Full-Page Advert in Manufacturing Chemist

To coincide with this year’s PPMA exhibiton, Hanningfield are proud to have a full-page advert on display in the September issue of Manufacturing Chemist.

The advert can be found on Page 86 of the magazine, which will be distributed for free at the exhibition this week. Be sure to look out for our advert or for a sneak preview click here. Please let us know if you have any feedback (info@hanningfield.com)

Enjoy the exhibition everyone! The Team at Hanningfield Process Systems.

Aesica is licensed to manufacture controlled substances in UK

Source: Manufacturing Chemist

Aesica Pharmaceuticals, a global supplier of active pharmaceuticalingredients (APIs), finished dosage forms and custom synthesis solutions, has been licensed to manufacture controlled substances at its site at Cramlington in the UK.

The Home Office licence allows Aesica to manufacture and supply substances listed in Schedule 2 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. Granting of the licence follows a programme of investment to enhance the security of the site and its buildings, and the implementation of special procedures for handling of controlled substances.

The site is now able to offer facilities for contract manufacture of controlled APIs in quantities from a few kg at its GMP pilot plant to tonnes at one of its bulk API plants. The first contract-manufactured controlled drug for one of Aesica’s customers is already in production.

‘This is a significant step forward for Aesica in terms of broadening our capabilities in line with our customers’ demand,’ said Adam Sims, commercial director of Aesica.

Aesica can now offer controlled drug manufacturing at Queenborough and Cramlington in the UK, covering active ingredient synthesis and manufacture and packaging of finished dosage pharmaceutical forms.

Date: 28/09/2009
Source Location: http://www.manufacturingchemist.com/story.asp?sectioncode=109&storycode=56400&c=1

Abbott, Solvay $7.1 Billion Unit Deal Said to Be Near

Source: Bloomberg Online

Abbott Laboratories is close to an agreement to buy Solvay SA’spharmaceutical unit for about 4.8 billion euros ($7.1 billion) to get full control of the TriCor cholesterol pill, according to three people with knowledge of the situation.

An agreement may be announced as soon as tomorrow, said the people, who declined to comment publicly because the talks are private. Nycomed A/S, of Switzerland, and Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., of Japan, also contended to buy the unit, the people said.

Buying Solvay’s drug business would be a change of course for Abbott Chief Executive Officer Miles White, who has been acquiring medical devices and eye products to reduce reliance on medicines. Abbott is battling generic competition to its anti- seizure treatment Depakote and risks losing sales of the arthritis drug Humira — the company’s biggest product with $4.5 billion in revenue last year — as consumers cut spending.

The purchase price includes 4.5 billion euros in cash, with up to 300 million euros in contingent payments between 2011 and 2013, said a person with knowledge of the situation. The milestones relate to whether products perform well, the person said. The deal also may include other costs, this person said.

TriCor Co-Promotion

Abbott, of Abbott Park, Illinois, and Brussels-based Solvay co-promote TriCor, which generated $1.34 billion in revenue last year for Abbott and 511 million euros for Solvay. The companies also work jointly on TriLipix, a cholesterol treatment introduced this year. The Brussels-based maker of pharmaceuticals, chemicals and plastics has been weighing an initial public offering or sale of its drug unit since April.

Erik De Leye, a spokesman for Solvay, and Melissa Brotz, an Abbott spokeswoman, declined to comment in telephone interviews today.

Solvay, which introduced one of the first modern antidepressants in 1983, ranks as the world’s biggest producer of soda ash, used to make glass and modify the acidity of shampoos. The company gets much of its annual revenue from the automotive and construction industries, among the hardest hit by the recession.

The drug business produced revenue of 2.7 billion euros last year, or 28 percent of Solvay’s total sales. The company focuses on two therapeutic areas — cardiometabolics, which includes its best-selling product Tricor, and neuroscience, including the Duodopa treatment for Parkinson’s disease.

Top-Selling Products

TriCor, known chemically as fenofibrate, is used to reduce triglycerides and adjust cholesterol levels. Solvay’s other top- selling products are Androgel, a testosterone gel, and Creon, a pancreatic enzyme to treat cystic fibrosis.

Solvay, founded by the Belgian family of the same name, said in April it was considering options for the drug unit amid a wave of acquisitions in the industry. The possibilities included selling it to another company, forming a partnership, keeping the operation or selling shares in an initial public offering.

Abbott rose 39 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $47.33 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading on Sept. 25. Solvay fell 1.17 euros, or 1.5 percent, to 74.73 euros in Brussels trading.

Nycomed, whose owners include Nordic Capital and a buyout unit of Credit Suisse Group AG, offered 4 billion euros to 4.5 billion euros for the Solvay unit, people familiar with the situation said on Sept. 25. Nycomed wanted to buy the business to expand in preparation for an initial public offering in 2011, a person with knowledge of the matter said on Sept. 11.

Authors: Albertina Torsoli and Jacqueline Simmons
Date: 27-09-2009
Source Location: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a0FL48DrJ_fM

Pharma and chemical leaders believe UK manufacturing sector is undervalued

Source: Plastics and Rubber Weekly

Steve Elliott, chief executive of the Chemical Industries Association (CIA), has called for greater support for the country’s manufacturing sector.

He revealed the results of a survey, which showed that politicians, the banks and the education system are failing the manufacturing sector. The CIA survey found that 87% of business leaders in the chemical andpharmaceutical industry feel that politicians of all parties do not understand the significance of manufacturing and do not have the right policies to support it.

Manufacturing is also being let down by the education sector and banks according to 78% of those surveyed.

Elliott said: “The UK has good industrial infrastructure and we could be well placed to lead the transition to a low carbon economy but the failure of politicians to understand industries that actually make things puts those strengths at risk.

“Politicians speak about rebalancing the economy and of new green jobs in manufacturing but we lack a convincing strategy for making the UK an attractive place to manufacture.

“The government must start today with measures, such as support for short-term working, and in the long-term benchmark the UK against its competitors on tax, support for R&D, investment in infrastructure and being welcoming to business.”

Author: Anthony Clark
Date: 24 September 2009
Location: http://www.prw.com/subscriber/headlines2.html?cat=1&id=1253792881

Improving tablet production and handling with pneumatic conveying

Article from Healthcare Packaging Online

Vacuum technologies can streamline production, reduce costs, and provide sustainability benefits.
Compressed tablets are still the most popular dosage form for pharmaceuticals. More than 75% of pharmaceutical products are sold in solid dosage form. Strong growth is predicted for compressed tablets due to the explosion of the nutraceuticals market, especially in the United States.
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The potential for growth in tablet manufacturing is high. However, several challenges and trends are threatening the profit potential. Today,pharmaceutical manufacturers are challenged to evolve their production processes in order to survive and excel in an increasingly competitive industry. While product quality has always been of paramount importance, strenuous economic times and continually inflating drug prices are heightening consumer demand for lower-priced prescriptions. Tablet manufacturers are more than ever seeking new ways to automate their lines to speed and streamline production.

By automating the conveying process, vacuum technologies can improve productivity and enhance quality. In addition, selecting a vacuum technology that is maintenance-free and energy efficient can allow tablet manufacturers to cut costs and meet challenging consumer demands for quality pharmaceuticals and lower prices.

Offering a safer environment

In general, reducing manual labor through automated vacuum conveying can improve working conditions by reducing heavy lifting. In addition, American manufacturers must abide by Safety, Health and Environment (SHE) regulations enforced by the U.S. Dept. of Occupational Safety & Health Administration. In Europe, the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working conditions (Eurofounda) oversees the improvement of industrial working conditions.

Heat, dust, and noise are all pollutants in the working environment that detract from worker safety and the stringent sanitation demands for pharmaceutical and chemical production. Tablet manufacturers can greatly reduce manual labor and diminish exposure to environmental irritants with the installation of vacuum conveying equipment that moves dry powder products through dedicated pipe systems. These systems fully contain the powders to minimize dust and also generate less heat. To ensure the highest standard of worker safety, the conveyors should also have few moving parts, and be easily assembled and disassembled to reduce worker strain.

Increasing uptime

Given the 24/7 production runs in pharmaceutical manufacturing, automation technologies must be reliable. There is no time for line stoppages or ongoing maintenance. Additionally, changeovers can add costs and downtime. A vacuum conveyor must facilitate changeover or risk negating the gains realized through automation.
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Simple solutions can effectively combat the erosion of productivity caused by line stoppages, maintenance, or changeover. Vacuum technologies with few moving parts are not only safer; they are maintenance-free and can reduce downtime. Conveyors that are easily handled by workers are more quickly assembled and disassembled, reducing the time it takes for equipment adjustments between batches and during cleanings. Machines containing fewer components also help minimize part mix-ups and help to prevent line stoppages.

Other vacuum conveyor benefits include the following:

• Cost-effective, easy cleaning. In addition to aiming to reduce changeover time, tablet manufacturers must also prevent cross-contamination of the product. A vacuum conveyor that is easily disassembled for quick cleanup is a cost-efficient way of averting cross-contamination.

• Reduced energy consumption. As energy costs soar, the reduction of energy usage is a strategic step to trim expenses from pharmaceutical manufacturing operations. In addition, reducing energy consumption is good for sustainability efforts. Conveying systems powered by decentralized vacuum technologies are more energy-efficient than their centralized counterparts. While a centralized vacuum system puts more distance between the source of the power and the point of use, a decentralized vacuum system uses multistage ejector technology to apply the vacuum where needed. This way, no additional energy is expended to compensate for the extra distance.

• Optimized automation. Automating the tablet-handling process affords many advantages and conveniences to pharmaceutical manufacturers, including increased productivity and reduced staff injury. However, poorly designed automated conveying systems can cause segregation and tablet breakage. Simple precautions can be taken to avoid incurring the costs of product waste as a result of either event.

• Prevent segregation. Particle separation prior to tablet compression, known as segregation, can threaten the integrity of drug dosages and jeopardize the uniformity of a batch. Segregation can occur during tablet production as a result of gravity and particle characteristics, and due to external factors such as airflow and vibration. When implementing vacuum conveying, segregation risk can be reduced by handling the material at a controlled speed to ensure that the materials stay blended.

• Prevent tablet breakage. Tablets can also break due to exposure to friction and shock during or after the manufacturing process. A broken tablet is susceptible to contamination, rendering it useless. As a result, product waste can accumulate and cause production delays. To prevent breakage, tablet manufacturers can employ an accommodating vacuum conveying system. To start, the conveying system should have an adaptable feed rate to enable the system to be sped up or slowed depending on the size or volume of the tablets being handled. Also, the vacuum conveyor’s tubing and piping specifications along with couplings can be designed to reduce speed and avoid product damage. The tubing and piping should have soft curves to avoid tablet breakage.

In conclusion, vacuum automation technologies can play a key roll in streamlining tablet production. By taking the right precautions in installing a reliable, efficient vacuum conveying system, manufacturers can increase their productivity, reduce energy usage, and improve their work environments. As companies harness vacuum technology to advance tablet production, more efficient conveying systems will translate into cost savings, helping tablet manufacturers stay competitive by enabling them to produce more affordable prescriptions.

Author: Häla El Sheemy
Source: http://www.healthcare-packaging.com/archives/2009/04/improving_tablet_production_an.php
Date: 24/04/2009

BioSante Pharmaceuticals and Cell Genesys Announce Final Exchange Ratio for Merger

BioSante Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: BPAX) and Cell Genesys, Inc. (NASDAQ: CEGE), today announced that they have determined the final exchange ratio as 0.1828 in connection with the previously announced merger between the companies. If the merger is completed, Cell Genesys stockholders will receive 0.1828 of a share of BioSante common stock for each share of Cell Genesys common stock they hold immediately prior to the effective time of the merger. Each company is scheduled to hold a special meeting of stockholders on September 30, 2009 at which time stockholders will be asked to approve the merger. BioSante and Cell Genesys expect to close the proposed merger promptly after such stockholder approvals have been obtained.

The exchange ratio was calculated pursuant to the terms of the definitive merger agreement entered into on June 29, 2009 between BioSante and Cell Genesys and was based on Cell Genesys’s net cash, less certain expenses and liabilities, as of September 20, 2009, a date ten calendar days preceding the anticipated closing date of the merger. The parties determined that Cell Genesys’s net cash as of such determination date was $23.8 million. Since this amount exceeded the applicable net cash target amount of $22.1 million by $1.7 million, the exchange ratio was adjusted upwards from 0.1615 of a share of BioSante common stock to 0.1828 of a share of BioSante common stock. If the merger is completed, BioSante will issue an aggregate of approximately 20.2 million shares of BioSante common stock to holders of Cell Genesys common stock and current BioSante stockholders will own approximately 62 percent of the outstanding common stock of the combined company and current Cell Genesys stockholders will own approximately 38 percent of the outstanding common stock of the combined company, assuming the number of outstanding shares of BioSante and Cell Genesys common stock remains unchanged until immediately prior to the effective time of the merger.

www.newsticker.welt.de

Spectrum Pharmaceuticals Receives $50 Million from Institutional Investors at $7.55 Per Share

Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NasdaqGM:SPPI), a commercial-stage biotechnology company with a focus primarily in oncology, today announced that it has received $50 million from existing institutional investors in a previously announced registered direct offering. Spectrum received net proceeds of approximately $47.5 million after deducting placement agent fees and other offering expenses.

All of the securities were offered pursuant to an effective shelf registration statement. Proceeds from the transaction will be used for general corporate purposes.

After the offering, the company has 48,707,303 shares issued and outstanding.

A shelf registration statement relating to the shares of common stock and warrants issued in the offering (and the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants) has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) and has been declared effective. A prospectus supplement relating to the offering was filed with the SEC. Copies of the prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus may be obtained directly from the Company by contacting Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 157 Technology Drive, Irvine, California 92618. This announcement is neither an offer to sell nor a solicitation of an offer to buy any of our shares of common stock or warrants. No offer, solicitation or sale will be made in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale is unlawful.

Rodman & Renshaw, LLC, a subsidiary of Rodman & Renshaw Capital Group, Inc., (Nasdaq: RODM), acted as the exclusive placement agent for the transaction.

Students help Pfizer improve their process

Rowan University (Glassboro, N.J.) chemical engineering students may help make a drug that eases the pain of arthritis sufferers gentler on the environment.

Rowan students Anthony Furiato, Kyle Lynch and Timothy Moroz have been working with Pfizer Inc. to improve the environmental profile of the manufacturing process for the active ingredient in the top-selling arthritis pain medication Celebrex (celecoxib).

Working with scientists and engineers from Pfizer’s Global Manufacturing Division headquarters in New York City, its Global Engineering group in Peapack, N.J., and its manufacturing site in Barceloneta, Puerto Rico, the student team is evaluating alternative approaches for solvent recovery. The objective is to reduce the net quantity of solvent waste from the manufacturing process. The Rowan team has been working with several Pfizer personnel, including Dr. Daniel R. Pilipauskas (director/team leader, Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Development Team), Frank J. Urbanski (director, Engineering Technology), Greg Hounsell (senior manager, Process Engineering) and Jorge Belgodere (manager/team leader, Manufacturing).

The project is one of several Rowan engineering clinic projects in which students are exploring green manufacturing strategies for pharmaceutical companies in the region. Started with funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2005, the Rowan “green” partnerships are seeking to improve process efficiency through green engineering design. Pfizer is sponsoring this clinic project through its Green Chemistry initiative. Drs. Mariano Savelski and C. Stewart Slater, of Rowan University, are advisors of the student clinic team.

“Most of the clinic projects have students working with an engineer from one corporate site, but in our project students have interacted with Pfizer scientists and engineers from manufacturing in New York City, engineering in New Jersey and plant operations in Puerto Rico,” Savelski said. Students presented their mid-term results in January to Pfizer management in New York City.

“Student work to date has been quite impressive. Their ideas for various processes are beneficial to us as we explore alternative methods for waste minimization to improve the environmental footprint of the process and make the operation more economical,” said Pfizer’s Hounsell.

Urbanski added, “In addition to providing the students an opportunity to apply their newly acquired engineering skill-base to a very real situation, I suspect the project also gave the students some perspective on the unique challenges faced by engineers in the pharmaceutical industry that will be of value to them as they begin their professional careers.”

“Working with the Rowan team, we have been able to explore many options and get to potential solutions quickly. Given that we are engaged with many such projects around the world, working with Rowan has been a valuable experience,” Pilipauskas said.

Students are in frequent contact with engineers at Pfizer to exchange ideas and solicit help with their project.

“This project provides Pfizer with several design strategies for recovery of the process solvent, used in the production of the drug, from waste streams,” Slater said. “We hope Pfizer can adopt these to make a more efficient process that reduces waste, energy and overall cost.”

The students are using computer simulations to predict the performance of their proposed solvent recovery operating schemes. Some of the separation methods the team is considering are distillation, extraction, membrane pervaporation and molecular sieve adsorption. They also are using a computer model to show how recovering the solvent improves the environmental footprint of the process and reduces greenhouse gas emissions.

Savelski and Slater were invited speakers at the Pfizer Solvent Operations Network conference in Peapack in February. They shared their expertise in solvent recovery with engineers from locations in Ireland, Puerto Rico, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The Rowan group will present its work at the 12th Green Chemistry and Engineering Conference in Washington, D.C., in June.

As for the future, Pfizer and Rowan project coordinators are discussing how to capitalize on this year’s success in further developing their partnership.

(Source: http://www.reliableplant.com/Article.aspx?articleid=12078)

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China shares at 3 week low..

HSI range-bound, off 13-month high hit last week

* Sinopharm up 15.8 pct, but market starts discounting rally

* U.S. Fed expected to keep policy rate steady (Updates to close)

By Claire Zhang and Nerilyn Tenorio

SHANGHAI/HONG KONG, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Chinese shares closed lower on Wednesday as the mainland markets remained weighed down by worries over excessive IPO share supply while Hong Kong began to discount the listing debut gains made by Sinopharm (1099.HK).
The markets, which also started factoring in expectations of stable monetary policies by both the United States and China, will be in search of new catalysts for their next trading move.
“People (on Wall Street) are still cautious, and here we would just follow that trading stance. We won’t be seeing very aggressive trading moves,” said Alex Wong, director at Ample Finance Group in Hong Kong.

In Shanghai, traders have started taking profit ahead of the week-long Chinese national holiday from Oct 1.
China’s top pharmaceutical firm Sinopharm debuted in a consolidating Hong Kong market with a 15.8 percent closing gain, which analysts said was relatively modest compared with China’s other recent new listings.
Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng Index .HSI settled 0.49 percent lower at 21,595.52 points, slipping off the 13-month closing high at the 21,700-level hit last week.
Turnover was HK$58.5 billion ($7.5 billion), up from Tuesday’s HK$50 billion.
The China Enterprises Index .HSCE of top locally listed mainland Chinese stocks was down 0.6 percent at 12,431.81.
Banks and financials were down 1.1 percent, with index heavyweight HSBC (0005.HK) down 1 percent at HK$90.80, China’s leading lender ICBC (1398.HK) down 0.82 percent at HK$6.06, and Bank of China (3988.HK) down 1.15 percent at HK$4.28.
Sinopharm Group Co Ltd, which raised $1.13 billion in its IPO, jumped to as high as HK$19.74, or 23.4 percent above its HK$16 issue price, before closing up 15.8 percent at HK$18.52.
Geely Automobile Holdings (0175.HK), China’s largest privately-owned carmaker, was up nearly 19 percent at HK$2.13, easing back from a 25.7 percent initial gain after the lifting of trading suspension. The carmaker said earlier that it planned to issue HK$2.59 billion ($334 million) in convertible bonds and warrants to an affiliate of Goldman Sachs (GS.N) [ID:nHKG310894].

www.reuters.com

Pharmaceutical plant axes 315 jobs

More than 300 jobs are being cut at a multinational pharmaceutical plant in the south-east, the latest massive jobs blow for the region.

Teva Pharmaceuticals in Waterford, one of the sector's top 20 firms, called employees into a meeting at its manufacturing plant on Friday morning to announce the lay-offs.

It is understood 315 out of the 730 strong workforce are being let go. The devastating losses compound the unemployment crisis in the region after hundreds of lay-offs at Waterford Crystal, electronic components firm ABB Transformers and contact lens maker Bausch & Lombe.

www.google.com

Pharmaceutical group to maintain drug rates

A MAJOR pharmaceutical group will not unilaterally raise drugs prices under the voluntary rate cut program without first obtaining the government’s approval.

In a press briefing, Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines (PHAP) President Oscar J. Aragon yesterday assured that the prices of 38 medicines under the government mediated access (GMAP) price would be maintained.
"We have signed an undertaking with the President that we would continue to lower prices and if we have any issues we must first seek the approval of the Department of Health (DoH)," said Mr. Aragon.

Under PHAP’s commitments, companies must first seek the DoH’s approval for any rate adjustments in GMAP-covered drugs.
PHAP members have voluntarily reduced the prices of 16 of 21 medicines from an original list submitted by the DoH to the Office of the President to be covered by the maximum drug retail price (MDRP). The five other drugs were required to halve their prices.
In addition to the 16 drugs, PHAP members also voluntarily included 22 other medicines under GMAP.

The MDRP is provided for under Republic Act 9502 or the Universally Accessible Cheaper and Quality Medicines Act of 2008. Recommended by the Secretary of Health for approval by the President, the MDRP is resorted to if there is no effective competition to lower drug prices.
Executive Order 821, which imposed the MDRP and detailed the GMAP, was implemented on Aug. 15. Smaller drug retailers with manual inventory systems have until Sept. 15 to comply with the order.

Mr. Aragon said PHAP is awaiting the results of the MDRP review in November.
"We hope that the review would show that the goal of the government [for more access to medicines] has been achieved and that less intervention is needed to make more drugs accessible," said Mr. Aragon.
He added that PHAP is hoping "more consumption of our products could balance the effect of the price reduction."

The DoH has said that it is studying proposals from pharmaceutical companies to add more drugs under the GMAP.

www.bworldonline.com

A quarter of heart patients don’t take their pills

At least a fourth of cardiac patients don’t take medicines prescribed to prevent heart attacks and strokes, a new study says.
The study results suggest that doctors need to pay more attention to the way patients take their medicines in line with recommendations in recent National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidance.

In a study of 472 heart patients registered with general practitioners, 29 percent failed to take drugs to prevent strokes and heart attacks regularly enough. And 23 percent missed doses of statins to reduce their cholesterol.
Women were slightly more likely to take their medicines on schedule than men, as were older patients and those taking larger numbers of medicines, said a Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) release.

“Simply prescribing a drug is not enough. Doctors and other members of the primary care team, such as pharmacists, need to work with patients so they understand the importance of taking their medicines in the right dose, at the right time,” concluded Wasim Baqir, pharmacologist from The Village Green Surgery, Sunderland.

These findings were presented at the RPS’ annual event, the British Pharmaceutical Conference in Manchester.

www.sindhtoday.net

New technology to spot fakes

Space-age technology is being used in a new, quick way of detecting fake pharmaceuticals, a university has said.
The Spectral ID project helps identify counterfeit drugs where differences cannot be seen by the untrained eye.
Developed from a spectrograph originally designed for astronomical research, trials have so far had a 100% success rate and the scientists behind it have been shortlisted for an award.
The project, which began in 2005, has been undertaken by Professor George Fraser and Professor Martin Gill, from the University of Leicester.

They found the need for a system that could quickly identify a counterfeit drug product in the field, rather than existing solutions involving costly laboratory testing.
Prof Fraser, director of the university's Space Research Centre, said: "Pharmaceutical manufacturers do not have a simple to use, speedy, non-destructible method of detecting counterfeits and we have the potential to offer just that.

"Feedback results from the use of our device are obtained within seconds."
The technique relies on detecting the differences between the characteristics of light reflected from printed packaging.
Dr Nigel Bannister, also from the Space Research Centre, was responsible for the Faulkes Telescope spectrometer, used to make the original tests on counterfeit goods

The space-age technology was developed with help from University of Leicester spin-out company Perpetuity Research and Consultancy International (PRCI) for use in removing counterfeit drugs from the market.

www.google.com

Society Welcomes Swine Flu Vaccinations For Pharmacists

At the special swine flu update session at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s annual conference, John Lawlor, Chief Operating Officer for NHS Flu Resilience, announced that pharmacists would now be on the priority staff list for vaccination against swine flu.

Commenting on the announcement, David Pruce, the Society’s Director of Policy and Communications said: “We welcome the announcement that pharmacists and their clinical staff who have regular clinical contact with patients, or are directly involved in patient care as part of their practice, will now be eligible for the vaccine.

“This anomaly was a bone of contention amongst the profession and the cause of a great deal of concern. Frontline pharmacists in community and hospital settings are highly likely to be treating patients with swine flu and we are pleased the Department has now remedied this issue.”

www.medicalnewstoday.com