As one year ends and another begins, Pharmacy Magazine traditionally provides a summary of some of the key changes in therapeutics and clinical practice that took place during the previous 12 months.

Completing this module will enable you to check that your knowledge is up to date regarding the medicines safety issues that were raised during the year, identify the clinical guidelines of relevance to pharmacy practice that were either launched or updated during 2018, as well as consider some of the other significant developments that impacted on community pharmacy practice.

The year at a glance

• NICE evidence summaries have been developed this year for both Trelegy and Trimbow in COPD management
• Donepezil, galantamine and rivastigmine monotherapy are recommended as options for mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease
• Public Health England recommends that all quit services should offer support to smokers wishing to use e-cigarettes to stop smoking
• Thyroid-stimulating hormone must be monitored in patients treated with levothyroxine for at least the first month after starting and ending ritonavir treatment
• Valproate medicines must no longer be used in women or girls of childbearing potential unless a pregnancy prevention programme is in place
• Daclizumab (Zinbryta) for adults with relapsing MS was suspended and recalled for safety reasons by the European Medicines Agency
• Approximately one third of adults have used herbal medicines with the potential to interact with conventional medications
• Tofacitinib is the first of a new class of drugs for psoriatic arthritis