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How pharmacy technology has evolved: What is and what could beDuring the past 50 years, advances in technology have enabled pharmacists to become more efficient and more accurate during the typical day, while simultaneously giving pharmacy personnel more time to interact one-on-one with patients.
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Gamunex wins orphan-drug approval from FDA for treatment of CIDPFDA approves Gamunex for treatment of neurologic disease.
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FDA safety page: Drug errors associated with MaaloxMaalox is a well-recognized brand name that healthcare professionals associate with nonprescription or OTC antacid drug products containing the active ingredients aluminum hydroxide, magnesium hydroxide, and simethicone. However, the Food & Drug Administration wants to alert healthcare professionals that Maalox Total Stomach Relief (an OTC upset stomach reliever/antidiarrheal drug product) contains the active ingredient bismuth subsalicylate.
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Exclusive survey-PHARMACY: 2032The next 25 years hold promise of more clinical involvement and collaboration ? and more respect for pharmacists.
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Wholesalers called weak link in pharmaceutical supply chainPharmacies told to check their wholesalers out in light of the surge in drug counterfeiting
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Birth control takes new turn with approval of hormonal ringOrganon's NuvaRing is approved for birth control.
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Managing Chronic Kidney Disease in Patients With DiabetesHow can pharmacists help slow the progression of diabetic kidney disease?
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Viewpoint: Can independents survive Part D?Decades ago, when there were no pharmacy benefit managers and pharmacists were fondly called Doc and sold only medication, pharmacists were respected for the tireless care they gave patients. Over the past 20 years, PBMs working for insurance companies and government agencies have gradually disconnected the care from health, treating pharmacy like a commodity business. Because of PBMs' steady ratcheting down of reimbursements, pharmacists now barely make 1% to 2% profit margins on dispensing prescriptions for private and government plans.
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Anticancer drug treats skin lymphomaThe recently approved Zolinza (vorinostat), the first anticancer drug to be developed by Merck & Co. in 20 years, targets a little-known malignancy that's often mistaken for eczema or psoriasis. Vorinostat, also known as suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA), is indicated for the treatment of cutaneous manifestations in patients with cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL), a rare form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, who have progressive, persistent, or recurrent disease on or following two systemic therapies.
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Comparing the effectiveness of drug treatmentsMost Medicare providers and beneficiaries are unaware of the provision for comparative effectiveness research which is part of the Medicare Modernization Act. Politicians, policymakers, and manufacturers view it as a key initiative for the future of Medicare and beyond.
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Viewpoint: Generic profitability: Is it at risk?Wal-Mart offers generics for $4.00. The Deficit Reduction Act cuts billions of dollars from pharmacies' Medicaid reimbursement for generic drugs. There's no doubt about it, generic margins are under siege today.
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IRS FSA rule trips up many retail pharmaciesRetail pharmacy managers are discovering that many third-party administrators do not agree that their inventory information approval systems meet compliance requirements set by the Internal Revenue Service for customers' use of flexible spending accounts.
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Update on Diabetes TherapyDespite evidence that optimal glycemic control can help reduce disease progression and complications, most patients do not achieve recommended treatment goals.
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Viewpoint: Should an RX label require a use-by date or an expiration date?All prescription drugs should have a sell-by date for consistency and patient protection.
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Fried TwinkiesOverweight and obese people constitute a majority in the United States. Universal access to healthcare will mean fat people, too. Thousands of obese people, uninsurable today, will get full coverage, and expensive prescriptions for obesity-related illnesses will clog the tube.
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New options abound to treat resistant blood cancersMany agents are in development to fight resistance to Gleevec (imatinib, Novartis) in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). That was one of the issues highlighted at the recent meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH), held in Orlando, Fla. The meeting drew 20,000 attendees seeking news of improved treatments for blood cancer.
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Floodgates openAs a flurry of blockbuster drugs lose their 20-year patent protection, the market is splitting wide open as drugmakers offer competing generic versions.
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Opinion: Is Modern Medicine a Religion?Physicians are our priests, the war on disease has replaced the fight against sin, and pills are our Eucharist.
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Viewpoint: A Pharmacist's tongue-in-cheek guide to patient etiquetteHere's a guide for patients to mind their manners.
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Caution: Heparin errors can have fatal resultsLast September, the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) reported an incident that occurred at a Midwestern hospital. A pharmacy technician had stocked an automated dispensing cabinet with heparin 10,000 units/ml vials in a drawer reserved for heparin 10 units/ml. The nurses retrieving the vials did not notice the discrepancy in strength and used the 10,000 units/ml heparin for umbilical line flushes of six premature infants. Three of the babies died of heparin overdose.
