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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.

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.

A roundup of information on compression stockings after stroke; quality of home INR testing; and cardiovascular risk in users of clopidogrel

Walgreen Co., based in Deerfield, Ill., announced last Wednesday the sale of Walgreens pharmacy benefit management business, Walgreens Health Initiatives, to Catalyst Health Solutions Inc. of Rockville, Md., for $525 million in cash.

Intuity Medical, Inc., the maker of POGO, a fully-integrated blood glucose monitoring system, secured a $20 million credit facility from Silicon Valley Bank and Oxford Finance Corporation.

Children 6 to 23 months of age who receive trivalent inactivated flu vaccine concurrently with the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine are at increased risk of febrile seizures, according to researchers at the CDC and Harvard Medical School.

The risk of certain birth defects is higher in women given opioid analgesics such as hydrocodone during pregnancy, a new study reported.

FDA recently announced its plans to remove certain unapproved prescription medicines used to treat cough, cold, and allergy symptoms.

FDA notified healthcare professionals of serious health risks that have been reported in premature babies receiving lopinavir/ritonavir (Kaletra, Abbott) oral solution. Lopinavir/ritonavir oral solution contains the ingredients alcohol and propylene glycol.

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.

According to a survey published in the March issue of the Journal of Clinical Nursing, nearly two-thirds of hospital in-patients had experienced pain in the previous 24 hours, and 42% of those rated their pain as more than 7 out of 10.

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.

U.S. Marshals acting on a request of FDA seized all lots of Auralgan otic solution from Integrated Commercialization Solutions in Brooks, Ky.

Children being treated with a short course of oral corticosteroids for an acute asthma attack may experience a brief and transient depression of their immune response, according to a recent study conducted by Université de Montréal.

A recent recall of generic warfarin tablets was expanded to include 6 other drug products prepared on the same packaging line.

The American College of Physicians recently issued 3 recommendations for use of intensive insulin therapy for the management of glycemic control in hospitalized patients.

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.

Sunitinib and everolimus improved progression-free survival in patients with advanced pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors, according to 2 recent studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

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.

FDA approved the first-and-only selective phosphodiesterase type 4 inhibitor roflumilast (Daliresp, Forest Pharmaceuticals), once-daily oral tablet to decrease the frequency of exacerbations or worsening of symptoms from severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.