Research innovations in rare diseases and improving patient access

Welcome to the September issue of Pharmafocus!

This issue covers the latest news, from the World Health Organization’s new medical product alert for a contaminated cough syrup (page 4) and the National Institute of Health’s initiative, which could lead to a new treatment for long COVID (page 6), to the US Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the first over-the-counter contraceptive pill (page 8) and Lupin Healthcare’s launch of its first carbon neutral asthma inhaler (page 11).

As well as the latest news, this issue also includes an article from Sanofi on how indication-based agreements can remove barriers to oncology treatments (page 16), as well as an article from Phastar considering how research innovations can help improve rare disease treatments (page 14). There is also an article from Veeva about how healthcare practitioners can boost their engagement through field behavioural change (page 19).

In addition, in my article about community pharmacies, I look at why so many have closed their doors and how this is impacting local communities (page 20).

As we move to the end of summer and the nights draw in, I hope you find the opportunity to read this issue while enjoying the last of the sun. We’ll be back with the October issue of Pharmafocus next month!

Betsy Goodfellow