency is investigating a possible link between the swine flu vaccine Pandemrix and cases of narcolepsy.

The review comes after a limited number of cases of narcolepsy were reported in Sweden and Finland, although the agency said at present it is unclear if the vaccine caused the disorder. The EMEA's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) will examine the evidence for a causal link between the vaccine and narcolepsy at its September meeting.

UK drug regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), said it was aware of the case reports and will assist the evaluation process. However, a spokesperson stressed that "after use of more than six million doses of swine flu vaccine in the UK, no cases of narcolepsy have been reported following vaccination in the UK. Pandemrix vaccine remains available for use as recommended."

"Global experience with previous large-scale immunisation programmes has shown that it is likely that a certain level of adverse events will be reported. Having reviewed the currently available data and information, as well as GSK’s own safety database, the company has concluded that the currently available information is insufficient to assess the likelihood of a causal relationship between Pandemrix and narcolepsy."

Health White Paper takes Lansley on a tour of primary care centres

Health secretary Andrew Lansley will visit a series of primary care centres as part of a White Paper consultation.
Last week pharmacy minister Earl Howe visited the St Peter’s Hill surgery in Grantham, Lincolnshire, and met local GPs to hear their views. He described the practice as "a model" for what the Department of Health would like to see across England.
Lansley recently met local GPs at Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital, which doubles as an out-of-hours centre, as part of a series of ‘listening events’ across England. He said he will visit every strategic health authority area "to listen first hand to those who deliver and access the services that we all want to see improved."
Health minister Simon Burns was set to visit the Colchester Primary Care Centre in Essex on Wednesday and on Thursday Earl Howe will visit a GP commissioning group in Sheffield. Four consultations on the various aspects of the White Paper will run until October 11.

Macmillan Cancer Support joins forces with Boots UK to improve cancer support

Macmillan Cancer Support and Boots UK have launched a three-year partnership which aims to provide two million people living with cancer, and their family and friends, increased access to the information and support they need.

A new online poll by YouGov on behalf of Macmillan highlights that cancer is the biggest health care worry for more than half (54%) of the population. The charity expects the current level of people affected by cancer to double to four million in 2030.

Through their three-year partnership, Macmillan and Boots UK are aiming to improve the lives of those affected by cancer and increase access and awareness of the services and support Macmillan provide.

As the UK’s leading pharmacy-led health and beauty retailer, Boots UK offers invaluable access to a huge number of people through close to 2,500 stores and the millions of customers who visit these stores each week.

Together, Macmillan and Boots UK will deliver more ways to access information about living with cancer to the high street, in local communities and online. Indeed, Macmillan aims to train 15,000 Boots pharmacists, dispensers and healthcare assistants on the issues surrounding cancer, and in the first year of the partnership, this will focus on the advice support and services that are available to them through Macmillan.

This will build on the specialist training that Boots Health care colleagues already receive to enable them to offer even more comprehensive health care advice on the high street and in local communities. In the first year, customers will also be able to pick up leaflets and general information about cancer from all Boots stores.

“The number of cases of cancer is increasing at a frightening rate so that soon the majority of people in the UK will know someone who is living with the condition," Ciarán Devane, chief executive at Macmillan Cancer Support, said. "Members of the public need to be able to find out answers to general questions about cancer so they can help support friends and family or have confidence to speak to a health professional about their concerns, which is why we’re delighted to be working with Boots UK to help enable us to meet this demand.”

According to Macmillan, over a quarter (26%) of the British population say they want to understand more about their friends’ and family members’ illnesses in order to provide them with greater support. Twenty-nine percent also feel responsible for their family’s health and want to find general information in order to know what symptoms to look out for.

SSL International teams up with Bounty to launch new product

SSL International will work with Bounty Parenting Club’s health advisors to launch its Medifen Oral Suspension to health care professionals via the Bounty Health Network.

Medinol for Children is an oral paracetamol suspension that has been used for over 33 years to provide effective pain and fever relief for babies and children from three months. Medinol is free from artificial colours and contains no sugar, alcohol or animal fats giving mums that added peace of mind. From September Medifen, an oral ibuprofen suspension treatment, will be launched to compliment the range. Both Medinol for Children and Medifen will include an easy dosing syringe to help parents with easy administration.

The Bounty Health Network is a specialised team who visit and make presentations to maternity and infant health care professionals involved in the care of pregnant mums and young families. These advisers provide an educational programme detailing products and services designed for mums and mums-to-be, reaching 35,000 professionals around the country each year.

Claire Evans, brand manager at SSL International, said: "We are thrilled to be working with the Bounty Health Network for the first time as we see no better way to educate health care professionals about Medifen, allowing them to talk knowledgably to new families about this new product, which provides a welcome alternative analgesic to what is currently on offer. "Through this new partnership we will be able to reach 11,000 of these professionals from September – December of this year and are confident that this campaign will be a great success for the Medinol brand."

Alison Poole, professional relations director at Bounty, commented: “We are extremely proud of the highly valued service that the Bounty Health Network provides to health professionals and feel privileged that SSL International has chosen to utilise the fantastic service we provide to launch this new product.”

For further information about Bounty Health Network, contact Paul Burgon on 01707 294212 or email pburgon@bounty.com.

Depression drug Seroquel XR approved as a supplemental treatment by the European Commission

Drug maker AstraZeneca has claimed that the European Commission has approved Seroquel XR as an add-on treatment for major depressive disorder in patients who have not responded to an existing antidepressant.

Seroquel XR has already been approved in 72 countries for schizophrenia and has also been widely approved for bipolar disorders. The Seroquel franchise had sales of $1.35 billion in the second quarter, accounting for 16% of AstraZeneca's revenue, but has been subject to long-running legal claims after being linked to an increased risk of diabetes.

The Anglo-Swedish company agreed to pay $198 million to settle some 17,500 U.S. personal injury claims related to the medicine last month. The EC decision followed a positive recommendation by the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use in April.

AstraZeneca said it would seek local approvals in European markets, a process that take 30 days for the 17 states in a mutual recognition procedure.