Medicines and Therapies

This morning Pharmac announced most temporary dispensing restrictions in place due to the COVID-19 crisis will end at midnight on 31 July

Central Region Technical Advisory Services, which works with all 20 DHBs, has rubbished claims made by pharmacists to Pharmacy Today who say monthly dispensing creates more work in the dispensary, but doesn’t generate any more income. 

As pharmacist prescribers become increasingly popular in New Zealand, Pharmacy Today takes a look at what the varied role entails and finds a lack of funding is stunting its growth. Anna Lee reports 

Psychiatrist Caleb Armstrong believes oral ketamine does not cause hallucinations because it is absorbed more slowly than other forms of delivery 

Pharmacy sector leaders and a major medicines manufacturer have collaborated to create a new guidance document to help pharmacists follow correct procedures when supplying sildenafil without a prescription

The Government has extended the waiver allowing pharmacies to dispense non-NZePS (New Zealand Electronic Prescription Service) prescriptions without a physical prescriber signature for another three months

GP researches his patients’ experiences switching from branded to generic antidepressant 

Community pharmacists are still required to limit dispensing of all funded medicines to one month's supply for another seven weeks, due the impact of COVID-19 on international medicine manufacturing and supply chains

New Zealand researchers are developing a COVID-19 medicine based on ACE2, a human enzyme which is key to the new coronavirus’ cell-entry mechanism 

The company’s full-year results posted on 20 May show a net profit of $12.7 million, up from a $2.4 million loss for the previous year