What's new in August 2008

New for August

• 29 Aug 2008| Public consultation (MLX 351): Proposals for amendments to medicines legislation to allow dispensing opticians access to certain prescription only medicines (poms)

  MLX 351 seeks your views on proposals for amendments to medicines legislation to allow dispensing opticians access to certain prescription only medicines (POMs).

• 29 Aug 2008| MHRA review of formoterol and salmeterol in asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

  We will be conducting a full review of the overall balance of risks and benefits of using long-acting beta2 agonists in asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
  
  

• 26 Aug 2008| The availability of medicines

  When licensing a new medicine, the regulators focus on quality, safety, and how well it works. This page explains the process.

• 26 Aug 2008| Changes in the use of a medicine

  The more widely a medicine is prescribed, the more becomes known about its effects, and a change in use may be required.  This page explains the process.

• 26 Aug 2008| Monitoring medicines after licensing

  It is impossible to know everything about all the side effects and benefits of a medicine when it is first licensed. This page explains the process.

• 26 Aug 2008| Licensing (marketing authorisation)

  By law, before a medicine can be placed on the market, it must be given a marketing authorisation (product licence) by a medicines regulator. This page explains the process.

• 26 Aug 2008| Clinical trials

  Once researchers know that a new compound could be useful as a potential treatment, and it has passed safety tests in pre-clinical research, it needs to be tested thoroughly in clinical trials. This page explains the process.

• 26 Aug 2008| Pre-clinical research

  Before a promising compound can be safely tested on people, a great deal more detailed research must be done to answer vital questions about its chemical properties and ability to treat a particular disease or symptom. This page explains the process.

• 26 Aug 2008| Drug discovery

  Finding suitable compounds which stand the best chance of becoming effective medicines is a process of elimination. This page explains the process.

• 26 Aug 2008| From laboratory to pharmacy shelf

  This section describes how a chemical compound makes the journey from the laboratory to reach the pharmacy shelf as a medicine.