"Misuse of amphetamines may cause sudden death and serious cardiovascular adverse events" is the statement that's been added to GlaxoSmithKline's dextroamphetamine sulfate sustained-release capsules and tablets (Dexedrine Spansules) labeling. The revision comes in response to an FDA request to all manufacturers of CNS stimulants used to treat ADHD for additional and standardized language based on recommendations made by members of two different advisory committees, according to Glaxo.
New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is informing New Yorkers that his Web site has been expanded to enable consumers to search and compare the prices for 150 commonly prescribed drugs that state law requires pharmacies to disclose to them upon request.
Pharmacies in New Jersey will soon be required to submit price information for the 150 most frequently prescribed prescription drugs as part of the New Jersey Prescription Drug Retail Price Registry. The recently signed law calls for drug prices to be available on a state-run Web site and a toll-free hotline in English and Spanish.
Independent pharmacy cooperatives United Drugs and Partners in Pharmacy Cooperative (PIPCo) recently announced a new agreement to expand cooperation between the two organizations. "This new relationship lets us continue to preserve and strengthen our members' independence but allows them to do business on a chain level," explained Gene Brah, executive director of PIPCo.
With the Food & Drug Administration's approval of Atripla (efavirenz/emtricitabine/tenofovir, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Gilead Sciences), HIV patients will have access to a once-daily single-tablet regimen. The new product combines three agents from two classes of antiretrovirals: Efavirenz (600 mg) is a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI); and emtricitabine (200 mg) and tenofovir (300 mg) are nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs). All three work by blocking reverse transcriptase, an enzyme required for HIV replication.
The Pharmacist Services Technical Advisory Coalition, founded in 2002 to improve the coding infrastructure required for billing of pharmacist services, has successfully gained revisions in the Health Care Provider Taxonomy Code List for pharmacy service providers and pharmacy suppliers. Among the new categories are geriatric, oncology, and compounding pharmacy. Changes in definitions for existing pharmacist categories include nuclear, nutrition support, pharmacotherapy, and psychiatric. The code review was performed in preparation for implementation of a National Provider Identifier (NPI), as mandated by HIPAA. According to PSTAC, providers may have one or more taxonomy codes, depending on their areas of specialization, and providers that have already completed the NPI application may need to update the code(s) in their NPI record. The new changes were announced in July by the National Uniform Claims Committee and will go into effect on Oct. 1. For a complete list of taxonomy codes, visit..
Pharmacists will continue to assume a gatekeeper role in individualized oncologic therapy, according to experts participating in an American Medical Association-sponsored media briefing, "Revolutionary Cancer Treatments," held in New York City recently. The event addressed the issue of unmet needs in cancer therapy. Carolyn D. Runowicz, president of the American Cancer Society, was the moderator for the meeting.
Specialty pharmacy Caremark was been chosen by Shire Human Genetics Therapies to participate in a limited distribution network for idursulfase (Elaprase), the orphan drug recently approved to treat Hunter Syndrome, or mucopolysaccharidosis II.
The cost of training providers and physicians who are reluctant to give up their old ways continue to be major obstacles to the adoption of e-prescribing. Andrew Morgan, an insurance specialist at CMS' Office of E-Health Standards & Services (OESS), said that some doctors don't want to spend a lot of time being trained.
The newly formed Coalition for Community Pharmacy Action (CCPA), a group representing 55,000 community pharmacies, is urging the House-Senate Conferees of the National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 5122/S. 2766) to give military families enrolled in TRICARE a choice when filling Rxs. Catherine Polley, co-president of CCPA, said, "Congress is considering legislation that raises co-pays at community pharmacies and could force millions of military families to fill their maintenance medications through mail order."
GPhA has announced the results of an independent study that disputes a recent PhRMA report endorsing the use of authorized generics. The new study, An Assessment of Authorized Generics: Consumer Effects and Policy Issues, by Aidan Hollis, M.D., and Bryan A. Liang, M.D., concluded that the practice of authorizing generics significantly reduces incentives for independent generic firms to challenge invalid brand-name patents and develop non-infringing processes.
JCAHO is training its sights on the psychiatric care provided in hospitals. It's seeking psychiatric hospitals to test five measures of care for one year starting Jan. 1, 2007.
Craig Svensson has been named dean of the Purdue University College of Pharmacy, Nursing, and Health Sciences. A member of the University of Iowa faculty with more than 20 years' teaching experience, Svensson will take over his new duties at Purdue effective Oct. 1 pending approval by Purdue's board of trustees.
Independent pharmacy cooperatives United Drugs and Partners in Pharmacy Cooperative (PIPCo) recently announced a new agreement to expand cooperation between the two organizations. "This new relationship lets us continue to preserve and strengthen our members' independence but allows them to do business on a chain level," explained Gene Brah, executive director of PIPCo.
CMS announced that the average cost of Medicare prescription drug plans will remain at current levels or even drop in 2007. According to federal officials, the average premium will be $24 or possibly even less next year.
A new PhRMA report finds that more than 400 biotechnology drugs are currently in clinical trials or awaiting approval from the FDA. Of the total, 210 are to treat cancer, 50 are for fighting infectious diseases, 44 for autoimmune disorders, and 22 for both HIV infection and cardiovascular disease.
Market research firm Health Industry Insights is predicting that a major shift will occur in the way pharmaceutical distributors operate over the next few years. In a recently published report, the firm predicted the shift will be from an inventory focus to an information focus.
OIG has found that the FDA's National Drug Code Directory, which lists prescription drugs by their NDC number, is neither complete nor accurate. More than 9,000 products are missing, and more than 34,000 are either listed in error or no longer on the market.
The FDA has ordered a refund program be established, following a federal district court ruling that Lane Labs USA marketed three products as treatments for cancer, HIV, and skin cancer without FDA approval. Consumers who purchased BeneFin, MGN-3, and SkinAnswer between Sept. 22, 1999, and July 12, 2004, are eligible for a partial refund of the purchase price and any shipping and handling costs.
The exhibit floor at the ASHP summer meeting in Orlando was sizzling with the latest wares on display for hospital pharmacy in categories ranging from automation solutions to dispensing equipment, computer hardware and software, drug administration devices, packaging equipment, and pharmacy management services.
Pharmacists are still divided over whether the mandate to drop the B.S. degree was a bad call
In August 2005, Woodland Heights Medical Center (Lufkin, Texas) pharmacy technician Fred Poage, CPhT, was taking a computer programming course while pursuing a mathematics degree at nearby Stephen F. Austin State University. Staff pharmacist Eddie Purifoy, R.Ph., challenged Poage to put the course to good use. "Why don't you do something really useful-tackle this Xigris problem?"
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has joined a growing list of payers that are giving hospital patients and other medical consumers detailed price and quality information. In June, CMS posted its negotiated rates for 30 common hospital procedures at www.cms.hhs.gov/healthcareconinit/01_overview.asp. Other hospital data are at www.HospitalCompare.hhs.gov.
The formula being used by Medicare to determine the reimbursement rates for intravenous immune globulin (IVIG) is creating serious problems for patients, physicians, hospitals, and pharmacists. The formulas used were changed for physicians' offices and homecare settings in 2005 and for hospital-based settings at the beginning of 2006. Reimbursement rates for almost all approved IVIG products are now below the costs of the products and this, combined with periodic supply shortages, has had patients and hospitals scrambling.
Hospitals with large indigent patient populations have a new financial ally: the Medicare Part D outpatient pharmacy benefit.
The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) recently issued updated evidence-based practice guidelines for the use of antiemetics in patients who are receiving chemotherapy or radiation. Chemotherapy-induced emesis can negatively affect a patient's quality of life and may have an impact on compliance with future treatments. Approximately 70% to 80% of all cancer patients receiving chemotherapy experience emesis.
Tenfold drug administration errors are common and pernicious in healthcare systems, but they could be almost entirely eliminated. They occur when a decimal placement is written incorrectly or misread. Decimal errors can result in a 10-fold, 100-fold, or even 1,000-fold overdose or underdose. But experts say providers rarely need to use decimals, and, when they are necessary, many steps can be taken to limit errors.
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) recently released Preventing Medication Errors, a 544-page report that is the fourth in its Quality Chasm series. The authors concluded that medication errors harm at least 1.5 million people per year in the United States. In addition, the cost of treating drug-related injuries that occur in hospitals alone conservatively amounts to $3.5 billion per year, according to the Committee on Identifying and Preventing Medication Errors, which wrote the report. The report was funded by the Department of Health & Human Services and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
The Pharmacist Services Technical Advisory Coalition, founded in 2002 to improve the coding infrastructure required for billing of pharmacist services, has successfully gained revisions in the Health Care Provider Taxonomy Code List for pharmacy service providers and pharmacy suppliers. Among the new categories are geriatric, oncology, and compounding pharmacy. Changes in definitions for existing pharmacist categories include nuclear, nutrition support, pharmacotherapy, and psychiatric. The code review was performed in preparation for implementation of a National Provider Identifier (NPI), as mandated by HIPAA. According to PSTAC, providers may have one or more taxonomy codes, depending on their areas of specialization, and providers that have already completed the NPI application may need to update the code(s) in their NPI record. The new changes were announced in July by the National Uniform Claims Committee and will go into effect on Oct. 1. For a complete list of taxonomy codes, visit..
