Author: Selina McKee

Things are looking very bleak indeed for the government’s flagship reform policy of practice-based commissioning (PBC), with recent remarks by the government’s primary care tzar David Colin-Thome suggesting that the scheme is dead in the water.

GlaxoSmithKline has joined forces with the government, Wellcome Trust and the East of England Development Agency (EEDA) to establish a brand new biotechnology science park at the drug giant’s Stevenage base, which, according to its chief executive Andrew Witty, will “affirm the UK as a global hub for the life-sciences industry”.

The Department of Health has shifted its ever-growing choice agenda in the National Health Service up a gear with the launch of a new online portal designed to allow patients to rate GP practices in England online a la consumer comparison sites such as TripAdvisor.

It was good news for GlaxoSmithKline yesterday after a long-term study clearly demonstrated the benefits of using a combination of Avodart and tamsulosin in the treatment of men with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).

NHS Scotland is now forking out £130 million a year on the treatment of allergic disorders, the prevalence of which have spiralled over the last decade, with the majority of costs relating to primary care and the control of asthma, a study has found.