
New Rx, indications, generics, and OTC products
Letters, e-mails, and posts from Drug Topics readers
The National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) strongly opposes a Pennsylvania bill that would only allow biosimilar substitution by a pharmacy with permission of the prescriber.
Since the start of Tennessee’s drug database three years ago, more than 2,000 so-called ‘doctor shoppers’ have been thwarted and prescriptions for painkillers have decreased, according to a report in the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
Following the 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak that killed 64 people and sickened hundreds, FDA tightened regulations on compounders like the New England Compounding Center in Massachusetts to which the tainted drugs were linked.
The maelstrom that has erupted since Genentech switched three top-selling cancer medications to specialty distributors is not expected to die down anytime soon.
Arizona led the nation with 77 pharmacy robberies in 2013, according to statistics from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Overall, pharmacy robberies nationwide dipped slightly from 745 in 2012 to 713 last year.
Some pharmacies and health clinics in the United States and Canada are waiting on quadrivalent influenza vaccine, after production issues this fall. Clinics that had expected to receive the vaccine by mid-September are now forced to wait until mid-October.
Two members of Congress have launched an investigation into “soaring” price increases for generic drugs used for common medical conditions as well as life-threatening ones.
Walgreens will soon provide WebMD content, including virtual coaching programs, directly to its customers, the two companies recently announced.
CVS Health’s pharmacy benefits management company will pay $6 million to settle federal charges it failed to reimburse Medicaid for prescription costs also covered by private plans, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Opioids may relieve pain, but they do not do much to improve the health of patients with back problems, headaches, or fibromyalgia, according to the American Academy of Neurology.
U.S. citizens visited foreign destinations 62 million times last year. Many needed travel vaccines. That's a big niche.
A federal appeals court upheld an Alameda County, California ordinance that requires drug manufacturers to pay disposal costs for unused medications.
The FDA’s Office of Women’s Health recently celebrated its 20th anniversary. Marsha Henderson, assistant commissioner, Office of Women’s Health, discusses the agency’s past, present, and future.
Independent retail pharmacies must conduct criminal background checks on new hires and established employees along with regular, random drug testing, according to one expert.
Patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer who received pertuzumab (Perjeta, Roche) as part of their chemotherapy regimen had a significantly longer median survival rate-by almost 16 months-compared with those who only received the trastuzumab/docetaxel regimen, according to a presentation during the 2014 Congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology in Spain.
A new California law will free up hospital pharmacists in the state to spend more time with patients and collaborate with other healthcare providers.
A New York legislator said he plans to introduce a bill aimed at preventing an Upper East Side pharmacy from charging 9/11 responders $150 to obtain printouts of their records.
FDA has approved two new HIV-1 cocktail drugs: elvitegravir (Vitekta, Gilead), an integrase inhibitor and cobicistat (Tybost, Gilead), a protease-inhibitor booster.
The Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) is planning a feasibility study to examine whether it should open a new pharmacy school in either Green Bay or elsewhere in the state.
Pharmacists around the world, on Thursday, Oct. 2, are expected to tweet about the things they do to help patients, communities, and the healthcare industry.
Have pharmacists uncritically accepted the pill-for-every-ill mentality?
How often do patients reach out to pharmacists in brick-and-mortar stores? The answer may surprise you.
FDA approved tiotropium bromide (Spiriva Respimat, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals) inhalation spray for the long-term, once-daily maintenance treatment of bronchospasm associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and to reduce exacerbations in patients with COPD.
Pharmacists delivering patient care services as part of patient-centered, interdisciplinary healthcare teams can make a difference for diabetes patients who are disproportionately affected by the disease and have limited access to quality care, according to the final results of Project IMPACT: Diabetes.
President Obama recently signed an executive order establishing a taskforce charged with creating a strategy to combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
A Wisconsin pharmacist has been arraigned on charges she and a partner tried to smuggle more than four million misbranded and counterfeit pills into the United States.
FDA has approved dulaglutide (Trulicity, Eli Lilly) to treat type 2 diabetes mellitus. The drug is a once-weekly subcutaneous injection used to improve glycemic control and is indicated as an adjunct to diet and exercise in the management of type 2 diabetes in adults.
California Gov. Jerry Brown recently signed legislation that makes the state the sixth to allow access to the overdose antidote naloxone without a prescription.