U N I V E R S I T Y O F M A LTA
The Pharmacy Department Review
November 2008
Volume1, Issue 3
N e w H e a d o f D e p a r t m e n t P r o f e s s o r L i l i a n . M . A z z o p a r d i
Professor
Lilian M. Azzopardi
Point of Interest:
The publication of the book
Validation Instruments for
Community Pharmacy:
pharmaceutical care for
the third millennium by
Professor Azzopardi was
recognised internationally
in the same year that the
World Health Report had
classified Malta’s Health
System in the fifth place
out of 191 countries
INSIDE THIS
ISSUE:
37th European Symposium on Clinical Pharmacy
2
Dubrovnik, Croatia 21-24
October 2008
Research Spot
3
T his
n e ws le tt er
is
published as part of an
undergraduate project
carried out by Antine Vella
under the supervision of
Professor
Anthony
Serracino Inglott.
The Department of Pharmacy
which is part of the Faculty of
Medicine and Surgery is over
400 years old. Throughout these
years there have been different
leaderships, the most recent of
which is that of Professor Anthony Serracino Inglott who has
been leading the department for
20 years. Prof. Serracino Inglott
graduated in 1968 and since
then, he never ceased to contribute to the pharmacy profession. His successor Professor
Lilian M. Azzopardi will certainly
accomplish this task successfully.
Achievements:
Prof. Azzopardi studied pharmacy at the Faculty of Medicine
and Surgery of the University of
Malta. Graduating in the year
1994 she took up a position of a
teaching and research assistant
at the University of Malta. She
obtained an MPhil with a dissertation on the development of
formulary systems for community pharmacy. In 1997, she
received the FIP Foundation for
Education and Research award.
The University of Malta awarded
a Ph.D. in Pharmacy Practice to
Prof. Azzopardi in 1999. In the
same year she was awarded the
ESCP German Research and
Education Foundation grant. The
money grant was exploited to
pursue additional research on
validation of community pharmacy. Her research findings
were cited in the documentation
for the “Pharmacy in a New
Age” campaign of the Royal
Pharmaceutical Society of Great
Britain. Furthermore, her Ph.D.
work led to the publication of the
book Validation Instruments for
Community Pharmacy: pharmaceutical care for the third millennium in the year 2000. She also
published various other books
including MCQs in Pharmacy
Practice in 2003, Further MCQs
in Pharmacy Practice in 2006
and MCQs in Clinical Pharmacy
which was published in 2007.
Prof. Azzopardi published a number of papers on clinical pharmacy and pharmaceutical care.
She is frequently invited to give
lectures and short courses in
this area in a number of foreign
universities.
Professor Lilian M. Azzopardi during the
presentation of the book MCQs in Clinical
Pharmacy to Prime Minister Dr. Lawrence Gonzi
Her past and current contributions to the profession:
She was a member of the Pharmacy Board, the licensing authority for pharmacy in Malta
for several years. Moreover,
she was the registrar of the
Malta College of Pharmacy
Practice which offers continuing education. Prof. Azzopardi
has actively participated in
congresses held by the FIP (In-
ternational Pharmaceutical Federation), ESCP (European Society of Clinical Pharmacy), the
Royal Pharmaceutical Society of
Great Britain, the American
Pharmaceutical Association and
the American Society of Health
System Pharmacists. She was
the ad-interim director of the
ESCP. Currently, she is the coordinator of the ESCP newsletter
and active in FIP Working
Groups on Quality Care Standards within the Community
Pharmacy Section of the FIP. In
addition, she also has pharmaceutical experience in clinical
settings, community pharmacy
and the pharmaceutical industry.
Major roles:
The most recent and prominent
responsibility assigned to her is
the headship of the pharmacy
department of the University of
Malta. She is highly active in
pharmacy practice teaching and
in supervising a variety of pharmacy projects and dissertations.
Prof. Azzopardi is an examiner in
clinical pharmacy and pharmacy
practice at the University of
Malta. Congratulations to Prof.
Azzopardi on her well-deserved
promotion.
Reference:
Azzopardi LM, Hudson S, Salek S, Serracino
Inglott A, Zarb Adami M. MCQs in clinical pharmacy. 1st ed. London; Pharmaceutical Press;
2007. p. 17,18.
Deguara L. Speech delivered by the Hon. Louis
Deguara, Minister of Health, during the launch of
the book “Validation instruments for community
pharmacy” [Online]. 2000 Oct 6 [cited 2008 Oct
1]; Available from: URL:http://www.doi.gov.mt/
EN/press_releases/2000/10/pr1310.asp
Page 2
The Pharmacy Department Review
Pharmaceutical Care Models & Therapeutic Innovations
37th European Symposium on Clinical Pharmacy
Dubrovnik, Croatia 2121-24th October 2008
Introduction
The European Society of Clinical
Pharmacy (ESCP) was founded in
October 1979. The society aims to
develop and promote the rational
and proper use of drugs and medical equipment for the welfare of
society. The main event is the
Annual European Symposium
which takes place each year in
autumn and revolves around the
major European cities. This year’s
symposium was held between the
21st and the 24th October in Dubrovnik, Croatia. The theme of this
symposium was Pharmaceutical
Care Models and Therapeutic
Innovations. The chair person of
this year’s scientific committee
was Professor Anthony Serracino
Inglott. The Maltese delegation
was formed by Prof. Lilian M. Azzopardi, Dr. Maurice Zarb Adami,
Francesca Wirth and Kristen Buhagiar.
Plenary session & workshop
The Scientific Programme was
spread over three days, from
Wednesday 22nd till Friday the
24th October. The theme of the
first plenary session was
‘Balancing Costs and Effectiveness’, with the Chair of the day
and Moderator being Prof Serracino Inglott. During the plenary
session, Dr Maurice Zarb Adami
gave a presentation entitled ’The
Balancing Act and Therapeutic
Costs’. He stated that for specific
medical conditions one needs to
rely on specialists as these are in
a position to address the situation
in the best possible way. They are
able to weigh the risks and benefits of every decision they make
and are responsible for every action taken. Every decision undoubtedly carries with it a number
of consequences ranging from
The Maltese delegates at the Dubrovnic conference (from left) Maurice Zarb Adami,
Francesca Wirth, Kirsten Buhagiar, Lilian M. Azzopardi and Anthony Serracino-Inglott.
financial costs to the patient’s
quality of life. Dr. Zarb Adami
was also the moderator of the
first round table discussion
that followed the session.
The Maltese delegation, representing the Pharmacy Department of the University of
Malta, together with Prof.
Philip Schneider from the University of Arizona, US gave a
workshop on Point-of-Care
Testing (POCT) in out-patient
settings and community pharmacies. A brief overview of
POCT in a community pharmacy setting, outlining the
steps necessary to organise an
anticoagulation monitoring
service were presented. Prof.
Schneider focused on POCT in
an acute care setting. Subsequently participants were divided into small groups where
they were given a list of discussion points on POCT. During
this discussion, the main factors required to provide a good
quality service were highlighted.
Oral communications
On the second day of the symposium Francesca Wirth gave
an overview of the initial findings of an ongoing study in a
presentation entitled ‘Time
motion study for pharmacists’
activities in a geriatric hospi-
tal’. The aim of the study was
to identify and quantify activities undertaken by clinical
pharmacists at Zammit Clapp
Hospital (ZCH), St. Julians,
using a time and motion study
technique. Results showed
that clinical pharmacy activities such as ward rounds, prescription monitoring and patient discharge were predominant. However, administration
tasks such as checking of
ward medication stock and
medication orders occupied a
large portion of the pharmacists’ time. For optimal utilisation of pharmacist expertise,
administrative tasks should
take up a minimum of the
pharmacists’ time and clinical
tasks should be performed as
efficiently as possible. The
administration tasks can be
conducted by trained nonpharmacist personnel such as
pharmacy technicians, allowing more of the clinical pharmacists’ time to be directed
towards patient care.
On the last day of the conference, Kristen Buhagiar presented her undergraduate
project entitled ’Community
pharmacists’ intervention in
the monitoring of oral anticoagulation therapy’. She
started by giving an overview
of the local INR monitoring
scenario. Monitoring takes place at
the only Anti-Coagulation Clinic
(ACC) at Mater Dei Hospital (MDH).
An objective of this study was to
investigate whether it would be feasible to offer an INR monitoring
service in community pharmacies
using the CoaguChek® S. It was
interesting to find out that patients
on anti-coagulant treatment showed
trust and confidence in the capabilities of the pharmacist to execute
this role. On the other hand managing pharmacists were not as positive. They argued that the cost of
the test is high considering that
most of these patients are on a
retirement pension. A concordance
test was carried out comparing the
reliability of the CoaguChek® S system with the laboratory based
method used at the ACC. Results
issued with the CoaguChek® S were
found to be 98% concordant. Pharmacists need to look at this proposal more positively and take up
this challenge eagerly since there
are advantages which may be easily
overlooked. It was recommended
that the agents for CoaguChek® S
provide the kit free of charge to the
pharmacists hence reducing the
cost of the service even further.
Other papers presented as posters
during the symposium included
‘Chronopharmacology and diabetes’
co-authored with Marisabelle Bonnici and ‘Use of cholesterol monitoring devices in community pharmacies’ co-authored with Kristy Young.
Prof. Azzopardi was a member of
the ESCP jury for the award of the
best poster and best oral communication presented during the conference.
Reference:Pharmaceutical care models and
therapeutic Innova-
tions. 37th European symposium on clinical pharmacy Dubrovnic,
Croatia 21-24th October, 2008 [Online]. 2008 [cited 2008 Oct 10];
Available from: URL:http://www.escpweb.org/uploadedFiles/cms/
store//gdhxcgbxc/splash_AnnSymposia_files/ATTACHMENTS/
ESCP_Dubrovnik_Final_Program.pdf
V o l u m e 1 ,
I s s u e
3
P a g e
3
The research spotspot- The R & I Programme 2008
Introduction to the R&I Programme
2008
The National Research and Innovation
(R&I) Programme 2008 is a scheme
within MCST (Malta Council for Science
and Technology) whereby financial
support is given to local entities who
enroll in a research and innovation
project in the field of science and
technology.
A total of seven projects have been
selected in this year’s R&I programme.
The projects derive from different
sectors, including the Manufacturing,
Health & BioTechnology, Information and
Communication Technology (ICT),
(ICT
Environment & Energy areas. One of
these projects is coco-ordinated by the
Pharmacy Department in collaboration
with the local pharmaceutical
manufacturing company, Starpharma.
The project is entitled increasing the
yield in the production of slow release
pellets in the manufacture of tablets and
capsules. The overall project duration is
estimated to be that of thirty six months.
months
Increasing the yield in the production of
slow release pellets in the manufacture
of tablets and capsules
In the manufacture of modified release
oral dosage forms, the drug dissolution
profile is either modified by controlling
access of biological fluids to the drug or
by controlling the diffusion rate of the
drug. These factors are taken into
consideration to achieve a formulation
that is pharmaceu tically and
economically viable.
This project aims to establish means of
how to increase the yield of active
ingredient specifically for the production
of solid oral dosage forms and to identify
methods to enhance manufacture of
modified release formulations.
Reference:
R&I Programme 2008 Evaluation of Shortlisted
Proposals [Online]. 2008 [cited 2008 Oct 20];
Available from: URL:http://www.mcst.org.mt/
page.aspx?id=93
Project Plan
Phase 1: Design of new process
To identify the factors that may influence the yield
To identify the type of waste that result in product losses
To identify safety procedures and quality standards that are required
Related undergraduate projects:
projects
Phase 2: Design and production of equipment
To prepare specifications for the production equipment
To accomplish mechanical changes required in the equipment
To design and compile relevant standard operating procedures
“Methods to improve yield
in the production of slow
release oral dosage
forms”- Nicolette Bartolo
3rd year pharmacy student
Phase 3: Production of a batch
To prepare a batch manufacturing record
To update relevant Standard Operating Procedures
To implement the changes in the production of an industrial batch
“Production of modified
release dosage forms” –
Karl Schembri 4th year
pharmacy student
Phase 4: Testing of dosage form following the procedure developed
To establish extraction methods
To establish and validate a method of analysis
To test a batch of the newly developed solid oral dosage form through a bioequivalence
study
Phase 5: Application for a patent for the procedure adopted and the new equipment devised
The projects referred to in this newsletter are carried out under the supervision of members of the academic staff of the Department of Pharmacy with the collaboration of other academic staff from various faculties
and institutes in the University including other departments in the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery. The Department of Pharmacy is fortunate to have such an expert
collaboration from so many academics and recognises
such distinguished contributions.
Mailing Address: Department of Pharmacy,
University of Malta, Msida MSD 2080, Malta.
E-mail address:
phcy@um.edu.mt
Tel: +356 21343764/5
Fax: +356 21340427
Head of Department:
Prof. L.M. Azzopardi
lilian.m.azzopardi@um.edu.mt
Editor: Antine Vella
avel0019@um.edu.mt
Web:
Web: http://home.um.edu.mt/phcy/