Pharmacy Business

The Company Chemists Association (CCA) has said that the Government’s response to the Lords Public Services Committee report on medicines security has failed to address some major challenges being faced by the pharmaceutical sector. CCA chief Malcolm Harrison said, “It is clear that there is a considerable amount of work underway that is intended to ensure the supply of medicines in the UK.

The fourth Covid Inquiry report (vaccines and therapeutics) has recommended that during future health emergencies, the community pharmacies should be involved during the initial stages. The report observed, "In a future pandemic, vaccine deployment planners should use community pharmacies at an earlier stage, unless there are clear logistical or operational barriers to doing so.

Key Summary March saw the highest-ever A&E attendance (2.43 million), yet waiting times improved to their best levels in five years. Waiting lists are falling, more patients are treated within 18 weeks, and cancer diagnosis times have reached record highs. Despite progress and faster ambulance responses, NHS leaders warn demand remains extremely high following a prolonged winter.

Key Summary GLP-1 medicines can help people lose significant weight, but benefits often fade if treatment stops. Rising obesity rates are driven more by food systems, marketing, and lifestyle environments than individual choice. Healthier food, active living, and better environments deliver broader, long-term benefits for everyone — beyond what medication alone can achieve.

Lloyds Online Doctor will provide door delivery of prescriptions to its patients undergoing weight-loss treatments in Ireland. Patients who have online clinical weight-loss consultations with Pharmacy2U's Lloyds Online Doctor website can get their prescriptions delivered to their door by a pharmacy delivery partner or collect them from another pharmacy of their choice. It will also bring down the typical time taken to receive prescribed treatments from several days to 24-48 hours.

Key Summary Pharmacies saved hundreds of thousands of lives by delivering 40m vaccinations at the height of the Covid pandemic. Gregg said the government is playing with people’s lives if it does not ensure there is a strong pharmacy network. The inquiry report said the risks of the Covid-19 vaccines were managed and they were far outweighed by the benefits.

Community pharmacy in the UK is facing a pivotal moment. Pressures on GPs and wider NHS services continue to grow, while the need for public access and delivery of care is high. As a result, prevention is becoming well recognised as the most cost-effective way to protect population health.

Female Pharmacy Leadership Network (FPLN), which supports women across the pharmacy sector, announced its Community Interest Company (CIC) status on Monday (13). The new status provides a clear structure for FPLN, which ensures full utilisation of its earnings for community work, with strict accountability as per the law. FPLN co-founder Komal George told Pharmacy Business that the new CIC status offers two advantages. “The first is permanence.

Key Summary Two in five online pharmacies said they have seen patients unwittingly buy weight loss medication from unregulated providers. In many cases, the illicit provider had copied logos of regulators such as Care Quality Commission and the General Pharmaceutical Council. Many pharmacies approached social media companies, but 96 per cent felt they got an insufficient response.

Key Summary Five popular platforms, ChatGPT, Gemini, Meta AI, Grok and DeepSeek, were used for the study. They were asked questions across five categories - cancer, vaccines, stem cells, nutrition, and athletic performance. Reference quality was noted to be poor, with an average completeness score of 40 per cent. An analysis of five popular chatbots' responses to health and medicine questions shows that many of them were inaccurate and incomplete.