Feature Content

Feature: bridging the gap between clinical expertise and technical innovation in pharmaceutical information licensing

Content by Pharmaceutical Press.

Piers Berry, licensing sales manager at Pharmaceutical Press, the knowledge business of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS), has dedicated over 25 years to the pharmacy profession. His journey, spanning from community pharmacies in the UK and Australia to consulting on drug information datasets, has uniquely equipped him to understand the critical intersection of clinical needs and technological solutions.

At the heart of Piers’ work lies the RPS vision: to become the world leader in the safe and effective use of medicines. His role is to support a wide range of organisations enable access to evidence-based essential information at the point of need through integration with clinical systems.

“Ultimately, I’m a pharmacist, and I want as many health professionals as possible to benefit from access to our essential information when and where they need it,” Piers explains. “I see licensing as a way to bridge the gap between clinical expertise and technical innovation, ensuring that accurate, up-to-date drug information is seamlessly integrated into the tools health professionals use every day.”

Common misconception

One common misconception Piers encounters is the assumption that BNF & BNFC are free because it is not paid for at the point of use or by individual NHS organisations. In fact, funding from National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) on behalf of the NHS ensures that, with their partners BMJ Group and Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, Pharmaceutical Press can support NHS health professionals in the UK with access to British National Formulary (BNF) and BNF for Children (BNFC) content through MedicinesComplete and via the BNF + BNFC app.

Pharmaceutical Press’ experienced editorial team of clinical and scientific writers includes pharmacists and science graduates who triage new information, assess evidence and review changes made by other clinical and scientific writers before publication.

Certain content is further assessed by external experts and committees and may undergo external peer review. As a not-for-profit organisation, these accredited processes, the creation of world-class tools that promote best practice medicines, and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s advocacy and support for the pharmacy profession, are made possible by the sale of their expert information. Our vision is to become the world leader in the safe and effective use of medicines.

Our use cases vary from our standard ones, for example hospital, GP, pharmacy, and care home settings, to niche uses like anti-doping testing and specialised clinical scenarios such as medication switching or deprescribing.

The versatility of the evidence-based pharmaceutical information is evident in the diverse ways it is utilised.

Bridging the clinical-technical gap

Piers acknowledges it can be a challenge to explain the granular details of licensing the pharmaceutical content due to its wide-ranging application. To support content discovery, Piers builds in time for data evaluation, allowing clients time to explore the content and ask specific questions relevant to their needs. Piers and his technical colleagues are always on hand to provide support and advice.

Piers’ mission is to raise awareness of the types of content available for licensing from Pharmaceutical Press, which not only includes BNF and BNFC but also Martindale: The Complete Drug Reference, and Stockley’s Drug Interactions, Palliative Care Formulary, Psychotropic Drug Directory among others. He believes there is a significant opportunity to improve patient care by integrating this trusted, independent information into clinical systems.

A vision for the future

Looking ahead, Piers envisions a future where all health professionals who rely on trusted medicines information to make clinical decisions have seamless access to the essential knowledge Pharmaceutical Press has created for over 150 years.

He urges anyone searching for a reputable medicines information database to consider two fundamental questions: “Is this what health professionals would choose to use?” and “Is this the best quality information for use when treating patients?”

By fostering collaboration between clinical experts and technical innovators, Piers Berry and Pharmaceutical Press are paving the way for a future where health professionals have instant access trusted evidence-based information, ultimately leading to improved patient outcomes.