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Daily digest July 2 2015

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Daily digest

Medicines valued at more than £20 will now show prices

NHS medicines will be stamped with ‘funded by the taxpayer’ in an attempt to stop patients wasting £300 million a year by not taking their medication, health secretary Jeremy Hunt announced yesterday.

Drugs which cost more than £20 will also have their cost printed on their packaging, to remind people just how much their treatments are costing.

It is hoped that the proposal when implemented will not only remind people of the expense of their medicine but also encourage them to stick to treatment plans and avoid future illness.

Read more on the Telegraph website

Vitamin B12 pills offer no benefits for older people

Taking vitamin B12 supplements could be a waste of money for many elderly people, scientists have said.

Low B12 levels are common among older people and supplements are often used to rectify that. However, a study by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine has found that if people are not anaemic or do not have a specific clinical deficiency, supplementation confers no benefits.

(£) Read more on the Times website

Cancer jab can give ten more years of life

A jab for skin cancer that has extended the lives of terminally ill patients for up to ten years has been made available in the UK for the first time.

Doctors said the move marked a ‘major milestone’ in the fight against the fastest growing cancer, which claims more than 2,000 lives in this country each year.

Trials have shown that Opdivo – a brand name for the drug nivolumab – boosts average survival rates by 56% and some patients who had been given months to live have since returned to work.

Read more on the Daily Mail website

Statin wonder drug ‘turns women more aggressive’

Statins make women more hot-headed yet can lower aggression in men, research has found.

The drugs are widely used to manage blood cholesterol levels.

A study into their effects on behaviour has found that they typically increase aggression in postmenopausal women, with significant effects for those aged over 45.

The research, published by journal PLOS One, involved randomly giving more than 1,000 men and postmenopausal women either a statin or a placebo for six months.

Read more on the Mirror website