Pharmacy - Articles

VRS-compliance is merely a part of DSCSA compliance. But that’s not enough because there are a number of things that need to be considered while achieving one milestone at a time. So, here’s a checklist with all the important pre-requisites for DSCSA compliance by 2023. Some of the important points of discussion would be the importance of FDA-NDC, what are FDA labelers, and how multiscanners help in streamlining VRS compliance with the help of look-up directories and FDA labelers.
According to WHO, one in 1 in 10 products in developing countries are found to be fake, which not only lead to fatalities but also dupes the economy of close to $200 billion annually. Each year close to 250,000 children die because of consumption of counterfeit drugs and similar effects are visible among the elde…

Surge in negative returns during the VRS process in the drug traceability industry can cause millions of dollars to companies. Negative returns are often incurred when single scanners are unable to screen through 2D barcodes, which multiscanners can do. The use of AR-enabled multiscanners can bring improvement in the rate of negative returns by eliminating the chance of non-readability.
A lot has been discussed about the building blocks of traceability- Unique identification through serialization, data capture through 2D and Datamatrix barcodes, link management and data communication through scanning; Thanks to the Drug Supply Chain Security Act requirements that have kept all the stakeholders of the pharmaceutical industry, one of the oldest industries in the world, busy with the realizat…

Do you know everything about return saleables? Do you know how to use it as a stepping stone to achieve DSCSA compliance? What are the critical success factors determining the success of verified return saleables? The article talks in details about the warehouse equipment required for VRS, the right tools required for verification, and the storage requirements during the VRS process.
The VRS-compliance deadline may have been pushed by 3 years, but following the journey to complete compliance, be it VRS or others, continues. The drug supply chain stakeholders were on their toes to get the right equipment to ensure that a delay in compliance does not come in their supply chain management. Now, they can relax and take their time for compliance. However, the need of supervision still remains.…

VRS-compliance is merely a part of DSCSA compliance. But that’s not enough because there are a number of things that need to be considered while achieving one milestone at a time. So, here’s a checklist with all the important pre-requisites for DSCSA compliance by 2023. Some of the important points of discussion would be the importance of FDA-NDC, what are FDA labelers, and how multiscanners help in streamlining VRS compliance with the help of look-up directories and FDA labelers.
According to WHO, one in 1 in 10 products in developing countries are found to be fake, which not only lead to fatalities but also dupes the economy of close to $200 billion annually. Each year close to 250,000 children die because of consumption of counterfeit drugs and similar effects are visible among the elde…

Earlier this year the European Medicines Agency updated its guidelines, clarifying how to maintain supply of UK-registered products in Europe following December 31. Here, Cecilia Avram, Senior Regulatory Affairs Manager at Arriello, assesses what needs to change.
Earlier this year the European Medicines Agency updated its guidelines, clarifying how to maintain supply of UK-registered products in Europe following December 31. Here, Cecilia Avram, Senior Regulatory Affairs Manager at Arriello, assesses what needs to change.   After months of Covid-related distractions, Brexit is back in the headlines - demanding new attention to how the life sciences industry will maintain cross-border product movement and manage regulatory administration from January 1. Updated guidelines for pharmaceuticals…

When Swine Flu came, skeptics saw a catastrophe that would bring the world's economy to its knees. Forward-thinkers saw an opportunity to be part of the solution and cashed on it. The current pandemic is not any different; the pharmacy industry can reap the Covid-19 windfall
We are in the middle of a once-in-a-century crisis that has spread across the world in a matter of months. The pharmacy industry has moved quickly into a crisis mindset, managing people's implications, protecting the business, and trying to be part of the solution. Two critical uncertainties will frame how the industry will emerge post-COVID. The first one is the depth and the duration of Covid-19 disruptions. The other fact is how bold the stakeholders are, and their willpower and ability to align with the new world or…

Data-sharing is crucial for any supply chain activity. But for drug manufacturing and the pharmaceutical sector, it has to be top-notch because the process is multi-layered and complicated. Considering the DSCSA guidance with the aim to combat circulation of counterfeit medicines, information-sharing in this particular sector should not just be streamlined but also be fast and secured. While error-free serialization is a pre-requisite for pharmaceutical track and trace under DSCSA compliance norms, the information in the form of data encryption is a mandate to increase the efficiency and security of the pharmaceutical supply chain.
Pharmaceutical Track and Trace: Sharing the Right Data for a Competent Supply Chain Management Data-sharing is crucial for any supply chain activity. But for dr…

The COVID outbreak in the beginning of 2020 has brought many industries to grinding halt, the primary of them being the Pharmaceutical industry. This one, in fact, has been facing a dilemma because of the pandemic situation. While the pharmaceutical supply chain is stretching itself to produce more medicines to address the increasing need of combating COVID, it is also facing the increasing threat of counterfeit drugs. In Brazil, which is the world’s second largest manufacturer of drugs is witnessing four times the number of counterfeit drug circulation. It is believed that close to 60 of their prescription drugs are being circulated as counterfeits. This is also growing pertinent in several African regions too, increasing the tension in the industry even further.
The COVID outbreak in the…

Coronavirus (CoV) is a large family of viruses that cause mild-to-severe illnesses, with common symptoms, such as cough and cold. The severe forms include Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS-CoV) and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS-CoV). The novel CoV (nCoV) is a new strain of virus that hadn’t been previously detected in humans. These viruses are zoonotic in nature, which means they are transmitted between animals and human patients.
The first outbreak of COVID-19 was detected in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, with an epidemiological link to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, where sale of live animals is conducted. After China's National Health Commission submitted reports, regarding the health condition of people and onset of the novel viral infection, to the World Health Or…

Summary: Opioid and drug misuse has profound economic and health consequences on Americans, including a rise in certain infectious diseases throughout our nation.
Opioid and drug misuse has profound economic and health consequences on Americans, including a rise in certain infectious diseases throughout our nation. Drug misuse is linked to marked increases in acute hepatitis C infections, increases in acute hepatitis B infections in some states, and hepatitis A outbreaks in 30 states since 2016. Injection drug use has also been associated with local HIV outbreaks in multiple areas of the country. In 2017, approximately 9% of new HIV cases in the United States were linked to injection drug use, threatening prior progress made in reducing HIV. The data show that we cannot look at…

Alzheimer's disease is one of the most common neurodegenerative disorder for the elderly. Early-onset Alzheimer's is rare that develops before age 65, primarily genetically influenced. Generally, the patients older than age 65 who account for a large proportion among the whole patients suffer from late-onset Alzheimer’s. The patients with late-onset Alzheimer’s have to fight against a series of frustrating symptoms, such as memory loss, poor language skills, unstable emotions, and no self-care ability, which may lead to numerous troubles or burden for themselves and the family members.
Alzheimer's disease is one of the most common neurodegenerative disorder for the elderly. Early-onset Alzheimer's is rare that develops before age 65, primarily genetically influenced. Generally, the patients…

Mojgan Sani has recently taken over the role of Chief Pharmacist at North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust. Here she talks about how the automation of medication management can help meet many of the challenges currently facing the NHS.
Accessibility to social care isn’t the only issue causing bed blocking across the NHS – pharmacy have a crucial role to play in freeing up bed space too. As a profession, we need to look at streamlining the process for To Take Out (TTO) medication and how automation can achieve this.  The latest annual inpatient survey by the Care Quality Commission found 73% of patients “whose discharge had been delayed” said the main reason was “that they had to wait for medicines”.  Of the 76,668 patients who responded more than a quarter said they had wa…

Compared to polyclonal antibodies, monoclonal antibodies have multiple advantages, featured by strong specificity for a single epitope, little or no variability, and the easy operation to modify and customize in terms of different needs, thereby turning out to be the most suitable candidate for recombinant antibodies (rAbs). The rAbs are obtained through sequencing of the animal's immune cells and inserting the gene into a suitable cell strain, such as bacterium, yeast, and mammalian cells. Even if the original cell strain dies or is mutated, the desired cell strain can be generated by gene insertion since the antibody is definitive.
In general, polyclonal antibodies are made by collecting blood from an immunized animal stimulated with a target antigen, which can be provided all the time as…

Bispecific antibody (BsAb) is an artificially engineered antibody that can simultaneously bind two specific epitopes or target proteins with some special biological functions, such as directly targeting effector cells to tumor cells, to enhance cytotoxicity, improve antibody selectivity and functionality, and avoid immune escape mechanisms, thereby improving therapeutic efficacy. BsAb also reduces the cost of drug development and clinical trials compared to the combination of two monoclonal antibody drugs.
Bispecific antibody (BsAb) is an artificially engineered antibody that can simultaneously bind two specific epitopes or target proteins with some special biological functions, such as directly targeting effector cells to tumor cells, to enhance cytotoxicity, improve antibody selectivity a…

Here are the top Pharma and Life Science recruitment organisations advertising in September on PharmiWeb.jobs.
Barrington James Clinical - 206 Jobs RBW Consulting - 163 Jobs i-Pharm Consulting - 141 Jobs CHASE - 133 Jobs SEC Recruitment - 116 Jobs ID Search & Selection - 86 Jobs Clinical Professionals Ltd - 85 Jobs Hobson Prior - 76 Jobs CK Clinical - 68 Jobs Barrington James Europe - 63 Jobs X4 Life Sciences - 63 Jobs Advanced Regulatory (UK & Europe) - 60 Jobs Barrington James Medical / Executive - 58 Jobs Thornshaw Recruitment - 56 Jobs Barrington James Scientific - 48 Jobs Only Medics Recruitment ltd - 46 Jobs Planet Pharma Staffing Limited - 45 Jobs Umbilical Life - 44 Jobs ProClinical Ltd - 39 Jobs CTC Resourcing Solutions - 34 Jobs Volt - 31 Jobs Haybury - 31 Jobs Advanced S…

A list of the TOP Pharma Companies who are hiring this month (September)
Covance - 388 Jobs BSI Group - 167 Jobs PRA Health Sciences - 105 Jobs PPD- 81 Jobs Roche - 77 Jobs Synteract- 74 Jobs United BioSource Corporation. - 69 Jobs Cytel - 68 Jobs Syneos Health - 52 Jobs CROMSOURCE - 51 Jobs IQVIA - 36 Jobs AstraZeneca - 36 Jobs Celgene - 32 Jobs IQVIA Biotech - 21 Jobs Oxford BioMedica (UK) Limited - 16 Jobs Lonza - 16 Jobs Grunenthal GmbH - 14 Jobs   Register and Upload Your CV Now

As reported recently, in the last six years, nearly 600 GP surgeries have closed, affecting almost two million patients. The closures have been blamed on underfunding, under-resourcing and an ongoing recruitment crisis. Here, Oliver Pittock, managing director of healthcare consumables supplier Valley Northern, comments.
As reported recently, in the last six years, nearly 600 GP surgeries have closed, affecting almost two million patients. The closures have been blamed on underfunding, under-resourcing and an ongoing recruitment crisis. Here, Oliver Pittock, managing director of healthcare consumables supplier Valley Northern, comments. The coming years will be crucial for the NHS. It’s been suggested that in the next five years, the NHS could be short of 7,000 GP’s if the budget for traini…

According to a recent report, care home residents account for around 250,000 emergency hospital admissions each year. However, it’s estimated that 40 per cent of these admissions could be avoided with a better understanding of a resident’s health needs and the medication they consume. But what can be done to reduce this figure? Here, Adrian Pittock, marketing director of healthcare consumables supplier, Valley Northern, explains more.
According to a recent report, care home residents account for around 250,000 emergency hospital admissions each year. However, it’s estimated that 40 per cent of these admissions could be avoided with a better understanding of a resident’s health needs and the medication they consume. But what can be done to reduce this figure? Here, Adrian Pittock, marketing…

Antibody drug conjugate (ADC) is a biologically active cytotoxic drug linked to a monoclonal antibody (mAb) by a chemical bond, and a monoclonal antibody (mAb) is used as a carrier to transport the cytotoxic drug to the target cells. This novel drug has brought a new trend in the field of cancer treatment and aroused interest of more and more people.
what is an antibody drug conjugate? Antibody drug conjugate (ADC) is a biologically active cytotoxic drug linked to a monoclonal antibody (mAb) by a chemical bond, and a monoclonal antibody (mAb) is used as a carrier to transport the cytotoxic drug to the target cells. This novel drug has brought a new trend in the field of cancer treatment and aroused interest of more and more people. So what are the features and history of ADCs and why are t…