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Prescription drug costs will rise 12.2% over the next 12 months, according to a survey of 70 healthcare insurers by Aon Consulting. The projected increase is lower than the 13.1% a year ago.

Washington pharmacists could refuse to dispense emergency contraception but would have to provide patients a "timely alternative," under a policy endorsed by the state pharmacy board. The "refuse-and-refer" policy is opposed by women's and pro-choice groups, as well as Gov. Christine Gregoire.

Out of a total of 19,420 HIPAA complaints lodged since the medical privacy rule went into effect three years ago, the Bush Administration has imposed no fines and has prosecuted just two criminal cases, according to the Washington Post. The most common allegations included that personal medical information was wrongly revealed, information was poorly protected, and proper authorizations were not obtained.

Pennsylvania bill H.B. 814 could increase the state's consumers' and employers' prescription drug costs by as much as $123 million annually, according to new study from the actuarial firm Milliman and released by PCMA. The bill calls for proposed restrictions on consumers' and employers' ability to choose the mail-service pharmacy option and also eliminates co-pay differentials between retail and mail-service prescriptions.

Part D enrollees with mental illness will have to pay up to four times more in out-of-pocket expenses than their privately insured counterparts, according to a study from Thomson Medstat. They will also reach the donut hole in coverage two months earlier than the average for all Medicare patients.

The results of three surveys performed by Harris Interactive have led the SOS Rx (Senior Outpatient Medication Safety) Coalition, a project of the National Consumers League, to launch an educational program aimed at improving the use of anticoagulants. The group surveyed 426 patients taking the blood thinners, 109 caregivers looking after these patients, and 101 physicians prescribing the drugs.

Declaring some pharmacies are mass-producing non-FDA-approved nebulizer drugs for substitution without the patient's approval, asthma and allergy specialists proposed a resolution urging AMA to ask the FDA to take enforcement action against such pharmacies and to ask CMS to reconsider paying for such drugs. The resolution also urges AMA to educate physicians about the potential liability of approving such drug substitutions.

A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by a Wisconsin pharmacist, who alleged that Wal-Mart fired him last summer for refusing to fill birth control scripts and violated his religious freedom. The judge found that Neil Noesen was dismissed because he was disruptive and that Wal-Mart accommodated his views by having other R.Ph.s fill BC scripts.

Johnson & Johnson's affiliate Alza has received the FDA's nod for Ionsys (fentanyl iontophoretic transdermal system), a needle-free, patient-activated analgesic system. Ionsys will be the first product to utilize Alza's proprietary E-Trans system, which employs iontophoresis, a process in which a low-intensity electric field is used to transport the drug (fentanyl) across the skin and into the circulatory system.

More than 70 Medicine Shoppe franchise owners, representing 82 stores, have filed legal action against Medicine Shoppe International (MSI) and its parent company Cardinal Health. The action was filed on June 2 in Missouri through the American Arbitration Association.

Following this year's mumps outbreak, which resulted in 2,597 cases of the illness in the U.S., CDC has revamped the immunization recommendations in an attempt to better control mumps immunity. The Advisory Committee of Immunization Practices (ACIP) now defines acceptable presumptive evidence of immunity as: documentation of adequate vaccination, laboratory evidence of immunity, birth before 1957, or adequate vaccination-which is now defined as one dose of a live mumps vaccine for preschool-aged children and adults not at high risk, and two doses for school-aged children (grades K-12) and for adults at high risk (e.g., healthcare workers, international travelers, college students).

Genentech is working with five wholesalers in an initiative designed to streamline distribution of the firm's top revenue-producing pharmaceuticals. Novation, the contracting services company of VHA Inc. and the University HealthSystem Consortium, told its customers that Genentech is in the process of modifying its new distribution policy.

The FDA has issued a final guidance outlining the steps the agency will take to address medicines that are marketed without FDA approval. The activity will begin with prescription products containing the antihistamine carbinoxamine because of safety concerns regarding their use in children less than two years of age.

Despite findings from a new study of ACE-inhibitor use during the first trimester of pregnancy, the FDA will not change the drugs' warning labels right now, the agency said in a recent conference call. The study, "Major Congenital Malformations after First-Trimester Exposure to ACE Inhibitors," published recently in the New England Journal of Medicine, found a 2.7 times higher risk for birth defects when the mother was taking an ACE inhibitor during the first trimester of pregnancy.

The Governor of Massachusetts is planning to veto a bill the state senate just passed that does away with the requirement of a prescription before syringes can be sold in pharmacies. The house had already passed the measure in November 2005.

The Generic Pharmaceutical Association (GPhA) called the approvalof Sandoz Pharmaceutical's Omnitrope human growth hormone (HGH) asignificant first step in bringing more affordablebiopharmaceuticals to the U.S. marketplace. GPhA president/CEOKathleen Jaeger said that FDA's Omnitrope decision demonstratesthat sound science exists to support the approval of genericbiopharmaceuticals.

Let's say several prescription drug plans (PDPs) are asking you toprovide medication therapy management (MTM) services, but each planhas its own requirements. How can you best meet their welter ofneeds?

A former drug distributor admitted that he sold $7.3 million worthof prescription drugs that he knew were stolen from warehouses andtrucks. Gregory Broccoli pleaded guilty to five conspiracy charges,acknowledging wrongdoing from 2002 through 2004 at a company heoperated in Jersey City and Elizabeth, N.J.

Proposed legislation would require that New Jersey pharmaciesreport retail Rx price data weekly to the state so that citizenscould comparison shop by visiting a public Web site. Consumerswould log onto the site to search drug prices by zip code.

The police departments in Phoenix, Tempe, Chandler, Scottsdale, andother Arizona municipalities are investigating more than 49pharmacy robberies that have occurred at various pharmacies in thegreater Phoenix area over the past 11 months. Police investigatorsbelieve it is likely that these robberies are being committed bythe same individual or individuals.

According to a recent study published in Proceedings of theNational Academy of Sciences, scientists reported that increasingcarbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are expected to foster anenvironment conducive to widespread poison ivy growth by the year2050. A leading scientific expert predicts that under atmosphericcarbon dioxide concentrations the planet will likely reach by themiddle of this century, poison ivy will grow faster, bigger, andmore poisonous.

The Generic Pharmaceutical Association (GPhA) called the approvalof Sandoz Pharmaceutical's Omnitrope human growth hormone (HGH) asignificant first step in bringing more affordablebiopharmaceuticals to the U.S. marketplace. GPhA president/CEOKathleen Jaeger said that FDA's Omnitrope decision demonstratesthat sound science exists to support the approval of genericbiopharmaceuticals.

CDC has released new vaccine information materials related tohepatitis A. The agency said that as of July 1, whenever a healthprofessional administers a hepatitis A vaccine to a patient, a copyof these materials must be dispensed.

The in vitro diagnostics group, bioMerieux, has launched aneight-month, multi-city Innovation in Motion tour, which consistsof a bus traveling to small and mid-sized hospitals to demonstratethe company's latest diagnostic technologies. Lab professionals,pharmacists, physicians, and others are the targets of this bustour.

Close to half of all respondents who voted in a poll posted on DrugTopics Web site in May feel that when the cervical cancer vaccineis approved by the FDA, it should be administered on a voluntarybasis, with a warning given to patients that the shot could beassociated with risky sexual behavior. Only 16% feel that thevaccine should be mandatory for girls at puberty to protect thembefore they become sexually active. Another 16% believe the vaccineshould not be mandatory since there are not enough data on thelong-term safety of the product.

Results of a new survey sponsored by Ferring Pharmaceuticals showthat only 30% of women undergoing fertility treatments are able toadminister the medications once a day, a frequency that is thoughtto reduce patient anxiety and administration errors. The survey wasconducted on-line by the National Infertility Association among 238respondents between the ages of 27 and 40.

CMS has admitted that it has no hard evidence to back up deputyadministrator Leslie Norwalk's Congressional testimony thatpharmacies are being paid for Part D scripts on a 15-day billingcycle. Instead, Norwalk's assertion was based on informalinformation provided by Part D drug plans.