Background

The rapid developments in Advanced Therapies, the prevalence of polypharmacy and the increasing treatment complexities, such as the recent approval of chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR-T) therapies as advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs), require skilled clinical pharmacists with specialist haematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) knowledge and experience, to ensure provision of safe and effective pharmaceutical care in this high-risk patient population.

The role of the clinical pharmacist

The role of the clinical pharmacist as an integral member of the HSCT multidisciplinary team is well-established by the FACT-JACIE (Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy Joint  Accreditation Committee of ISCT-Europe and EBMT) standards. Pharmacists are well positioned to provide a range of clinical pharmacy and medicines optimisation services and take leadership in staff and patient education, service design and the development and implementation of treatment guidelines.

The pharmacist HSCT verification passport

This verification passport was designed and produced by the UK BMT Pharmacist Group. The verification passport aims to standardise the core verification training undertaken by clinical pharmacists involved in the care of patients receiving HSCT and CAR-T cell therapies. The digital passport also provides documentation of training undertaken which can easily be transferred between organisations.

The HSCT verification passport has now been incorporated into the British Oncology Pharmacy Association (BOPA) Digital Systemic Anti-Cancer Therapy (SACT) passport. The Pan UK PWG Clinical Pharmacy subgroup contributed to the CAR-T module within the HSCT section of the SACT passport.

Link to the passport

To access the HSCT passport users will need to register with BOPA as a paid or free associate member. To sign up click here: https://www.bopa.org.uk/join-bopa/

The BOPA digital SACT passport is now available on the British Oncology Pharmacy Association (BOPA) website.

Additional Information

For further information please contact verificationpassport@bopa.org.uk

For further information on the Pan UK PWG for ATMPs contact Anne Black.