Clinical Pharmacology Newsletters

Latest Issue of the CPT Newsletter

Key aims of the Clinical Pharmacology Newsletter are to improve safety & effectiveness in use of medicines for the benefit of our patients and the Trust.  This is timely following major recent national initiatives aimed at reducing errors in patients, supported by the National Patient Safety Agency and the Audit Commission [Spoonful of Sugar, 2001; Effect of Serious Adverse Drug Reactions on Patients and on Cost to the Health Service, 2005; Technical patient safety solutions for medicines reconciliation on admission of adults to hospital, NICE, December 2007]. The Newsletters include regular features on how to improve recognition, reporting and prevention of adverse drug reactions. 
There is a focus in each issue on medicines of interest, and notices of Local and National Meetings, as well as news about developments in relation to medicines at the Trust, in the region and beyond.  An important feature is regular case reports identifying key practice points arising from adverse drug reactions or other clinical learning opportunities concerning effectiveness of drugs. Suggestions for future topics and short articles from academic and health service staff, students and patients would be very welcome.

Donald Singer, Professor of Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics  
cpt@warwick.ac.uk

Newsletter 1 - November 2005
Newsletter 2 - February 2006
Newsletter 3 - July 2006
Newsletter 4 - December 2006
Newsletter 5 - February 2007
Newsletter 6 - July 2007
Newsletter 7 - August 2007
Newsletter 8 - December 2007
Newsletter 9 - August 2008
Newsletter 10 - November 2008
Newsletter 11 - December 2008
Newletter 12 - April 2009

Case report Awards

A new prize awarded for the best Case Report published in the Newsletter, began in 2007.
Reports should be up to 600 words + one Figure, Table or image with up to 6 references in Lancet style and 2-4 Practice Points.
See previous newsletters for examples of previously published Case Reports.
For further details and to submit Case Reports for publication in the Clinical Pharmacology Newsletter: email cpt@warwick.ac.uk

New poetry section

Submissions of poetry are welcome from students and staff on any medically-related theme. Entries should be of a maximum of 20 lines and up to ca. 200 words and emailed to cpt@warwick.ac.uk
Accepted submissions will be published in the CPT Newsletter.  The first annual award was presented in February 2009 to Dr Beth Harrison. 
See Poetry link. 

Contents

Newletter 12 - April 2009

  • Swine flu updates
  • Case report 17: TNF inhibitor-associated cutaneous reaction
  • Case report 18: Parkinsonian hyperpyrexia syndrome
  • Case report 19: Virilizing ovarian tumours
  • Case report 20: Polypharmacy and hyperkalaemia
  • Blue skin in a Bulgarian
  • PPI - clopidogrel adverse interaction
  • RNAi therapeutics
  • Quiz 13
  • Quiz 12 - liver disease: answers
  • Events, Awards, Editorial Advisory Group

Newsletter 11: December 2008

  • Case report 15: Statin-associated rhabdomyolysis  Dr S Koganti and Dr Prithwish Banerjee
  • Case report 16: Neurological features and abnormal clotting in legionella pneumonia  Dr Jo Clerici
  • Guidelines for management of alcoholic liver disease  Dr Esther Unitt
  • Quiz 12: liver disease Dr Esther Unitt
  • Answers to CPT Quiz 11: thromboprophylaxis
  • Pitfalls in explaining risk  Prof Donald Singer
  • 20 drugs under FDA strutiny Dr Ashan Gunarathne and Prof Donald Singer
  • Statin pharmacogenomics Dr Ashan Gunarathne and Prof Donald Singer
  • Results for Poetry awards  Professor Michael Hulse
  • British Pharmacological Society Medical Student Awards 2009 

Newsletter 10: November 2008

  • Case report 13: NSAID associated acute asthma and atrial fibrillation Clare Cartlidge and Steven Hemblade
  • Case report 14: Cutaneous leishmaniasis Dr Kim Chittari, Dr Joanna Gach & Dr Imtiaz Ahmed
  • New thromboprophylaxis guidelines Dr Oliver Chapman, Dr David Parr and Mark Easter
  • CPT Quiz 11: thromboprophylaxis Dr Oliver Chapman
  • View from Japan: experiences of a visiting clinical elective student Kazuto Ueda
  • Programme for International RNA Therapeutics Symposium, BPS, Brighton, Tues 16th Dec 2008
  • Programme for West Midlands Physicians' Association meeting, Heartlands Hospital, Wed 26th Nov 2008 
  • British Pharmacological Society Medical Student Awards 2008 

Newsletter 9: - August 2008

  • Case report 12: HIV and miliary tuberculosis  Eva Morant, F2 Trainee, University Hospital
  • Case Report Award to Dr Benjamin Disney and Dr Rebecca Canty for Case Report 11
  • Chinese Restaurant Syndrome  Martin Smith & Sadia Malik, WMS Graduate Medical Students
  • New Area Prescribing Committee Mark Galloway, Head of Medicines Management, Coventry PCT
  • CPT Quiz 10
  • Answers to CPT Quiz 9
  • Meeting report: EPhar Manchester July 2008 Incentives for Global Health - Thomas Pogge
  • New Poetry Prize

Newsletter 8: - December 2007

  • New NICE Guidance on improving Medicines Reconciliation Donald Singer, Professor of Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics, University of Warwick
  • Case report 10: Digoxin toxicity Dr Matthew Sherratt, SHO in Cardiology & Dr Prithwish Banerjee, Consultant Cardiologist, University Hospital
  • Case report 11: Doxorubicin-associated cardiomyopathy Dr Benjamin Disney, ST2 Trainee and Dr Rebecca Canty, FY1 Trainee
  • New treatment targets: bone morphogenic protein and cardiac fibrosis  Donald Singer
  • Preventing and treating river blindness   Alison Barker, WMS Graduate Medical Student
  • Updated Policy on ADR Recognition and Prevention Donald Singer
  • Pneumonia assessment and CURB-65 Dr Guy Hagan, SpR in Respiratory Medicine, University Hospital
  • Quiz 9
  • Answers to Quiz 7 & 8
  • Meeting report: BPS Winter Conference December 2007 Prof Donald Singer

Newsletter 7: - August 2007

  • New Phase 1 trial guidance
  • Focus by NICE and NPSA on 'medicines reconciliation' Prof Donald Singer
  • New guidelines for antibiotic prescribing Dr Matthew Rogers
  • New advice on earlier onset of response to anti-depressant treatment Dr Demi Onalaja
  • Learning from industry how to develop safer health systems
  • Case report 9: Aciclovir and crystal nephropathy Dr Benjamin Disney and Dr David Bennett-Jones
  • 2nd Edition of Policy on improving prevention and recognition of ADRs Prof Donald Singer
  • Quiz 7 Managing alcohol withdrawal
  • Quiz 8 New antibiotic guidelines
  • Answers to Quiz 6

Newsletter 6: - July 2007

  • New guidelines for managing alcohol withdrawal  Dr John Wong, Consultant Gastroenterologist, University Hospital
  • Case report 8: Severe leukopoenia associated with mesalazine treatment A Shah, Specialist Registrar & A Chelvendra, Foundation Yr 2. University Hospital
  • Medicines and falls Dr Htet Htet Win, Specialist Registrar in Gerontology, University Hospital
  • Warwick Medical School graduate students entry for University of Warwick Spring 2007 Podcast Competition
  • Quiz 6
  • Answers to Quiz 5

Newsletter 5: - February 2007

  • Healthcare Commmission report on UHCW NHS Trust Prof Donald Singer
  • Case report 7: Bleomycin-induced pneumonitis
  • Efficicy & safety of nevirapine in combination with two nucleoside analogues in the treatment of HIV infected patients
  • Anti-retroviral therapy for HIV/AIDS
  • Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
  • Quiz 5
  • Answers to Quiz 4
  • Forthcoming events
  • Case report awards

Newsletter 4 : - Dec 2006

  • NHS Drug Errors Prof Donald Singer
  • ADR reporting at the Trust Prof Donald Singer
  • Case Report 5:  Bullous Pemphigoid following an influenza vaccination Dr Stephen MacKay, Senior House Officer, UHCW NHS Trust 
  • Case Report 6:  Hypo-natraemia & SSRI treatment on Doluxetine Dr Mahima Gattani & Dr Naureen Aslam, Senior House Officers, UHCW NHS Trust 
  • Interactions between anti-epileptic drugs and hormonal contraception
  • Herb-drug interactions
  • MHRA & Adverse Drug Reaction reporting Prof Donald Singer
  • Quiz 4
  • Answers to Quiz 3
  • British and Japanese medical systems Atsushi Kamijo, Visiting Medical Student, University of Nagoya Medical School, Japan
  • Forthcoming events

Newsletter 3: July 2006

  • Teaching medical students about safe prescribing
  • Conference Report: International Personalised Medicines Symposium and poster award for new cancer genetic diagnostic test system, Wednesday 5th July 2006, Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick
  • The Medicines for Children Research Network
  • Case Report 3: Drug-induced Movement Disorder. Dr Sushmitha M Krishna, Senior House Officer, UHCW NHS Trust 
  • Case Report 4: Skin reaction precipitated by carbamazepine added to previous treatment with diltiazem. Dr.M.Thiruvengadam, Senior House Officer in Rehabilitation Medicine; Dr S.Gurijala, Specialist Registrar in Geriatrics and Rehabilitation Medicine; Dr J.Lismore, Consultant Physician.
  • Quiz 3 
  • Answers to Quiz 2
  • Forthcoming seminars, courses and events

Newsletter 2: Feb 2006

  • Local Stroke Research Networks
  • Practical action on asthma. Dr Piers Lawford, Consultant Respiratory Physician  UHCW NHS Trust 
  • Concern about recreational misuse of laughing gas
  • The new Commission on Human Medicines chair, Professor Gordon Duff
  • Nurse Prescribing. Megan Robinson, Nurse Prescriber, UHCW NHS Trust
  • Case Report 2. Multiple courses of broad spectrum antibiotics associated with the selection of extended spectrum beta-lactamase producing coliforms.  Dr Helen M Dillon. F2 SHO, UHCW NHS Trust
  • Conference Programe: 3rd Biennial AC21 International Research Festival Symposium: ‘From Genes to Patients: New Perspectives on Personalised Medicines’ on Wed July 5th 2006 , at Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick 
  • Quiz 2
  • Answers to Quiz 1

Newsletter 1 Nov 2005

  • Joining the DoTS – Grand Rounds at UHCW & new approaches to assessing ADRs from Dr Robin Ferner, Director of the Regional West Midlands ADR Monitoring Centre.
  • Improvements in blood pressure management: local data from over 50,000 patients in primary care.
  • Preventing Adverse Drug Reactions at UHCW NHS Trust.
  • Regional ADR Monitoring Centres in the UK
  • Spotlight on Medicines – Aspirin
  • British Pharmacology Society Awards to Warwick graduate medical students
  • Programme for the South West Clinical Pharmacology Group Nov 2005 Oxford Meeting
  • Case Report 1. Falls and anti-hypertensive treatment. Katherine Rogers*, Mark Prentice*, Dr Anu Rao**, Dr Jeanette Melrose***. 3rd Year Graduate Medical Students*, Warwick Medical School; Senior House Officer** & House Officer***, Clinical Pharmacology Firm, UHCW NHS Trust.
  • Adverse Drug Reaction Audit at UHCW NHS Trust: around two-thirds of ADRs leading to admission through A&E or to delayed discharge from hospital were potentially preventable. There were 18 serious ADRs in 16 patients out of 226 patients audited following emergency A&E admission. This represents an annual rate of around 1200 patients within acute internal medicine alone, at an annual cost to the Trust of £4m at a conservative estimate.
  • Obituary: Professor Bill Inman, pioneering Clinical Pharmacologist who introduced the Yellow Card reporting system for adverse drug reactions
  • Quiz 1

Useful links

UK  Committee on Safety of Medicines   CSM

European Agency for Evaluation of Medicinal Products   EMEA 

USA  Food and Drugs Agency   FDA

Health Canada

Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration   TGA

New Zealand Medsafe

New Zealand Centre for Adverse Reactions Monitoring  CARM

Sweden, Uppsala  - WHO International Drug Monitoring Programme