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The need to find balance in her own life led Anna Garrett, PharmD, to establish the National Association for Women in Health Care, an organization committed to helping nurses, pharmacists, and other women healthcare professionals take care of themselves.

For this pharmacist, the best education is in magazine advertisements. The ads give the big three: What the drug does. Why it is better than the others on the market. What the dangers are.

Each year, community pharmacists are recognized by their peers through nominations for Drug Topics' annual Top Independent Pharmacists awards, which honor 3 pharmacists or pharmacy teams for their contributions to local life.

From medication therapy management to diabetes self-management education programs, retail pharmacists have begun to solidify a new role for themselves on the healthcare team.

Abbott is complying with FDA's request to withdraw sibutramine (Meridia) from the U.S. market because the obesity drug may pose unnecessary cardiovascular (CV) risks to patients.

The DEA has changed its policy and now recognizes long-term-care nurses as agents of prescribers of Schedule C-III through C-V medications, according to a Federal Register notice released today.

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), working with government, community, public health, and law enforcement partners, will hold a prescription drug "Take-Back" initiative that seeks to prevent increased pill abuse and theft.

Many awards were presented at the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) Pharmacy & Technology Conference, but the Association?s highest honor, the Harold W. Pratt Award, was bestowed upon industry leader Joe Conda, senior vice president of strategic planning at H.D. Smith.

A new website being launched by the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA), www.PharmacyMatching.com, will bring together independent pharmacy owners preparing to sell their pharmacies, existing owners who desire additional stores, and entrepreneurs seeking to become pharmacy owners.

Ferring Pharmaceuticals Inc. is in the race to end prostate cancer as an official sponsor of the Great Prostate Cancer Challenge/Dash for Dad, a series of races in the United States, led by ZERO ? The Project to End Prostate Cancer.

Kerr Drug, a community pharmacy that pioneered the training of clinical pharmacists to administer vaccines to patients, is launching an effort to meet the demand for flu shots. The company is beginning its flu shot campaign earlier than ever this year and providing vaccinations during operating hours at all its stores throughout North Carolina, with no appointments necessary.

The implementation of a computerized provider order entry (CPOE) drug warning system can reduce orders for potentially inappropriate medications in hospitalized older patients, according to a study published in the Aug. 9 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, HealthDay News reported.

There appears to be no association between the use of oral bisphosphonates and the risk of esophageal or gastric cancer, according to research published in the Aug. 11 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, HealthDay News reported.

FDA issued a warning Aug. 12 that the drug lamotrigine (Lamictal, GlaxoSmithKline), approved to treat seizures and bipolar disorder, can cause aseptic meningitis, an inflammation not caused by bacterial infection of the protective membranes (meninges) that cover the brain and spinal cord.

Underlying a recent FDA-hosted public meeting and workshop was the question of how FDA as a regulatory agency should increase its current oversight of clinical laboratories, specifically those developing genetic tests that may be offered at their own facilities or made available through direct-to-consumer channels.

Thirty-nine states now have a tool to help pharmacists identify at least some questionable prescriptions and suggest when a patient may be doctor-shopping or pharmacy-shopping in order to obtain controlled substances. That tool is the state prescription monitoring program.

FDA advisory committee members voted 25 to 10 to reject a proposed plan to establish a risk evaluation and mitigation strategy for extended-release and long-acting opioid analgesics during the joint meeting on July 23 of the Anesthetic and Life Support Drugs Advisory Committee and the Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committee in Adelphi, Md.

Controlled substance dilemma

Community pharmacists face a "War on Drugs" different from the one heard about on the news. This war doesn't even seem to be on lawmakers' radar.