Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Knights acquires Welsh pharmacy group

Expanding its market share, Knights Pharmacy has acquired Pearn’s Pharmacies Limited, a group of 20 community pharmacies located throughout South Wales.

With the new acquisition, the regional pharmacy operator now owns and operates 90 pharmacies across England and Wales.


Anand Sodha, director at Knights, said: “We are excited to be working alongside the Pearn’s team. Pearn’s Pharmacies are located directly in the communities they serve and are run with the same shared family values as Knights.”

Founded by David Pearn in 1990, Pearn’s Pharmacies trade in a mixture of community and health centre/health centre adjacent settings in Newport, Cardiff, Merthyr Tydfil, and Swansea.

Pearn said: “After owning and growing this business for all these years, it was vitally important for me to find a company with similar values to my own. I am delighted to be handing the business over to Knights, another family business, who I have full confidence in to maintain the high standards and to serve their local communities.”

Pearn’s Pharmacies was sold for an undisclosed price and the sale was managed by the business property adviser Christie & Co.

More For You

ABPI and government fast-track VPAG scheme review to address high medicine payment rates

The 2025 VPAG payment rate for newer medicines has been set at 22.9 per cent.

Photo credit: gettyimages

Review of 2024 VPAG scheme to be completed by June

The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) and the government have agreed to bring forward a planned review of the 2024 Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing, Access, and Growth (VPAG), originally scheduled for autumn 2025.

The review is expected to be completed in June 2025, aligning with the anticipated release of the government’s 10-year NHS Plan and the Life Sciences Sector Plan as part of the broader industry strategy this summer.

Keep ReadingShow less
Independent Prescribing: Government aims to complete pathfinder programme evaluation by autumn 2025

Pharmacist prescribers at 210 ‘pathfinder’ sites were allowed to trial prescribing models within integrated primary care services.

Photo credit: gettyimages

Independent prescribing: Pathfinder programme evaluation to be completed by autumn, says Kinnock

Health minister Stephen Kinnock has revealed that the evaluation of the Community Pharmacy Independent Prescribing Pathfinder Programme could be completed by Autumn 2025.

Kinnock was responding to a question from James Naish, Labour MP for Rushcliffe, who asked what steps the minister was taking to ensure continued support for the Pathfinder Programme and independent prescribing to maximise direct prescribing capacity in England.

Keep ReadingShow less
NHS pharmacy funding not enough 2025: £3.073B deal with £1.99B gap fuels reform debate.

Funding alone isn’t going to be enough to save community pharmacy

Photo credit: gettyimages

New funding contract ‘not enough’ to release the sector from financial blackhole

After almost a year without an agreement, a new funding contract for community pharmacy was finally announced yesterday (31 March).

The settlement raises the baseline annual funding for the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF) in 2025/26 to £3.073 billion, with an additional £215 million secured to continue Pharmacy First and other Primary Care Recovery Plan services.

Keep ReadingShow less
Pharmacy First: Government confirms £215 million boost to realise its full potential

From April 2025, the consultation fee for Pharmacy First Minor Illness and Clinical Pathways will rise from £15 to £17.

‘Pharmacy First hasn't realised its full potential,’ says Stephen Kinnock

Health Minister Stephen Kinnock has acknowledged that Pharmacy First has huge potential, noting that the service “hasn't realised its full potential.”

As part of efforts to enhance the service, Kinnock yesterday (30) announced £215 million in additional funding for Pharmacy First and other Primary Care Access Recovery Plan services.

Keep ReadingShow less
New CPCF funding: “This is the best deal community pharmacy has had in a decade”

This new funding settlement marks a significant step forward in addressing the long term underinvestment in community pharmacy, says RPS England chair Tase Oputu

Pharmacy bodies hail new funding settlement as ‘best deal for community pharmacy in a decade’

Pharmacy bodies have welcomed the new funding settlement for community pharmacies, highlighting its potential to enhance patient access to care and medicines while addressing a decade of underinvestment in the sector.

Following a six-week consultation with Community Pharmacy England (CPE), the government has approved a record £3.073 billion funding package for 2025/26, along with an additional £215 million to support Pharmacy First and other Primary Care Recovery Plan services.

Keep ReadingShow less