Tag:drugs

The future of pharmacy in a post Covid Australia

The Covid-19 crisis has taken Australia’s pharmacy sector on a roller coaster ride in recent months with no one able to say for sure what the future of the industry will look like. However what is almost certain is that pharmacy will not simply go ‘back to normal’ once the coronavirus pandemic is declared contained. […]

What to say when customers try panic buying medication

Over the past few weeks almost every pharmacy in the country has had customers trying to panic buy medication. Most of these customers are well-meaning, but they’re worried. Worried that shipments of medicine from overseas will abruptly stop, or worried that all the other panic-buyers will have already emptied pharmacy shelves when next they present […]

Compounding and kids – how we can help

There’s no harder time in the life of a parent than when their child is sick. The overwhelming need to comfort them and ‘make it all go away’ is foremost in the mind of the worried Mum or Dad. We want them to get better – fast – and to make the remedy as painless […]

Game-changing method of testing drugs for off-label prescribing: Results from trial

A team of researchers in the U.S. has developed a novel new method of testing non-oncology drugs for their potential to kill cancer cells, with 49 new possible contenders already uncovered. A type of ‘barcoding’ shortcut was employed to eliminate the need to screen thousands of compounds across hundreds of individual cancer cell lines – […]

50 new drugs about to hit the unavailable medicines list – are you prepared?

Over 50 drugs are about to hit the unavailable medicines list in Australia, joining 493 names already on the TGA’s hard-to-get drugs register. Is your pharmacy prepared for the increase in compounding scripts? While some doctors still resort to alternative medications during drug shortages, increasingly medical practitioners are turning to reputable compounding pharmacies, like National […]

The Dutch are stockpiling medicines – should we do the same here?

The Dutch government yesterday announced it will begin to stockpile medicines in the face of expected shortages as well as spearhead a drive to restart wholesale manufacturing of drugs in Europe once again. Netherlands’ Minister for Medical Care, Bruno Bruins, made the announcement saying the government would start work on building up 5 months worth […]

220 medications discontinued in the past 18 months

Since the start of 2018, over 220 medications have been discontinued by the manufacturer and taken off the market for reasons other than safety, according to data compiled by the (TGA). In over half of the cases the impact to public health has been assessed as ‘medium’. Matthew Bellgrove from National Custom Compounding said when […]

Trump’s trade war with China could see medicine shortages worsen – here’s why

As the rhetoric ratchets up in the ongoing trade war between the United States and China, there arises the very real possibility that the medicines we prescribe, dispense and use every day here in Australia, could be the collateral damage. When Donald Trump introduced a 25 percent tariff on $34 billion worth of Chinese imports […]

50% of patients don’t stick to their long term medical treatment plan – why this is a problem for aged care providers

In the aged care environment ensuring patients take all their medication every time is a constant challenge. The World Health Organisation (WHO) in their report ‘Adherence to Long-Term Therapies – Evidence for Action’ claims that in developed countries 50% of patients on long-term treatment plans don’t take their medications as prescribed. These 50% skip their […]

Should we be worried about parabens in medicine?

Parabens are used in many medications as a preservative. They’re also used in many cosmetics, skin care products and processed foods for the same reason. And they do a top notch job. They’re tasteless, odourless, colourless, they don’t react to chemicals they come in contact with, and they’re cheap. Without them, medicines, foods and other […]