Business news
 Business The NPA has teamed up with online pharmacy TheHealthcounter.com to offer their independent members a range of online services, from click and collect to home delivery |
 Alliance Boots’ Almus generics range is booming as it capitalises on patent expiries, the company says, so what are the wider implications for pharmacy? |
 As dispensed items in England pass one billion for the first time, how has the NHS drugs bill changed? |
 With an eye for technological innovation and a background in retail, Celesio UK MD Cormac Tobin sets out his vision for the Lloydspharmacy of the future |
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Category M Barometer April’s category M tariff brings with it a positive reimbursement adjustment, boosting the average pharmacy’s purchase profit by about £310 over the next three months |
 At the launch of the partnership between Alliance Boots and The Christie oncology hospital, C+D asks how the role of pharmacy in cancer care is changing. |
 Following the £4.27 billion merger between Boots and US healthcare giant Walgreens, and the announcement this week that the No.7 brand will be rolled out across the US, C+D reporter Emma Weinbren asks what will the ramifications will be for Boots. |
Comment
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The GPhC claims to “protect, promote and maintain the health, safety and wellbeing of members of the public”. Well, this idea doesn’t, writes Xrayser |
 Time is once again running out, writes Jennifer Richardson, on this occasion to claim not just this year's cash but the future of the NMS |
 Apply a commercial scenario to the contract funding negotiations and PSNC should be held responsible to its pharmacist shareholders, writes Jennifer Richardson |
 After another financially difficult year for community pharmacy, Emma Weinbren asks if more pharmacies – multiples and independents alike – should follow Boots in focusing on retail over dispensing and services |
 Free monitored dosage systems are a loss-leader that needs to be addressed, writes Xrayser, so why won't pharmacy bodies pull their heads out of the sand? |
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With shoplifting costing pharmacy over a million pounds a year, crime clearly doesn't pay – and neither, by the looks of things, do methadone services, writes Jennifer Richardson |
 Just as the posters proclaim for railway and hospital workers, all pharmacists and pharmacy staff should have the right to work without the fear of violent crime, writes Jennifer Richardson |
Category M Barometer
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Alliance Boots’ Almus generics range is booming as it capitalises on patent expiries, the company says, so what are the wider implications for pharmacy? |
 Business Pharmacists in England are suffering their biggest drop in revenue for four years, with some losing more than £100,000 from their annual revenue, contractors and pharmacy experts have warned. |
 Business Pharmacy businesses cannot rely on purchase profits from generic medicines and need to see their place in “the big holistic picture of the future”, Alliance Healthcare chiefs have warned. |
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Category M Barometer April’s category M tariff brings with it a positive reimbursement adjustment, boosting the average pharmacy’s purchase profit by about £310 over the next three months |
 Business The latest round of category M clawbacks could force pharmacies to close, with 100-hour pharmacies and independents being particularly vulnerable to the threat, industry experts have forecast. |
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Products
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GlaxoSmithKline has launched a £1.3 million TV campaign to promote its Pronamel toothpaste range. The TV advertisement is running for three weeks from this week and features a testimonial from a... |
 Bakery company Warburtons has added bran crackers to its range of gluten-free foods on prescription. The 150g boxes contain six portions of four crackers and are available from Alliance and... |
 SunSense Sun protection brand SunSense has launched a campaign this month to highlight the dangers of sun damage to primary-school children |
 Joy-Rides Travel sickness medicine Joy-Rides has reported a spike in sales since last year, a claim backed by data analyst SymphonyIRI Group |
Multiples
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Practice A PCT-commissioned scheme saw the Isle of Wight’s influenza vaccination rate climb by nearly 10 per cent, with particular success in the over-65 age group |
 Business Celesio UK chief Cormac Tobin (pictured) said he couldn't see any long-term benefits in selling food, claiming Boots was trying to be “a lot of things to a lot of people”, while Lloydspharmacy focused on healthcare. |
 Practice Rowlands Pharmacy has joined forces with charity Parkinson’s UK to offer support to sufferers through its 510 pharmacies. |
 Business Eight independent pharmacies and Tesco have joined the four largest multiples on a national services pilot aimed at demonstrating the "expanded role" that pharmacists can play within healthcare. |
IT Zone
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Practice It is crucial that independent contractors start gearing up for paperless prescriptions now, as GPs have been given the authority to set their own go-live date for the EPS, pharmacy trade body Numark has warned. |
 Practice PSNC was forced to rethink the funding of its PharmOutcomes database because of a revolt by some contractors who refused to pay for the "unproven software", C+D has learned. |
 Practice Jeremy Hunt has thrown down the gauntlet to NHS officials to create the "most modern digital health service in the world" and save £4.4 billion annually by becoming paperless in the next five years. |
 Public health Pharmacists are forced to hand deliver patient information to GPs because they don’t have secure email, Audit Scotland has highlighted, warning that a lack of information sharing could undermine the drive to reduce health inequalities. |