In British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology (BJCP) the following article has been published: ‘Do emergency visits due to adverse drug reactions look different in older people? Results from the ADRED study’. Authors aimed to characterise the phenotype of adverse drug reactions in older patients. Confusion, deAhydration and bradycardia were more likely seen in older adults. Read the article under the heading ‘Articles’ on this website or use this link.
Two ephor medals were granted during the Dutch Geriatric congress in ‘s Hertogenbosch on 6 February.
The Ephor medal 2019 was granted to prof. dr. Denis O’Mahony at the Dutch Geriatric Congress on 6 February. Denis O’Mahony is a renowned Consultant Physician in Geriatric Medicine in Cork. He and his colleagues devised and validated the STOPP/START criteria, criteria for inappropriate prescribing in older people, which are now widely used in several countries. He currently works on the SENATOR-trial, a cluster randomized clinical trial of a software intervention aimed at minimizing adverse drug reactions and costs. At the congress, he presented the first results.
The Ephor medal 2020 was granted to prof. dr Koos Brouwers. Since the foundation of Ephor, he contributed to the foundation in several ways. He initiated and wrote many articles on behalf of Ephor, and gave many lectures. Hij was a board member for several years and after that, he remained involved as a core group member. Ephor is very grateful for his exceptional contribution to the foundation.
The Ephor medal is granted to persons with exceptional contribution to research, awareness and knowledge about farmacotherapy in older patients in the last five years. On behalf of the Ephor core members: congratulations!
The OPERAM study has reached its goal to include 2000 patients. OPERAM studies the use of the STRIP-assistant, a digital tool for appropriate and cost-effective prescribing in hospitals. The OPERAM consortium is a cooperation of clinical centres in Bern (Switzerland), Brussels (Belgium), Cork (Ireland) and Utrecht (Netherlands). Leader of the project is prof. Rodondi from Bern.
Prof. Mirko Petrovic, geriatrician and clinical pharmacologist from Ghent University Belgium, was newly appointed EuGMS Academic Director for 2018-2021. Many congratulations!
In 3 minutes video’s the importance of the Senator project is presented.
The SENATOR Patient Recruitment is finished. In total 1.537 patients are recruited for the SENATOR trial. This trial studies the effect of a systematic and computerized medication review for older patients with use of the STOPP and START criteria. The Senator team is looking forward to completing Time Point 2 and 12 week follow-ups before the final lock-down of the trial database.
The reflexion paper on physical frailty is approved and published at the EMA website. The reflection paper describes how to characterise the baseline frailty status of older patients enrolled in clinical trials other than by their age. The aim is to ensure that clinical trial populations are representative of the users of the medicine, as the benefit-risk balance in older patients may depend on their physical frailty status. The reflection paper is available at this website: teaching/info/EMA and Geriatric Expert Group.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has published an action plan to improve the product information (PI) for EU medicines, an information package for patients and healthcare professionals that accompanies every single medicine authorised in the EU and explains how it should be used and prescribed. This action plan follows a report in March 2017 which concluded that despite ongoing efforts to make the PI easy to read and useful, there is a need to improve how information on medicines is conveyed to patients and healthcare professionals. One of the key areas of this plan is to explore how electronic or digital means can be used to improve accessibility to medicines’ information by patients and healthcare professionals. The action plan is available at this website: Teaching/Info/information EMA
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) will relocate to Amsterdam in the Netherlands. This decision was taken tby the EU 27 Member States. The Agency take up its operations in Amsterdam on 30 March 2019 at the latest. The representatives of the Geriatric Expert Group, that give advices to the EMA, will be welcomed in Amsterdam.
