Pharmacology Matters

Pharmacology Research & Perspectives (PR&P) is a rapidly growing open access journal that is jointly published by the British Pharmacological Society, American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET) and Wiley.

I hope many of you reading this were among the 1,200 people who joined us in December for Pharmacology 2018, our annual meeting. Thanks to everyone who attended, presented, and helped us organise such a successful and enjoyable event.

The use of animals in research raises significant ethical issues and as pharmacologists we need to recognise and deal with these issues.

Each year the British Journal of Pharmacology (BJP) and the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology (BJCP) award prizes for the best paper published by early career researchers in the journals over the previous year, corresponding authors can nominate their eligible co-authors upon submission to the journals and the journals’ Senior Editors judge the nominations.

Strictly speaking my hobby began in May 1969, but it didn’t fully flower until 1997, when Robbie Reinelt scored the equaliser at Edgar Street, Hereford, to keep Brighton and Hove Albion in the football league on the last day of the season, while I paced up and down my living room, getting increasingly agitated, tired and emotional, listening to the commentary on Radio 5.

Looking back at Pharmacology 2018 and forward to the future of the meeting
 

The Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical Research involving Human Participants were first released by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in 2006. Since 2016, the Indian Drugs and Cosmetics Act (first published in 1945) and Rules (first published in 1947) have received several updates related to clinical trials regulations.

First, some numbers. The British Pharmacological Society publishes three journals: the British Journal of Pharmacology (BJP), the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology (BJCP), and Pharmacology Research & Perspectives (PR&P).

Prescribing medicines is the primary tool used by all healthcare systems to treat disease, alleviate symptoms and prevent future illness.

As many as one in ten of us are using so called ‘Study Drugs’ to improve memory and focus. With ever-increasing pressure on both students and professionals, is the use of study drugs justified or a ‘cheat’ with a risk of harmful consequences?