Third case of novel coronavirus infection identified in family cluster
Source: Health Protection Agency (HPA) Area: News The Health Protection Agency (HPA) has confirmed a third case of novel coronavirus infection in a family cluster, following the confirmed diagnosis of two cases announced over the past week. The patient, who is a UK resident and does not have any recent travel history, is recovering from a mild respiratory illness and is currently well. This latest case brings the total number of confirmed cases globally to 12, of which four have been diagnosed in the UK. (Source: NeLM - News)
Source: NeLM - News - February 18, 2013 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Source Type: news

Overview of responses to NHS Constitution consultation published
Source: Department of Health (DH) Area: News The government has published a report providing an overview of responses to the consultation on strengthening the NHS Constitution, which ran from 28 November 2012 to 28 January 2013 and received over 350 responses. The report sets out changes to the guiding 'Principles of the NHS Constitution'; regulations to change these principles will be laid before Parliament shortly. The updated constitution is expected to be published by April 2013. (Source: NeLM - News)
Source: NeLM - News - February 18, 2013 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Source Type: news

NHS Choices 'Behind the Headlines' article on the horsemeat investigation
Source: NHS Choices Area: News The 'Behind the Headlines' service from NHS Choices has featured an article discussing the concerns that have been raised about the safety of horsemeat, following an announcement from the Food Standards Agency (FSA) that it detected the presence of phenylbutazone ('bute') in horses slaughtered in the UK.   The assessment discusses the following:   . What is the background to the story? . What is 'bute'? . What are officials doing about the horsemeat contamination? . What is phenylbutazone? . Why is phenylbutazone banned? . What should I do if ...
Source: NeLM - News - February 18, 2013 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Source Type: news

NHS Choices 'Behind the Headlines' assessment: Smoking bans may help cut premature births
Source: NHS Choices Area: News The 'Behind the Headlines' service from NHS Choices has featured a quality assessment of a BBC News headline: "Smoking ban 'cuts premature births'" (February 15th 2013). The report was based on research published in the BMJ which looked at recorded premature birth trends in Belgium around the time of a public smoking ban there. Although this is not directly comparable to the bans in the UK countries, the assessment states that Belgium is a useful example to look at as they introduced public smoking bans in stages between 2006 and 2010.   The assessment discusses the research, its b...
Source: NeLM - News - February 18, 2013 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Source Type: news

Horizon scanning: Phase III data for eliglustat for Gaucher disease type 1
Source: BioSpace Area: News BioSpace has reported on new Phase III data for eliglustat tartrate, an investigational oral therapy for Gaucher disease type 1.   The randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled ENGAGE study evaluated the safety and efficacy of eliglustat tartrate in 40 treatment-naïve patients with Gaucher disease type 1. The primary endpoint was spleen size - spleen volume decreased by a mean of 28% in patients treated with eliglustat tartrate and increased by a mean of 2% in those treated with placebo (p<0.0001). Improvements in a number of secondary endpoints (e.g. platelet levels) were al...
Source: NeLM - News - February 18, 2013 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Source Type: news

Introduction of Best Practice Tariffs: qualitative and quantitative evaluation
Source: Department of Health (DH) Area: News An evaluation of the introduction of best practice tariffs (BPT) has been published. The evaluation was commissioned by the Department of Health and the research was carried out by health policy researchers at Nottingham University Business School and the University of Manchester's Institute for Population Health (see Link below for further details). (Source: NeLM - News)
Source: NeLM - News - February 15, 2013 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Source Type: news

Lessons from Europe: provider governance
Source: NHS Confederation Area: News A briefing outlining key insights from a 'Lessons from Europe' seminar that examined the impact of recent reforms in hospital governance in Spain and the Netherlands has been published on the NHS Confederation website. It identifies lessons for NHS managers and policymakers in England on how to approach the challenge of effective provider governance as the present NHS reforms are implemented. (Source: NeLM - News)
Source: NeLM - News - February 15, 2013 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Source Type: news

Review started on rebalancing medicines legislation and statutory professional regulation in pharmacy
Source: General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) Area: News The UK Chief Pharmaceutical Officers have started a review of the balance between medicines legislation and statutory professional regulation in pharmacy.   See link below for further details (Source: NeLM - News)
Source: NeLM - News - February 15, 2013 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Source Type: news

GPhC engaging with patients and the public, professionals, and stakeholders on inspection
Source: General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) Area: News Over the past month, the GPhC has been talking to pharmacy professionals and patients and members of the public about the development of a new approach to inspecting pharmacies.   See link below for more details (Source: NeLM - News)
Source: NeLM - News - February 15, 2013 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Source Type: news

EMA: Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products - strengthened interactions with patients and international partners
Source: European Medicines Agency (EMA) Area: News The European Medicines Agency's Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products will this year begin focusing on integrating the views of patients, expanding international cooperation and collaborating with health-technology-assessment (HTA) bodies for a better understanding of orphan designation. The Orphan-Medicinal-Product Regulation was introduced in the European Union (EU) to incentivise the development of medicines for rare diseases. Orphan designation can be granted at any stage of the development process to medicines that are intended for diagnosis, prevention or treat...
Source: NeLM - News - February 15, 2013 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Source Type: news

Review: Phosphodiesterase inhibitors for erectile dysfunction in men with severe renal disease
Source: Journal of Sexual Medicine Area: News Phosphodiesterase inhibitors are generally well tolerated and effective for treating erectile dysfunction (ED), including in patients with significant comorbidity. A review, published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, examined the safety and efficacy of phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors (PDE5) in adult men with erectile dysfunction and severe renal disease or who had received renal transplants.   The authors reviewed published studies of PDE5 inhibitors in patients receiving dialysis or renal transplants. They reported the following findings:   . Sild...
Source: NeLM - News - February 15, 2013 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Source Type: news

Mesalazine granules once-daily dose provides similar results to twice-daily dose in patients with active, left-sided ulcerative colitis.
The objective of the MOTUS study was to show non-inferiority of once-daily mesalazine versus twice-daily dosing for the induction of remission in active ulcerative colitis. As many patients with ulcerative colitis experience left-sided disease, the aim of the new sub analysis was to assess specifically the efficacy in patients with left-sided ulcerative colitis. (Source: NeLM - News)
Source: NeLM - News - February 15, 2013 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Source Type: news

Retrospective study: Early parenteral nutrition linked to higher death in critically ill children
Source: Reuters Health Area: News According to a report in Reuters Health, a retrospective study of 2,069 patients aged one month to 18 years (mean age 5.3 years) who were admitted to a PICU and who received early parenteral nutrition (defined as 25% of goal calories delivered within the first 48 hours of admission) were associated with higher mortality. After adjustment for Paediatric Index of Mortality (PIM)-2 score and centre, children who received early parenteral nutrition were about twice as likely to die as those who did not (odds ratio 2.11, p=0.0002). Also, median length of stay was significantly longer for t...
Source: NeLM - News - February 15, 2013 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Source Type: news

New accreditations from NICE
Source: NICE Area: News The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has accredited The British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology (BSACI) for its processes to produce BSACI guidelines and the College of Occupational Therapists (COT) for its processes to produce Practice Guidelines. (Source: NeLM - News)
Source: NeLM - News - February 15, 2013 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Source Type: news

NHS Diabetes to become part of the New Improvement Body from April 2013
Source: NHS Diabetes Area: News From April 1st a New Improvement Body (NIB) will be established to bring together the wealth of knowledge, expertise and experience of a number of NHS improvement organisations. As a consequence, NHS Diabetes will not exist in its current form after 31 March 2013.   A decision has not yet been taken on whether access to the website and the information and materials on it will be available after 31 March 2013. Users will be sign posted from the site as soon as it is known where electronic versions of the publications and resources can be accessed and obtained from April onwards. ...
Source: NeLM - News - February 15, 2013 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Source Type: news