Biosimilar Awareness Initiative -

Biological and biosimilar medicines are used to treat serious diseases such as cancers, diabetes, inflammatory digestive disorders and arthritis. Biosimilar medicines have been used for over 10 years. They are now used in over 60 countries. Lower costs and increased access to medicines has been demonstrated internationally. This shows promise for Australia. The Awareness Initiative was announced in May 2015 as part of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme Access and Sustainability Package. The aim of the Initiative is to support awareness of, and confidence in, the use of biosimilar medicines for healthcare professionals and consumers. Our group has been commissioned by the Department of Health to provide the independent literature review as part of this initiative, including ongoing quarterly updates. This work is ongoing on behalf of the Department of Health biosimilar awareness initiative and now for GBMA Education under the Biosimilar Education Grant.

Dermal/Transdermal drug delivery -

The delivery of drugs via the skin is the second most successful route for drug administration due to the potential for avoiding the problems commonly associated with oral delivery such as first pass metabolism and systemic toxicity. My research in this field has focused on the development of novel formulations to enhance drug deposition within the skin using both passive and active mechanisms. 

Palliative Care - 

In Australia, a home death is a reality for only a small proportion of terminal patients, despite evidence that most indicate the family home as their preference. A critical enabler for people to remain at home is good symptom control. However, access to medicines through community pharmacies has been problematic, with pharmacists unable to anticipate which injectable medicines to stock. Consequently, a multidisciplinary group of South Australian palliative care practitioners have developed a “core medicines list” to increase the likelihood  that these medicines will be available. Our reaserch aims to identify and describe the key considerations for the implementation of the core medicines list to improve access to medicines for people who wish to remain in the community during the terminal phase.

Education -

Multiple definitions of interprofessional education have been put forward but there is a growing consensus that it designates joint learning by practitioners or students of more than one profession to enhance collaborative practice. There is, however, a great deal of diversity in how this is incorporated in health programmes across Australia and evidence of its effectiveness and perception amongst students is well acknowledged to be lacking across the sector. A unique opportunity for midwifery and pharmacy students to collaborate in a simulated clinical setting is being investigated. The introduction of increased IPL within the programmes at UniSA is encouraged however the evidence base of their effectiveness and value amongst students is largely unsubstantiated. As this will be the first project undertaken jointly between pharmacy and midwifery in Australia the findings will be novel and will be generalizable across multiple programmes. This pilot research study will begin to address these issues as we look to build upon the connections between different programmes within the university.