College News - February 2009RCPE comment on Tobacco and Primary Medical Services Bill26 February 2009 Prof Neil Douglas, President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE), said "The College warmly welcomes the publication of the Tobacco and Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Bill today. By seeking to ban vending machines and promotional displays of tobacco, the Scottish Government has demonstrated its ongoing commitment to reducing the significant burden of disease caused by smoking. The Bill also includes important powers to fine retailers who sell cigarettes to those under the age of 18 and banning orders to prevent retailers selling cigarettes if they continually break the law. Successive test purchase schemes have shown that a number of Scottish retailers still continue to sell cigarettes illegally to those under 18 and it is vital that the measures proposed within this Bill are used to their full effect if we wish to reduce the harm caused by smoking. I would strongly urge politicians from all parties to support this Bill and to ensure that its proposals are not diluted, in response to lobbying from industry, before it is enacted in legislation". MHRA: European Medicines Agency recommends suspension of efalizumab (Raptiva)The European Medicines Agency has completed a review of efalizumab (Raptiva) after concerns about its safety. The Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has concluded that the benefits of efalizumab do not outweigh its risks, and they recommend that the marketing authorisation should be suspended across the EU. Efalizumab is used to treat adults with moderate to severe chronic plaque psoriasis who have not responded to, or who are unable to take, other treatments for this disease. This medicine was reviewed after reports of serious side effects, including three confirmed cases of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML, a severely disabling or fatal disease of the central nervous system) in patients who had received efalizumab for more than 3 years; two of these patients died.
RCPL report - Innovating for healthFellows and Members may be interested in our sister College's, the Royal College of Physicians of London's, publication of a new report on the relationship between the NHS and the pharmaceutical industry. |
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