Drugs and medicines
News
Medicines safety alert - Erythromycin therapy
5 January 2021
Erythromycin in babies and infants has been associated with an increased risk of infantile hypertrophic pyloric stenosis.
News
Updated guidance on valproate use in women and girls of childbearing years is published
14 December 2020
This guidance, updated in December 2020 and endorsed by RCPCH, has been produced to inform all healthcare professionals of best practice around the use and prescribing of valproate. It supports them to navigate situations that could arise as a result of prescribing valproate to women during childbea...
News
Thirteen UK healthcare bodies launch ‘pragmatic’ guidance on valproate use
14 December 2020
Experts from 13 national bodies, including seven Royal Colleges, have joined forces to launch new practical guidance to support doctors and other health professionals around valproate use in women and girls in their reproductive years.
Resource
Epilepsy12 & OPEN UK National Conference 2020 resources
On 10 September 2020, we hosted our third annual Epilepsy12 & Organisation of Paediatric Epilepsy Networks (OPEN UK) national conference 2020: 'Working together to improve epilepsies’, as a live webinar. Access resources and presentations from the event on this page.
News
Therapeutic alert - Corticosteroids in the treatment of suspected or confirmed COVID-19
9 September 2020
Following recent publication of the REMAP-CAP trial for hydrocortisone and a meta-analysis of corticosteroids, the World Health Organization (WHO) has recently issued new interim guidance recommending the use of systemic corticosteroids in severe and critical COVID-19 disease.
News
Medicine safety alert - ranitidine (withdrawn)
26 June 2020
Ranitidine products (Brand names including Zantac®) were voluntarily withdrawn by manufacturers in October 2019, because of fears that they may contain low levels of an impurity called NMDA.
Resource
Anti-inflammatory medicines and COVID-19 - advice for parents and carers
Experts at RCPCH recommend that parents treat symptoms of fever or pain related to COVID-19 with either paracetamol or ibuprofen.
News
Medicines safety alert – apraclonidine use in infants below six months of age
17 March 2020
The RCPCH/NPPG Medicines Committee has recently been informed of a severe adverse reaction in a six-month old child with anisocoria who had been administered apraclonidine 1% to help exclude Horner syndrome.
News
E-cigarette use or vaping: reporting suspected adverse reactions
2 March 2020
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is requesting that healthcare professionals report any suspected side effects or safety concerns with e-cigarettes and the e-liquids used for vaping to the Yellow Card Scheme.
News
RCPCH responds to NICE guidance on cannabidiol use in two forms of childhood epilepsy
5 February 2020
Dr Mike Linney, Registrar and Chair of the Ethics Committee for RCPCH, welcomes recent guidance from NICE, but notes the urgent need for high quality, independent research on this medicine to provide the best possible care for children with complex epilepsy.