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FDA has approved boceprevir (Victrelis, Merck) for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C genotype 1 infection, in combination with peginterferon alfa and ribavirin, in adult patients aged 18 years and older with compensated liver disease.

The American Pharmacists Association is encouraging seniors to contact their pharmacists during Older Americans Month to gain better knowledge of the medications they are taking and to learn about available wellness opportunities.

Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour has signed into law S.B. 2445, which reauthorizes the state?s Pharmacy Practice Act and requires pharmacy benefit managers to be subject to oversight by the Mississippi Board of Pharmacy.

APhA's white paper focusing on improving REMS programs and designing a system that maximizes patient safety while minimizing burdens on the healthcare system was published in the May/June issue of the Journal of the American Pharmacists Association.

Frustrated by its lack of success at reining in drug-company abuses, FDA is bringing back a legal doctrine spawned by long-dead rodents to bring criminal charges against pharmaceutical executives, including executives who had no personal knowledge of company misdeeds.

Pharmacists need to leverage any tool that will minimize the demands placed on them and reduce distractions that can lead to medication errors, longer patient waiting time, and other complications. One available tool is the call center.

A recent state appellate court decision in California could help pharmacists claim meal and rest breaks they are due under state labor law. The case, which involved United Parcel Service workers, affirmed workers' right to up to 2 hours of extra pay daily.

Pharmacists at the University of California San Francisco are in the process of bringing one of the world's largest and most advanced robotic pharmacies online.

Wide-scale pill-splitting as a cost-containing measure is practiced by such large healthcare systems as the West Coast VA, Kaiser, and United Healthcare. The practice may serve the bottom line. But does it serve the patients?

As long as pharmacists work in such understaffed conditions, the repeated promise of more time spent with the patient will never be a reality.

Letters: May 2011

Readers speak out about the 15-minute Rx, antibiotic stewardship, and MTM.

REMS update

FDA recently called for the addition of new Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy requirements for medications. This article examines some resulting challenges and potential solutions.

Quantum leap

Companies get their professional staff to do what they want by instilling fear. The result is thousands of pharmacists who are afraid, all of them, of one thing or another.