School of Pharmacy at Queen's University Belfast

Congratulations to BXTA Nanotherapy Ltd., named HIRANI's Company of the Month for August!

BXTA is a leading UK uro-oncology business, working to develop and commercialise AuX2R, a nanoparticle technology created within the School, which uses the properties of gold, combined with molecular targeting, to make tumour cells more sensitive to radiotherapy, all with the goal of better treatment outcomes for men with prostate cancer.

We're delighted to see two School of Pharmacy colleagues at the heart of it: Professor Jonathan Coulter, Director and Chief Technical Officer, and Dr Niall Byrne, Chief Scientific Officer.

Read HIRANI's feature here: https://hira-ni.com/the-golden-age-of-radiotherapy/

A recent Guardian investigation has highlighted the number of women reporting severe pain and inadequate analgesia during NHS hysteroscopies.

It makes for difficult reading, but it matters. Informed consent, honest conversations about pain relief, and shared decision-making are central to good patient care, and to medicines optimisation, an area where pharmacists play a growing role.

For our students and staff, this is a reminder of why listening to patients has to shape how we teach, research and practise.

Read the full investigation here: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/aug/16/women-routine-womb-examinations-hysteroscopies-pain-nhs

Find out more about our MPharm programme at http://go.qub.ac.uk/PMYProgrammes

RTÉ is asking whether demand for GLP-1 weight-loss medicines can be contained, as prescriptions continue to climb across Ireland and the UK.

For community pharmacy, this is a daily reality: pharmacists are central to safe supply, patient counselling and medicines optimisation for one of the fastest-growing therapy classes we've seen in years.

It's a topic our MPharm students are following closely, and one that will shape their practice from day one.

Read the RTÉ analysis here: https://www.rte.ie/news/analysis-and-comment/2026/0815/1587925-weight-loss-drugs/

Find out more about our MPharm programme at http://go.qub.ac.uk/PMYProgrammes

The MHRA has just published a position paper clarifying the UK licensing route for microbiome-based medicinal products, which are medicines that work by modulating, restoring or replacing the human microbiome.

The paper confirms these products fall within the existing UK medicines regulatory framework and, depending on their characteristics, may be regulated as biological medicines or as advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs). It also sets out the key scientific steps developers should consider, from product characterisation and batch-to-batch consistency to antimicrobial resistance risk.

Existing arrangements for faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT), used for recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection, remain unchanged.

This forms a helpful read for our students and researchers working across pharmaceutics, microbiology and AMR.

Full article: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/mhra-sets-out-position-on-regulation-of-microbiome-based-medicinal-products

Find out more about how our cutting edge programmes, which consider all of these regulatory aspects, here: http://go.qub.ac.uk/PMYProgrammes

EU regulators have flagged "serious breaches" of protocol in the pivotal trial that supported Tavneos, a rare-disease medicine whose European marketing authorisation has now been formally withdrawn.

Cases like this are exactly why understanding the clinical trial process is an important aspect of our teaching. Our students learn about how trials are run, understand how regulators reach their decisions, and appreciate what's at stake for patients when trial standards slip.

The full story is worth a read: https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/tavneos-pivotal-trial-flagged-serious-breaches-protocol-eu-regulators-dissect-market

Find out more about our programmes at http://go.qub.ac.uk/PMYProgrammes

The FDA has granted accelerated approval to Bristol Myers Squibb's Zenbexus (iberdomide) for multiple myeloma, the first CELMoD (cereblon E3 ligase modulator) therapy to reach patients.

Targeted protein degradation is a fast-moving area of drug discovery, and one our researchers and students follow closely. It's a clear example of how modern pharmaceutical design is opening up new options for people living with blood cancers.

Find out more about how you can start your career in an area like this by visiting http://go.qub.ac.uk/PMYProgrammes

Latigo Biosciences has raised nearly $350m in its IPO to advance a non-opioid pain therapy that blocks ion channels involved in pain signalling.

With opioid-related harms still a serious concern in the UK and beyond, the search for safer analgesics is one of the most consequential stories in pharmaceutical science today, and an area our students and researchers follow closely, particularly in formulation and drug delivery.

Read more: https://www.biopharmadive.com/news/latigo-ipo-public-biotech-pain-drug-nasdaq/827300/

Find out more about what we do at www.qub.ac.uk/pha