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When used in conjunction with conventional blood clot prevention therapies, statins significantly reduced the risk for venous thromboembolic (VTE) events following total joint replacement (TJR) surgery, according to research presented recently at the 2014 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS).

Bringing a new tool to the arsenal of medications to treat type 2 diabetes, FDA recently approved the only once-weekly injectable pen for adults with type 2 diabetes-exenatide extended-release for injectable suspension (AstraZeneca, Bydureon Pen).

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) prescriptions for U.S. adults have more than doubled from 2008 to 2012, according to a report by Express Scripts.

CVS Caremark Corp. faces as much as $29 million in fines associated with 37,000 prescription painkillers that are missing from four of its California stores, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.

The high risk of bleeding in patients taking the anticoagulant dabigatran (Pradaxa) has been a major problem that the manufacturer and health experts have been trying to find solutions for over the last four years. Sixteen percent of patients experienced a bleed in one year, including 3.3% who had bleeds that required emergency medical treatment, according to one clinical trial.

The National Community Pharmacists Association is asking Iowa’s Gov. Terry Branstad to sign into law H.F. 2297 legislation that would provide a level of transparency for how pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) determine reimbursement for multiple source generic drugs. The legislation would give the insurance commissioner authority to request information from PBMs in Iowa, according to a March 11 letter from NCPA to the governor.

After pleading guilty to unlawful importation of drugs, a San Diego pharmacist has been ordered to repay Medicare $1 million.William Burdine, 65, owner of the Alvarado Medical Plaza Pharmacy in San Diego, was also sentenced to eight months of home confinement, 240 hours of community service, five years of probation, and a $10,000 fine.

Pharmacists cannot solve the drug abuse problem, but they can refrain from abetting drug-seekers - and give chronic-pain patients the support they deserve.

Are you pharmacy?

How much do you identify with your work? Does your role as a pharmacist determine your sense of self? Be careful what you tell yourself. Maybe think again.

CMS is proposing a modified interpretation of the existing non-interference provisions that would remove any limitation on CMS’ regulation of the relationship between pharmacies and plan sponsors.

tPA and me

What would you do if you scrambled through that 3.5 hour window, only to find a colleague waiting with his foot stuck out?