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The Food & Drug Administration has approved abatacept (Orencia, Bristol-Myers Squibb) for treating rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in patients with inadequate response to other therapies. Orencia is first in a new class of agents that inhibits T-lymphocyte activation by binding to CD80 and CD86, blocking the interaction with CD28.

TIPS TO REMEMBER, Vaprisol

The FDA has unveiled a major revision to its prescription druginformation format, commonly called the package insert. The changesinclude the following: Highlights, a section that will provideimmediate access to the most important prescribing informationabout benefits and risks; Table of Contents, for easy reference todetailed safety and efficacy information; the date of initialproduct approval; and a toll-free number and Internet reportinginformation for suspected adverse events. Commenting on the plan,Consumers Union said the proposal will make existing drug safetyand risk information clearer to physicians, but the new plan fallsshort of dramatically improving drug safety for consumers becauseit does not require better safety measures from drugmakers.

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If your hospital is not using a closed-loop medication management system, it soon will be. That's the prediction from the Fourth Annual Summit on Patient Safety & Information Technology held in San Francisco last month. Bar-coding, radio frequency identification (RFID), computerized physician order entry (CPOE), and other elements of a closed-loop medication system are moving at different speeds in similar directions.