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The National Lipid Association just released a report addressing six safety issues related to statin therapy, including the effects of statins on cognition, diabetes risk, liver function, muscle symptoms, interactions with other drugs, and statin intolerance. The report, published in the Journal of Clinical Lipidology, is an update to a consensus report published by the organization in 2006.

An FDA advisory panel recommended against Merck’s attempt to sell its prescription drug, montelukast sodium (Singulair), as an over-the-counter product for allergy relief in adults only.

Higher dietary fiber intake among myocardial infarction (MI) survivors lowers the risk of subsequent all cause and cardiovascular mortality, according to a prospective study published April 29 in BMJ.

Ranbaxy Laboratories began recalling 29,790 blister packs of an over-the-counter allergy-relief medicine in February after the FDA identified unacceptable packaging defects and the recall is ongoing, according to the FDA.

A Louisiana pharmacy owner recently pled guilty to charges she bribed nursing home workers to return unused drugs, then repackaged and resold them as new.

Due to the number of vaccine errors reported to the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) National Vaccine Errors Reporting System, the organization has developed recommendations for practitioners to reduce such errors.

Cost is the primary non-efficacy factor that drives decisions on which pain medications to include in formularies, according to a survey that included hospital pharmacy directors.

Kim Ankenbruck's first blog post, "Who will stand up for pharmacy?," got her an avalanche of e-mail. We asked her for an update, and she sent in a real doozy.

A West Virginia pharmacist has tossed his hat into the ring for the Republican nomination for Congress in the state’s 2nd District.

FDA approved umeclidinium (Incruse Ellipta, GlaxoSmithKline) once-daily anticholinergic for long-term maintenance treatment of airflow obstruction in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), including chronic bronchitis and/or emphysema.

FDA approved ceritinib (Zykadia, Novartis) for patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Patients who use statins are consuming more calories and fats than a decade earlier, increasing the risk of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, according to a study published online in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Who sez older pharmacists should be put out to pasture? Not these guys - they're too busy working to consider the possibility.

Pfizer announced its interest publicly in acquiring AstraZeneca and reincorporating in Britain, the New York Times reported.

The biggest challenge in tackling opioid abuse is lack of awareness and understanding of addictive diseases, as well as misinformation and negative perceptions of medication-assisted therapies (MATs), according to a recent opinion article published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg, MD, defended the agency’s approval of the powerful opioid Zohydro ER (hydrocodone bitartrate) extended-release capsules, explaining that its highest dose is no more potent than the highest strengths of the opioid OxyContin ER (oxycodone) extended-release and extended-release morphine, in an FDA blog posted April 29.

FDA approved ramucirumab (Cyramza, Eli Lilly) to treat patients with advanced stomach cancer or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma.

Gov. Scott Walker recently signed a bill into law authorizing physician-pharmacist collaboration in any patient setting throughout Wisconsin.

Pharmacist-led care with prescribing authority substantially improved risk factors at 6 months among stroke survivors versus nurse case managers who monitored patients and provided feedback to their primary care physicians, according to a report published in the Canadian Medical Association’s journal, CMAJ.

The owner of a historic Des Moines, Iowa pharmacy faces up to 250 years in prison following his recent indictment on 16 federal charges, including conspiracy to distribute drugs, tax evasion, and wire fraud.

Since the late 1990s, USA300, a strain of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), has spread across the United States, contributing to an epidemic of community-associated [CA] MRSA. The strains can persist in residential homes after infections, and appear to be linked to high usage of fluoroquinolones, according to a study published in the Proceedings for the National Academy of Sciences.

FDA is requiring that drug labels for injectable corticosteroids used to treat neck and back pain must be updated to include a warning of rare but serious adverse events, including vision loss, stroke, paralysis, and death, according to a recent FDA drug safety communication.

From controlled substances to retail chains in trouble and back to controlled substances, Drug Topics readers found plenty to talk about during the month of April.

There are associations and boards representing pharmacists in all sorts of settings. Now, there is a national association to support pharmacists who dispense marijuana products to treat specialty diseases.

An 18-month statewide program to decrease painkiller prescriptions and lower addiction risks resulted in 6.6 million fewer doses dispensed, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts recently announced.

Despite strong FDA warnings against its use in adolescents, a new study suggests that codeine is prescribed for children during at least 500,000 emergency room (ER) visits each year.

Pharmacists who contacted high-risk patients within 72 hours of discharge from Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, found more than half of the patients had medication-related issues. In a different group of high-risk patients who had received inpatient interventions, 35% of patients were found to have issues after a pharmacist reviewed their medications just prior to discharge, according to Laura Carr, PharmD.

CVS Pharmacy is once again in hot water regarding its handling and dispensing of controlled substances-this time being sued by an insurer and 18 states that claim the pharmacy chain collected hundreds of millions for invalid prescriptions that were diverted to the black market.