Ms. Hester is Content Specialist with Contemporary OB/GYN and Contemporary Pediatrics.

Miranda Hester

Year after year, independent and community pharmacists continue to turn to Total Pharmacy® for the latest news, information, and updates that impact community pharmacies across the country. Take a look back at the most popular articles published on Total Pharmacy® in 2022.

10. The Need for Patient-Specific Medication Optimization Systems

Medication decision support tools focused on individual patients can help pharmacists effectively analyze risk of unintended harm, identify and assess potential interventions, and facilitate longitudinal care.

9. Adventures in Pharmacy Front End Retailing 

Independent pharmacy owners need to pay more attention to the front end of their store.

8. Stories of Success: Trull Family Pharmacy

Brandon Trull, PharmD, and the Trull Family Pharmacy staff sprang into action during devastating flash flooding in Waverly, Tennessee.

7. Thinking Back and Looking Forward, Good Neighbor Pharmacy is Ready for the Next 40 Years

After 40 years of experience, Good Neighbor Pharmacy is ready to tackle whatever challenges lie ahead for independent pharmacies.

6. NCPA Recommends Prescryptive Health AI-Optimized Pricing System to Community Pharmacists

MyRx AI Pricing uses enhanced analytics to bring dynamic pricing to pharmacies and cash-paying customers.

5. Community Pharmacies Make Care Possible in Medical Deserts

Community pharmacies take care to their customers who lack easy access to basic, high-quality health care services.

4. Patient Advocacy: The Cycle of Paying It Forward

A look at how a pharmacist’s local CPESN Network, the Pennsylvania Pharmacists Care Network, and Flip the Pharmacy helped 1pharmacy better serve patients.

3. UAMS Wins NCPA 2022 Good Neighbor Pharmacy Pruitt-Schutte Student Business Plan Competition

The winner was announced during the first general session of the 2022 National Community PharmacistsAssociation Annual Convention.

Jacqueline Paye, PharmD, shares how her pharmacy continued to serve its rural community during the pandemic.

1. Good Neighbor Pharmacy Celebrates 40 Years of Elevating Independent Community Pharmacy at ThoughtSpot 2022

Good Neighbor Pharmacy andthe AmerisourceBergen Foundation announce a new scholarship program and the 2022 Pharmacy of the Year Award was presented to Gateway Pharmacy ofPhoenixville, Pennsylvania.

Articles

Best of the Best: Top Total Pharmacy® Coverage in 2022

Pharmacy owners rely on the coverage Total Pharmacy® provides in order to make the best business decisions each and every day. Last year, we covered a wide range of topics, including staffing, social media, and more. Take a look back at our top business strategy articles from 2022.

The Flip the Pharmacy program provides tools to pharmacy technicians and non-pharmacy support staff of Mitchell’s Drug Stores to help provide patient care.

Flip the Pharmacy helped this Jonesboro, Arkansas, pharmacy go from a traditional dispensing one to a pharmacy offering robust clinical services.

8. Documentation Pays Off in More Than 1Way

Quality documentation ensures pharmacies get paid for clinical services and offers a way to engage with patients.

7. Motivate, Incentivize Your Team After the “Great Resignation”

Quality documentation ensures that pharmacies get paid for clinical services and offers a way to engage with patients.

6. Total Pharmacy® Solutions Summit: A Day of Education for Independent Pharmacists

Thought leaders from across the community and independent pharmacy spaces came together for a day of education and insight.

5. Supporting the Next Era of Independent Pharmacists in the US and Abroad

The future of independent pharmacy requires the combination of what makes independent pharmacy special and the digital landscape found elsewhere in retail.

4. Thriving in a Digital World: Marketing Strategies for Independent Pharmacies

Cut through the online noise with these digital marketing tips for your independent pharmacy.

3. How to Hire Staff During the Great Resignation

Practices can use these strategies to attract skilled workers to open positions.

2. Marketing 101: How to Market Your Independent Pharmacy

If you consider yourself a health care professional first, marketer second, tune in! Expert Ginny Langbehn joins Drug Topics® to answer pharmacists’ most common questions.

1. Empowering Pharmacist-Physician Collaboration

As a pharmacist, embedding yourself in a primary care practice can have positive outcomes for both patients and your business.

Best of the Best: Top Business Strategy Coverage in 2022

Urgent Need to Increase Vaccinations in Children

Childhood vaccinations took a downturn during the pandemic. Now is the time to get them done and pharmacists can help.


Positive Topline Results Announced from Pivotal Efficacy Trial of mRNA Vaccine for RSV

Moderna has announced positive topline results from a phase 3 pivotal efficacy study of mRNA-1345, the company’s investigational mRNA vaccine targeting respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in older adults.

Recommended Immunization Schedules for 2023

The updates include new recommendations for COVID-19 and pneumococcal vaccines.


Three-Dose Hepatitis B Vaccine Regimen Can Protect Those With HIV

Previously hepatitis B vaccines have offered lower levels of protection for people living with HIV. New research indicates that a 3-dose series could offer much better protection.


49 New Therapies Approved by FDA Last Year

New approvals include gene therapies, first-in-class drugs, treatments for rare diseases, and cancer, as well as biosimilars.

Your weekly roundup of the latest news from Drug Topics®.

News Roundup: January 16 to January 20

The Phase 3 ENHANCE-1 clinical trial evaluating nebulized ensifentrine as a maintenance therapy for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has met its primary and key secondary endpoints, according to a news release from Verona Pharma.

In addition to these milestones, investigators found that ensifentrine reduced both the rate and risk of exacerbations from COPD. It is a first-in-class, selective dual inhibitor of phosphodiesterase 3 and 4 enzymes.

) included 763 patients with moderate to severe symptomatic COPD at sites across North America and Europe. Participants were randomly assigned to receive either a 3 mg nebulized dose of ensifentrine or nebulized placebo twice daily for 24 or 48 weeks. The primary endpoint was improved lung function; key secondary endpoints included improved quality of life and symptom improvements.

Investigators found that the placebo corrected change from baseline in forced expiratory volume (FEV1) area under the curve (AUC) 0 to 12 hours after dosing was 87 mL (

<.0001) at week 12. Those in the ensifentrine group also experienced consistent improvements across all subgroup evaluations, including gender, age, smoking status, and COPD severity, among others.

Symptom improvement was early and sustained in comparison to placebo at weeks 6, 12, and 24, with similar results seen in quality-of-life measures. Additionally, investigators noted a 36% reduction in moderate to severe COPD exacerbations ensifentrine group. The agent was also well-tolerated by participants, with few events occurring during the study period.

In a release announcing the results, Antonio Anzueto, MD, Professor of Medicine and Section, Chief of Pulmonary at South Texas Veterans Healthcare System, commented on the results, saying, “The 36% reduction in the rate of exacerbations observed over 24 weeks in symptomatic patients is impressive. Combined with the significant improvements in lung function, symptom and quality of life measures, as well as the favorable safety profile, these data confirm ensifentrine’s potential to change the treatment paradigm for patients.”

1. Verona Pharma announces ensifentrine meets primary and key secondary endpoints in phase 3 ENHANCE-1 trial for COPD. News Release. Verona Pharma. January 5, 2023. Accessed January 19, 2023. 

https://www.veronapharma.com/media/verona-pharma-announces-ensifentrine-meets-primary-and-key

The medication showed significant efficacy for treating patients with moderate to severe COPD exacerbations.

Phase 3 Study of Ensifentrine Meets Primary, Secondary Endpoints

Pharmacists can make simple changes that add up to big environmental impacts.

Getting Well and Staying Well: Supporting Patient New Year’s Resolutions for 2023

Pharmacists can play an important role in patients’ wellness journeys.

FDA Grants Breakthrough Therapy Designation for VAX-24 for Invasive Pneumococcal Disease

The Breakthrough Therapy designation for VAX-24 will grant Vaxcyte access to the FDA’s Fast Track program.

With the respiratory season in full swing and COVID-19 continuing to infect, knowing the basics of the common cold, influenza, COVID-19, and respiratory syncytial virus can help ensure patients get the right care.


Top 15 Potential Blockbuster Drugs to Watch Out For

Clarivate analysts have identified the treatments they forecast could deliver annual sales of more than $1 billion within 5 years. These include therapies for rare diseases, as well as HIV, Parkinson’s disease, Crohn’s disease, alopecia, and cancer.

News Roundup: January 9 to January 13

January 12 is National Pharmacist Day: It’s a day to celebrate all that pharmacists do to care for their communities. It’s no secret that pharmacists are the most accessible health care profession with most Americans living within 5 miles of a community pharmacy.

 wants to take a step back and reflect on how pharmacists stepped up in the pandemic to provide care, test, and eventually vaccinate. It’s safe to say that the pandemic has led many in the public to understand just how important their local pharmacy and especially pharmacist is to their health.

Some highlights over the past almost 3 years of the pandemic, pharmacists were responsible for so many things including:

Pharmacists started to be granted the power to vaccinate against COVID-19 when a vaccine was available in 

 with the US Department of Health and Human Services expanding it nationwide in 

Easier and more accessible forms of COVID-19 testing 

Pharmacists used the pandemic to reconsider ways to address 

 and their impact on other health crises.

 posed by controlled substances and managing drug diversion during the pandemic.

Surveys showed that many patients preferred getting their COVID-19 vaccinations at the 

, rather than mass events. As a result, more than 296.9 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered at pharmacies as of December 29, 2022.

 to patients, with some exceptions, expanded pharmacists’ scope of practice in 2022.

When the world changed in March 2020, pharmacists stepped up. You tested millions. You vaccinated millions. You rapidly shifted to provide curbside, delivery, and other services when patients didn’t want to face potential exposure. You showed why pharmacists are an integral part of health care.

So, this National Pharmacist Day, take a bow.

Berenbrok LA, Tang S, Gabriel N, et al. Access to community pharmacies: a nationwide geographic information systems cross-sectional analysis. 

 2022 Nov-Dec;62(6):1816-1822.e2. doi: 10.1016/j.japh.2022.07.003.

The federal retail pharmacy program for COVID-19 vaccination. Resource. CDC. Reviewed December 29, 2022. Accessed January 12, 2023. 

https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/retail-pharmacy-program/index.html

This National Pharmacist Day, take the time to reflect on how pharmacists have stepped up during the pandemic.