The EAHP EU Monitor is a regular round up of news relevant to hospital pharmacy in Europe.

EAHP celebrated World Environment Day!

On the occasion of World Environment Day, the European Association of Hospital Pharmacists' (EAHP) Working Group on Sustainability has shared their views on this very important topic to raise awareness and build knowledge on what sustainability actually means.

This campaign builds on preliminary results from EAHP's "Investigation of the hospital pharmacy profession in Europe" which showed that many hospital pharmacists do not have a clear understanding of what the topic sustainability entails. To address this, EAHP has set up a Working Group to provide leadership to its members in supporting local, regional and European action to minimise the environmental pollution associated with medicines and hospital pharmacy services.

The members of the Working Group highlighted in their messages that the management of medicines needs to consider a One Health Approach that envisages the environmental impact of pharmaceuticals on the environment. As specialists in all medicines-related processes, hospital pharmacists play a key role in reducing the environmental impact of medicine use.

See below the EAHP campaign on its different social media accounts:
Access the video on the work of the EAHP Working Group on Sustainability HERE
Access the video on the climate change emergency and the impact of hospital pharmacy services on the environment: HERE and HERE

 

EAHP joints the HTA Stakeholder Network

EAHP has been appointed as a member of the new Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Stakeholder Network and will be involved in the activities foreseen in the new HTA Regulation. The work will involve providing input to consultations in preparation or amendment of the HTA Coordination Group's annual work programme and having meetings with the HTA Coordination Group at least once a year.

Due to their expertise in all medicinal-related processes, hospital pharmacists are essential for the assessment of the effectiveness of a drug and its use within value-based evaluation approaches. With the growing expenditure of new innovative medicines, their knowledge of pharmacoeconomics is essential for providing valuable inputs for HTAs. Hospital pharmacists have a pivotal role in the efficient functioning of the medicines supply chain and the operation of medicines reimbursement systems that enable patients in hospitals to benefit from sustainable and equitable access to the medicines they need. This hospital pharmacist's knowledge of HTA will be essential to provide insightful contributions to the work of this network.

See more information about the network HERE 

EUnetHTA 21 ceases operations in September 2023

The EUnetHTA 21 Consortium will cease operating as of 16 September 2023. The closure of the EUnetHTA 21 Consortium marks the end of more than 17 years of voluntary project-based collaboration on HTA. Continued collaboration will be facilitated under the HTA Regulation, with the HTA Coordination Group supporting its continued implementation.

EUnetHTA has been established to create an effective and sustainable network for HTA across Europe. It supported collaboration between European HTA organisations that brought value from the European, through the national, to the local levels. EUnetHTA 21 has built on the achievements and lessons learned from the EUnetHTA and focused on supporting the future EU HTA system under the HTA Regulation.

The Secretariat at the European Commission will be the contact point for matters related to collaboration under the HTA Regulation. EUnetHTA 21 is currently exploring maintaining its brand under a different framework in order to facilitate potential future voluntary collaboration. More information about this will be released as and when available.

More information is available HERE

EU4Health Stakeholders' Conference is upcoming on 9 June!

The European Commission will host the EU4Health Stakeholders' Conference in Brussels and online. The event will focus on important health priorities and will offer an opportunity to reflect on priorities, strategic orientations, and future work programmes.

The event programme will consist of sessions on some topics related to fostering health, enhancing access to medicinal products and medical devices and preparing health systems for the digital era. It will also be the occasion to hear about the first analysis of the outcomes of the Stakeholders' Targeted Consultation on the EU4Health. Representatives from healthcare professionals, patients, civil society, researchers, academia, Member States authorities and other parties active in public health and social issues.

The EU4Health Programme is the response to the COVID-19 pandemic and aims to build a strong European Health Union by supporting legislative and non-legislative measures.

Find more information related to the event and registrations HERE

A new digital health initiative was launched to strengthen global health security

The European Commission and the World Health Organization (WHO) have launched a digital health partnership that takes up the European Union's digital COVID-19 certification. This new initiative aims to establish a global system that will help facilitate global mobility and protect citizens across the world from ongoing and future health threats. It is the first block of the WHO Global Digital Health Certification Network that will develop a wide range of digital products to deliver better health for all.

The EU is leading by giving its example of one of the cornerstones in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic which was the digital COVID certificate. To facilitate free movement within its borders, the EU swiftly established interoperable COVID-19 certificates (EU DCC). Based on open-source technologies and standards it allowed also for the connection of non-EU countries that issue certificates according to EU DCC specifications, becoming the most widely used solution around the globe.

Such partnership will work to technically develop the WHO system with a staged approach to cover additional use cases, which may include, for example, the digitisation of the International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis. Expanding these digital solutions will be essential to deliver better health for citizens across the globe.

Find more information about this initiative HERE

 

EJHP: Performance and risks of ChatGPT used in drug information: an exploratory real-world analysis

A recent online first article published in the European Journal of Hospital Pharmacy (EJHP) looks at the performance and risk associated with the usage of Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer (ChatGPT) to answer drug-related questions. A sample of 50 drug-related questions were consecutively collected and entered into the artificial intelligence software application ChatGPT. The reproducibility of ChatGPT's answers was analysed by entering three questions at different timepoints repeatedly (day 1, day 2, week 2, week 3). The study provided objective evidence that in a real-world sample of 50 drug-related questions, ChatGPT answered the majority of questions wrong or partly wrong. The use of artificial intelligence applications in drug information is not possible as long as barriers like wrong content, missing references and reproducibility.

Read the article HERE

 

[Consultations]

EMA Consultation: revision of the Guideline for the evaluation of medicines targeting acute respiratory distress syndrome

EMA launched a consultation on a concept paper on the revision of the Guideline on clinical investigation of medicinal products in the treatment of patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome. This consultation aims to address the need to re-consider the EU regulatory expectations regarding the data that should be generated to support the approval of novel agents, like e.g. (co)primary and secondary endpoints, time of assessment, stratification and functional assessment indices recorded in confirmatory studies. Comments should be provided by 31 July 2023.

Find the document HERE and contribute HERE

Bedside clinical pharmacists in Europe

In this research, organized by the Semmelweis University, Hungary the position of bedside clinical pharmacists in hospitals will be assessed to gain insight into the routine practices and the provided clinical pharmacy services. The researchers would like to hear your opinion based on your experiences, so there are no correct or incorrect answers. It takes about 15 minutes to complete the questionnaire.

Contribute HERE

European Paediatric Formulary: Clonidine hydrochloride oral solution

The European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines & HealthCare (EDQM) has just released Issue 6 of Pharmeuropa PaedForm, in which the draft text for Clonidine Hydrochloride 10 micrograms/mL Oral Solution is published for public consultation with a view to its later inclusion in the European Paediatric Formulary. The deadline for comments is 30 June 2023. This is the seventh monograph elaborated on by the PaedF Working Party. EDQM welcomes all comments on this new monograph from users and interested parties.

Contribute HERE