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This commentary draws attention to and raises awareness of forthcoming pharmacogenetic technologies amongst the pharmacy profession. It aims to stimulate debate around the potential role that the pharmacy profession can play in the introduction of pharmacogenetic technologies into primary healthcare. This commentary discusses potential new roles for pharmacists involving pharmacogenetic technologies, giving attention to the way the profession may need to adapt to accommodate these.

Objectives: The first ever Pharmacy Workforce Census of pharmacists in Great Britain (GB) was conducted in 2002, and repeated in 2003. Both census surveys aimed to gather empirical data on the employment profile of pharmacists to aid the workforce planning process. The aim of this paper is to compare the work profile and employment destination of two graduate cohorts of pharmacists to explore what changes take place in employment practices and how quickly they occur., Setting: GB-based pharmacists., Methods: A two-page postal questionnaire was sent to 38,000 GB-registered pharmacists in August 2003, to provide various data on employment patterns, intentions to work abroad, and desire to practise pharmacy. The pharmacists were contacted using addresses stored on the Pharmaceutical Register, a statutory record of all pharmacists and pharmacy premises held by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (RPSGB). A sub-set of this large data set--pharmacists who qualified in 1992 and those who qualified in 1997--was selected for comparison., Main Outcome Measure: Sector of employment and strength of desire to practice., Results: A response rate of 75% was achieved for the overall census, while the response rate from the two graduation cohorts was 62% and 58%. Larger proportions of women compared with men, even after only 5 years of working as a pharmacist, are either not working or work part-time. Among the women, these patterns increase significantly for those with a greater number of years on the Pharmaceutical Register. There is evidence that pharmacists move out of the two main sectors of practice (hospital and community) with increasing years on the Register, and some gender differences in job mobility are observed. The School of Pharmacy from which pharmacists graduate appears to have some effect on practice patterns although more research is needed to explore this further. Desire to practise pharmacy is weaker among those practitioners who work in the community sector of practice, and younger pharmacists are more likely to intend working abroad., Conclusions: Part-time work patterns are implemented fairly quickly after qualifying, particularly among the women pharmacists. Given that female students account for over 60% of all intake onto pharmacy courses current supply problems will continue if work patterns continue along this trajectory. The ability of the profession to meet current, never mind extended roles, is thus called into question.

Objective: To share the current reflections, perspectives, and recommendations of the Pharmacy Practice Research Roundtable about a research agenda for pharmacy practice in the United States., Data Sources: Peer-reviewed medical literature, national and international developments relating to health care, laws and regulations affecting pharmacy practice, information provided by invited guests, and personal experiences of roundtable members., Summary: Current realities with the potential to affect pharmacy practice relate to strategies for pursuing pharmacy practice research. Emerging roles and activities of pharmacists in health systems and the community are identified in this article. Based on consideration of the realities, strategies, and new roles, priority areas for pharmacy practice research are identified. Recommendations for research emphasis include the following: (1) define medication therapy management services that relate to medication safety, improved management of chronic disease, and implementation of a Medicare ambulatory drug benefit; (2) evaluate pharmacy practice models from external and internal perspectives; (3) differentiate patient groups based on their need for, access to, and affinity for pharmacist services; (4) define achievable roles and responsibilities for patients in medication use; (5) provide a deeper understanding about the professional workforce in pharmacy; (6) examine the gap between academic practice models and actual practice and test strategies to reduce the gap; and (7) evaluate the applicability to the United States of evolving pharmacy practice activities in other countries., Conclusion: A national pharmacy practice research agenda should be pursued in the context of those issues that are influencing health care.

The authors set out to describe the possible impact of the continuing education activities of the Community Pharmacy Section (CPS) of the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) on the profession in the period from 1980 to 2002 (approximately the last two decades of the 20th century) by reviewing and interpreting documents of the Community Pharmacy Section of the International Pharmaceutical Federation. The educational activities of the CPS have resulted in a high level of satisfaction among the participants. The CPS has also coordinated international practice research and the dissemination of the concept of pharmaceutical care. Additionally, the section's activities have informed the members of national pharmaceutical associations about new concepts, and stimulated projects on the added value of pharmacy. There are reasons to believe that the activities have created agents of change. It seems that the activities of the section have had some effect, although the exact impact remains difficult to measure because no structured evaluation method has been applied from the beginning of the continuing education activities.

After the turn to market oriented economy a lot of drugs were authorized for sale in the East European countries. Because of the limited resources of these countries, mainly generic or brand generic products were licensed. The number of the patented drugs on the market could be used as measure of the market attractiveness to the R&D producers. The study shows the analysis of the innovativeness of the Bulgarian drug market comparing the registration and the patient activity of the producers. The number of the authorized products for five years period (1990-2000) and share of the patented products were investigated. During the observed period the number of newly authorized pharmaceuticals increased almost seven times from 800 (650 INN) to 6000 (2000 INN) dosage forms. The prevailing part of the newly registered drugs was found to be brand generics and possess only trade name protection. The share of drugs that are patented is less than five percent of all newly registered medicines, and among the fifty most commonly prescribed and sold medicines between 1996-2000, only 0.5 percent of drugs were patented. Obviously the Bulgarian pharmaceutical market is very competitive but not that attractive for most of the R&D producers. In general the registration of the patent protected products is increasing during the years and especially after harmonization of the related legislation with the EU requirements. The patent activity of the pharmaceutical companies regarding newly authorized drugs is influenced by the structure of morbidity and population. During the last two years the patent activity is increasing and is oriented mainly towards the protection of newly authorized drugs or pharmaceutical forms and obligatory registration of trademarks for the privatized Bulgarian pharmaceutical manufacturers.

By October 2002, the separation of prescribing and dispensing in Japan had already been implemented for 28 years since the system was inaugurated in 1974. Although the separation rate reached 44.5% in 2001, the questions, "Is the separation necessary in Japan?" or "Has the system been working successfully?" are often heard. These questions are raised because people have not noted the advantages of the system yet, and because the separation itself has many problems or shortcomings. These questions are not only from pharmacists, but also from physicians, patients, or medical and educational institutions. If the problem concerns pharmacists, it is assumed to stem from their lack of ability required for the separation. A breakthrough for an early solution of the problem will be found in a change in education, which includes a range of clinical subjects and long-term clinical practices.

Social Pharmacology, a new field in Clinical Pharmacology, describes the relationships between Society and Drugs. Topics of Social Pharmacology are first, the social consequences of populations' exposure to drugs and, secondly, the social factors explaining drug use behind clinical or rational explanations. Social Pharmacology also investigates the reasons for prescription, delivery, consumption and self-medication of drugs (behind clinical or rational factors). The paper discusses the role of the different players of Social Pharmacology in the field of drug development, evaluation, prescription and consumption. For example, the pharmaceutical industry should play an important role in the discovery of new medically and socially "desirable" drugs. Drug companies are also involved in this field for drug information to doctors but also patients. Regulatory agencies are concerned by social factors involved in drug approval, regulation of the maximal level of drug use, application and transferability of clinical trials to daily clinical practice. Social Pharmacologists also investigate the factors (others than clinical or rational) regulating drug use. Drug consumption varies according to social characteristics of physicians (sub-speciality, medical education, cultural origin, etc) or patients (gender, age, education, country, kind of work, social status etc). Relationships between drugs and religion make up a large chapter of Social Pharmacology. Other topics in Social Pharmacology involving other health professionals (pharmacists), lawyers and the media are also discussed. Finally, drugs should be considered as important social markers of population behaviour. The role of the Social Pharmacologist is to identify these social and irrational factors governing drug use in order to adapt and rationalize drug utilization in daily clinical practice.

The mid-19th century was a watershed for the governance of American pharmacy, marked by the founding of APhA in 1852 and the recognition that pharmacists had a duty to protect patients' health and welfare. Drug therapy has undergone a dramatic transformation since the pharmacological shotgun approach of the mid-1880s, propelled by progress in the biomedical sciences, including the recent genetics revolution. The rising number and cost of prescriptions is a leading public policy issue and a contributing factor to the current shortage of pharmacists.

Biosensors are analytical devices which incorporate a biological component (enzyme, antibody, animal or plant cell, DNA fragments, lipids.) intimately connected to a physical transducer (electrode, optical fibre, vibrating quartz.). This dual configuration allows the study of a great variety of compounds of pharmaceutical interest which react with the biocomponent. The latter is selected depending on the application and the performance criteria requested. Biosensors are suitable for real time monitoring such as in bioreactors, and for the determination of various physiological and pharmacological parameters. Biosensors may be employed in home testing (glucose, lactate.), in hospitals (bedside testing, emergency, surgery, dialysis monitoring, etc.) in clinical laboratory analyses (immunoassays, DNA analysis.) and at research centres. Ideally, a biosensor should be easy to use, allowing direct analysis without sample pre-treatment. Measurements should be automatized and remote controlled. The biosensor may be miniaturized for single use or for implementation in sensor arrays. Applications to microenvironments (in vivo, single cell.) or discrete one shot decentralized tests may also considered.