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Niche markets offer pharmacies a way to develop revenue streams, add to their bottom lines, and enhance customer service. Just ask Mark Williams, CPhT, marketing director for the Compounding Pharmacy in Hickory, N.C., a pharmacy that grew its business by thinking outside the box.

Letters: March 2011

Readers speak out about healthcare team roles, pharmacy credentials, efficiency, and e-tracking.

For pharmacies in the compounding business, an attractive, centrally located clean room that is visible to patients will generate substantial return on investment, propel business growth, and market the pharmacy as an innovator.

Until recently, none of our education systems has been preparing healthcare professionals for teamwork. That is beginning to change. While more remains to be done, we must look to a future characterized by high-functioning interprofessional teams in all practice settings.

On the right track

Chief executives from key pharmacy organizations met in mid-2010 to reinforce the joint message that the fight to move pharmacy into a central healthcare role has just begun.

FDA approved belimumab (Benlysta, Human Genome Sciences and GlaxoSmithKline) for the treatment of adult patients with active, autoantibody-positive systemic lupus erythematosus who are receiving standard therapy.

FDA's Pulmonary-Allergy Drugs Advisory Committee voted to approve Novartis' QAB149 (indacaterol) 75 µg as a once-daily long-term maintenance bronchodilator treatment of airflow obstruction in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, including chronic bronchitis and/or emphysema, PR Newswire reported.

One pharmacist wonders how it is possible that during 2 shifts in a row last week, she encounters complete ignorance of the potentially deadly and needless combination of popular ED pills and nitrates.

Rheumatoid arthritis patients who have been treated with glucocorticoids have an increased risk of gastrointestinal perforation, according to a study published in Arthritis & Rheumatism.

Tifacogin does not appear to improve outcomes of patients with severe community-acquired pneumonia, according to a global study published online in the American Thoracic Society?s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, ahead of the print edition.

A new study published in Science Translational Medicine found that patients? expectations regarding the effects of pain medications influence medication efficacy as well as the pain-related brain pathways activated during treatment.

FDA issued a complete response letter to EMD Serono, an affiliate of Merck KGaA, requesting additional information on cladribine (Movectro), a drug intended for the treatment of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis.

The rate of decline in the use of atypical antipsychotics in outpatients with dementia accelerated following a black box warning issued by FDA, according to "Trends in Antipsychotic Use in Dementia 1999-2007," a multicenter study of national Veterans Affairs data that appeared in the Archives of General Psychiatry.

Tranexamic acid reduces the risk of death from bleeding without increasing the risk of vascular occlusive events or the need for surgical intervention, according to a review published in the 2011 Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.

FDA has updated the pregnancy section of drug labels for the entire class of antipsychotic medications to provide more information about the potential risk of extrapyramidal signs and withdrawal symptoms in newborns whose mothers take antipsychotics during the third trimester of pregnancy.