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Consumer press articles
 
Lighter Life
 
A new dawn for weight loss (2007)
 
Pills to stop you eating are becoming more popular as a quick fix to lose weight. But do any of them really herald a bright future in the fight against obesity? And what are their side effects? By Ai lsa Colquhoun
The prospect of simply being able to take a pill while continuing to eat whatever you want and lose weight is enticing, but could it really be what lies ahead in the fight against obesity? PIlls that claim to be able to help you lose weight or keep off the pounds already exist but none has yet proved to be the complete answer for the increasing number of people in Britiain and around the world, whose health is at risk of being overweight.
 

Prima Baby

The £28 test that could save your baby’s life

Andrea Barrett, 33, from Belfast considers herself one of the lucky ones. Her son, Tristin is now a happy, healthy 14-month-old, as playful and adventurous as any other. But two days after he was born, Tristin contracted a life-threatening infection from his mother and almost died. He pulled through, though, because his doctors knew what they were looking for; a concerning vaginal discharge when Andrea was 28 weeks’ pregnant caused her midwife team to take a swab test, which alerted them all to the fact that she carried group B streptococcus (GBS), a bug that lives harmlessly in many adults but which can kill a new born baby. When she went into labour, the doctors knew to give her the simple antibiotics Tristin would need to keep him healthy.

Tristin was unlucky enough to develop this relatively rare infection because Andrea, like one in three British adults, is a GBS carrier. Almost three years ago on ITV’s Coronation Street, mechanic Kevin Webster’s baby son Jake contracted the same thing – and unfortunately, he died.

Currently, the NHS does not routinely test pregnant mums for GBS, due to the fact that medical opinion varies over the associated risks and benefits of screening and treatment, given that only a small number of babies go on to be ill with a GBS infection. This means that babies who are born with the bug and become seriously ill can often do so before anyone realises they are at risk of developing the infection. As Andrea says: “It is terrible to think that some women will give birth to babies who could then go on to die and they simply would have no idea why it happened. It’s especially terrible when you think that the tragedy of a child dying in this way can be so easily prevented.”

The Mirror

Is reign of umbrella at an end?

Men - first, here’s the bad news. If you are aged between 20 and 24, your chances of catching chlamydia after having unprotected sex are higher than ever. Official statistics now show that after 10 years of increasing infection rates, the disease now affects almost one in one hundred of such men, making it the UK’s most common sexually transmitted infection (STI). All men who have the infection are at risk of infertility, kidney damage, arthritis and eye problems but worse still, many will not even know it as 50 per cent of the time, infection does not even cause them any symptoms. Until now, the test for chlamydia has involved the fairly eye-watering ‘umbrella’ test, which involves a specialist in sexually transmitted infections inserting a very fine cotton bud about two centimetres up your water passage. Even the professionals admit this is an uncomfortable procedure. However, the good news is that by the end of this year, a new test could be available in every specialist clinic, which only involves the doctor or nurse taking a urine sample. In fact, it’s so simple, in parts of the country, specialists are working with workplace bosses to allow employees to take their own test for chlamydia in the privacy of their work loo and then get the results through the post. Whether this will become available in every workplace is still up for debate and will not be known until the beginning of next year.

Until the new test is available in your area, doctors still advise you to go and checked out if you have any of the symptoms of chlamydia, which include a white/cloudy, watery discharge from the tip of the penis, pain or a burning sensation when passing urine or pain and/or swelling in your testicles. Even if you don’t have any of the above, but think you might have slept with someone with this, or other infections, then you should go, too. Most large hospitals have a sexual health clinic and the number will be in the phone book under genitourinary medicine, STD or VD. You can also call NHS Direct on 0845 46 47 (24hrs).

Trade press articles

The Grocer

Britons taking 44m holidays

With the war in Iraq, the SARS epidemic and the on-going threat of terrorist attack, it is little wonder that consumers have been loath to holiday abroad over the past few years. But, following several years of economic boom, average personal disposable incomes have risen by over a quarter since 1998, according to Mintel, prompting rain-weary Britons to open those holiday brochures once more. In a recent report on the holiday market, the analyst estimates that just over 44 million overseas holidays will be taken this year, a rise of just over 5 per cent on last year. Encouraged by the favourable dollar exchange rate, far-flung destinations such as Caribbean are fast becoming the holiday of choice, taking over from old European favourites such as Spain. Importantly, they are also luring some domestic holidaymakers into the market as well.

Grocers already recognise the value of associating themselves with the holiday market, as loyalty card link-ups such as Tesco’s link with car rental company Avis and Sainsbury’s Nectar card link-up with online travel operator eBookers attest. But, thanks to increasing shifts in terms of medicines and healthcare shopping, the sector is also becoming a key outlet for holiday health shopping. During 2004, over the counter (OTC) medicine suppliers collectively applied to market through grocery three previously pharmacy-only summer medicines, including Wasp-Eze Bites & Stings Spray, Benadryl Allergy Relief for hayfever and, most recently, Procter & Gamble’s tummy trouble remedy Pepto-Bismol. Somewhat unsurprisingly, therefore, IMS Health’s PharmaTrend Offtake Report data for January reveals that in value and volume growth terms grocers massively outstripped pharmacy in the four key summer health markets of hayfever and allergy relief, antidiarrhoeals, skin cleansing products and bites and sting creams.

Taken from The Pre-Reg Handbook, 2005

prepared for Pfizer Consumer Health

Research shows that on any one day, 930,000 people in the UK will be suffering from a cold, and as adults, we can expect to suffer from between two and five colds a year. Over a lifetime of 75 years, this means suffering over 200 separate colds – and spending around three years of our life coughing and sneezing.

With so many OTC cough and cold remedies available, it is important to get the right medicine for your particular symptoms, which is why Pfizer Consumer Health provides invaluable information and advice on recognising and treating winter ailments on its recently updated website, www.coughandcoldadvice.com. Coughs, particularly, can prove troublesome, as they are very common, but Pfizer CH’s market-leading Benylin range contains products for every type of cough and there is nothing more effective available without prescription - no wonder consumers voted it their ‘Most Trusted Brand’ in the cough/cold category of the 2004 Readers Digest magazine poll.
Contract publishing
Feel Good this Summer mini-brochure for healthfood shop customers (Cress Health, 2007)

Unichem The Business magazine
Even though pharmacies come out top in retail polls for the advice they can offer, it is a fact that 90 per cent of pharmacy sales occur without the help of pharmacy staff.
It is also a fact that 28 per cent of first-time product purchasers buy a product because they have seen it on display.
So, do you have the right stock on your shelves?
According to Caroline Parrett, pharmacy services manager at UniChem, the answer, unfortunately, is often no. “When people call on UniChem’s Merchandising Plus service for help, they are often intrigued to see the products that we recommend they sell. They’ve often got the wrong stock on shelf. They overstock on haircare, simply because a good rep has been in and has sold them too much of their range. As a result they have every colour imaginable on shelf, when two or three would do.”
Worse still, she says, is when valuable GSL medicine lines are pushed behind the counter or are not effectively merchandised as a healthy living section. “These should be out where customers can find them- albeit close enough to pharmacy staff so that customers can ask for advice as and when they need it.
“There’s no excuse for getting it wrong these days, when UniChem, for example, delivers twice a day and independent EPoS data is available from its merchandising service. With consultation rooms becoming more and more commonplace, the retail floor space is getting smaller and smaller - making it more important than ever to make sure you have the right products on display in the right place.”
Public Relations
Pharmacy: making the move to a service-driven profession: Pharmaceutical Field magazine, March, 2007. Double page spread placed on behalf of Geoff Mackay. director of Stirling Business Consultants.
Pharmacists are set to have an increasing influence on NHS prescribing. Geoff Mackay examines the changing role of the pharmacy and how pharma companies can work with pharmacists to help them meet the requirements of the new contract.
Press and consumer launch materials for HibiScrub bodywash

Consumer release, May 2007: THE DOCTORS' SECRET WEAPON COMING

TO A BATHROOM NEAR YOU!

 

Do you know…..

 

  • 5,000 deaths result from Hospital Acquired Infections (HAI) every year
  • 1800 more people die each year from HAIs than on UK roads
  • Three times more UK people die each year from HAI than from Skin Cancer
  • Treating HAIs cost the NHS over £1 billion pa

But………

 

  • For the first time there's a clinically proven product that can protect you pre and post operation.

Launched by surgical and woundcare experts, Mölnlycke Healthcare, HiBiSCRUB TM is the only whole bodywash available to the public to contain chlorhexidine gluconate 4%, a hospital-strength cleanser that is used by surgeons the world over before they scrub up for an operation.  

 
 
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