Chain Pharmacy

Pharmacists save the medical system millions of dollars every day by being the last resort for the poor people who have nowhere else to turn.

Medtronic Inc. in Minneapolis, Minn., recently received FDA approval for its new CareLink Pro 3.0 Therapy Management software.

An OIG audit concluded that CMS is paying pharmacies for dispensing terminated drugs under Medicare Part D, while CMS insists it is not.

A relief pharmacist should spend the first 10 minutes with an internal checklist. Its items may be small in themselves, but overlooked, they will make the day considerably harder.

In October 2010, FDA approved dabigatran etexilate (Pradaxa, Boehringer Ingelheim), the first oral direct thrombin inhibitor for the prevention of thromboembolic stroke in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation.

Starting this month, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act requires employees with tax-advantaged health accounts to have a prescription for an OTC drug to qualify for account reimbursement and preferred tax treatment. Insulin and OTC medical devices and supplies are exempt.

Under the federal Controlled Substances Act, marijuana is classified as Schedule I, a definition that gives it a high potential for abuse, with no current safe or medical use. Meanwhile, in 14 states, patients have access to medical marijuana upon physican recommendation.

January is prime time for colds and other respiratory illnesses. Because people tend to equate January sniffles with colds and flu, they may go straight to the cough/cold area and bypass the allergy/sinus aisle, which is also of concern this time of year.

Medication therapy management is looking like the next new career opportunity for pharmacists as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, health plans, and employers press for its adoption.

Drug Topics' annual business outlook survey, conducted online in October, drew more than 400 responses from community, hospital, and long-term-care pharmacists. Their conclusions about the coming year may surprise you.

In this season of gustatory indulgence, it can't hurt to prepare for the occasional upset stomach.

This issue is a milestone for Drug Topics, with the publication of the 200th column by Jim Plagakis to appear under the heading "JP at Large."

Patients with health insurance are abandoning their prescriptions at higher rates than they did a year ago and far more frequently than they did 5 years ago, according to a recent study.

New data show that while nearly all MI patients receive beta blockers, most patients receive suboptimal doses that are never increased.

Despite the barriers to provision of MTM that exist for pharmacists, figuring out a way to do it is our professional obligation.

A pharmacy that engages in veterinary compounding has been embroiled in a struggle with FDA since it compounded a vitamin supplement for administration to 21 polo ponies during the U.S. Open Polo Championships in April 2009. When they were injected with the compounded vitamin supplement, all 21 ponies collapsed and died. FDA's subsequent court challenge raises the question of when compounding becomes manufacture.

In his 200th column for Drug Topics' "JP at Large," Jim Plagakis reflects on some moments that stand out.

Counterfeit medications and substandard medications are on the rise, according to Interchange 2010, a conference sponsored by the Partnership for Safe Medicines.

PainSAFE, an initiative of the American Pain Foundation, has launched a website to educate patients and practitioners about pain-management therapies and their risks.

At the Third Annual Risk Management and Drug Safety Summit, attendees and presenters discussed the latest issues related to risk and safety, and examined how REMS and drug safety have fared since 2007.

A survey of new Rx, new generic, and new OTC products

Pharmacists speak out about the pros and cons of the placebo effect.

The first interstate electronic exchanges of real patient information should begin shortly in Ohio, at what is expected to become a national hub that will enable information related to prescription drug monitoring to flow across state lines.

The promise of genomic discoveries is tremendous, but modern medicine is not yet ready to use the bulk of these discoveries, said Muin Khoury, MD, PhD, at the annual meeting of the American College of Clinical Pharmacology (ACCP) in Baltimore, Md.

After fighting about it for years, Congress included legislation in the mammoth healthcare reform bill that would allow an easier approval path for ?biosimilars,? sometimes referred to as generic versions of biologic products.