PPIs bad for bones?
Osteoporosis patients who take a proton pump inhibitor (PPI) may be putting themselves at increased risk of fracture, a study has shown. Co-prescribing a PPI for a post-menopausal osteoporosis sufferer who is taking a bisphosphonate increases his or her risk of hip fracture by 21 per cent compared to bisphosphonate monotherapy. Click here to read more

Depressed women at much greater risk of low bone mass
Depression is a significant risk factor for low bone mass in pre-menopausal women, and may be as important as smoking and reduced calcium intake, a study published by the Archives of Internal Medicine has suggested. Click here to read more

Go ahead for Eisai appeal
The Court of Appeal has granted permission for Eisai to appeal against a High Court ruling on Nice’s decision not to recommend anti-dementia medicines including the company’s drug donepezil (Aricept) in newly diagnosed Alzheimer’s disease. Click here for more

Need a top-class medical journalist? Email me now at gmatkin@gmail.com.

Pharmafocus has just published a feature I wrote on the changes currently taking place in prescribing in the UK. While they are certainly revolutionary, I found they were unlikely to make a huge difference to most pharma marketers for some time to come:

Reading some newspapers a few weeks ago, you might reasonably have imagined a war was going on. The GP newspaper Pulse revealed that nurse prescribing had nearly doubled during its first year, and the newspapers were full of doctors on the warpath. After reading the many harsh things said about the dangers of prescribing nurses, the reader might well have feared that thousands of inadequately-trained nurses were prescribing powerful drugs they knew little about. And industry strategists and analysts might reasonably have stopped for a moment to wonder whether 2007 would be the year pharma had to switch the focus of its marketing away from doctors and on to nurses. In truth, there is a revolution going on Click here to read more

I’m available for freelance work at competitive rates. If you need a top-class medical journalist contact me by email at gmatkin@gmail.com.

FDA investigates varenicline adverse events
The US FDA is evaluating post-marketing adverse events after aggressive and erratic behaviour led to the death of an individual who took the drug in an attempt to quit smoking. Click here to read more.

I’m available for freelance work at competitive rates. If you need accurate, authoritative writing or editing on these and other topics, contact me by email at gmatkin@gmail.com.

In addition to my role as clinical and CPD editor at Chemist+Druggist, I also commission educational features for the pharmacy counter staff magazine OTC’s Counterpart Plus series.

Up to now I have usually commissioned other people to write these features, but when family problems made it difficult for one of our regular writers to turn in their copy on time, I stepped in at the last moment and wrote this piece on sexual health.

With the housing shortage, the credit crunch, and the state of the environment, you’d think today’s youngsters didn’t need anything else to worry about. But there is at least one other big issue they need to take very seriously indeed: sexually transmitted infections. We’re living in a new and very different world. A generation ago, no-one had heard of herpes or HIV, and chlamydia was still little known - but in young people today some of these infections are reaching frightening proportions, and bringing disease, infertility and, frequently, broken relationships and families. These are issues for older people too, but the spread of these diseases is far worse in the young. Click here to read on…

Could you use copy like this for your publication or website? If so, contact me by email at gmatkin@gmail.com.

Recent features on pharmaceutical marketing:

•UK clinical trials: on the mend?, Pharmafocus feature on the renaissance of clinical research in the UK
•The NHS and pharma: Let’s work together, Pharmafocus feature on ways in which joint working can benefit both pharma and NHS organisations
•Med Ed comes of age, Pharmafocus feature on medical education

Need a top class medical journalist? Contact me by email at gmatkin@gmail.com.

One of my key responsibilities at Chemist+Druggist is directing, commissioning and editing the educational Update series. I also write many clinical news stories. Some typical examples recently included this piece about how diabetes services are failing patients, and this interesting development in the long running glitazones debate.

Contact me by email at gmatkin@gmail.com.