Associations News

The West Virginia Attorney General's Office has filed a lawsuit alleging that CVS Pharmacy, Kmart, Kroger, Walgreen Pharmacy, and Target violated a state law designed to promote use of generic equivalents for brand-name prescription drugs, according to media reports in the state.

Want to see fear on the face of a pharmacist? Ask for a quick dosage conversion for a 75-year-old woman with breast cancer who has become too weak to swallow MS Contin tablets and needs an oral liquid morphine. Keep reading to learn more about making conversions easier.

A study released by CVS Caremark found that more than 50 percent of patients under the age of 45 who are prescribed a medication to treat high cholesterol are not optimally adherent to their therapy.

In what it describes as an effort to stabilize and possibly decrease costs, a significant portion of which are associated with enforcement of laws and regulations, the Virginia Board of Pharmacy is testing new processes to help increase the efficiency of certain noncompliance issues.

The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy will convene a two-day task force Oct. 28 and October 29 to research various prescription-drug monitoring programs and recommend standards or model rules.

Consumer shopping habits have changed in the new economy and some of those habits will have an impact on purchases of prescriptions and OTC healthcare products for the next few years.

GlaxoSmithKline has announced that two lots of Advair Diskus medication were stolen earlier this month from the company's distribution facility near Richmond, Virginia.

The program created to provide Medicare recipients with prescription drug benefits exceeded expectations during its first two years. Keep reading to learn the details.

The National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) announced recently that Duncan Mac Naughton, executive vice president of merchandising and marketing for SUPERVALU, has ben elected to the NACDS board of directors.

B. Braun Medical Inc. announced recently that it was named Surgery Center Market Supplier of the Year by McKesson's medical-surgical business unit. B. Braun received the award at McKesson's 2009 national sales meeting in Nashville, Tenn.

Keep reading to learn about some legal roadblocks in the way of pharmacy technicians.

The Pharmacists Society of the State of New York is fighting mad over the state's plan to contract with mail-order pharmacies to deliver high-cost medications to Medicaid customers.

The National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) has launched its Student Ambassador Program, designed to connect pharmacy students with owners of community pharmacies.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration published two rules recently to help clarify how very ill patients can obtain access to investigational drugs and biologics when they are not eligible to participate in a clinical trial and have no other satisfactory treatment options.

The National Association of Chain Drug Stores and the National Community Pharmacists Association are moving ahead with their lawsuit against Delaware's changes to Medicaid reimbursement rates, even after Walgreen Co. said it no longer supports the suit.

A Miami resident has been convicted of both conspiring to divert human growth hormones and causing the diversion of these human growth hormones in interstate commerce.

The National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) recently wrote to a key standards-setting body requesting action on a number of regarding a new Internal Revenue Service requirement meant to ensure flexible spending account debit cards are used properly that is seen by the association as problematic.

Orlando, Fla.--Pharmacists can collaborate with physicians and other health professionals in many ways, including through drug therapy management programs, pharmacy vaccine programs, and practice agreements, to build revenue streams and improve patient outcomes.

The International Academy of Compounding Pharmacists (IACP) has released its annual list of fellow awards and announced the recipient of its lifetime fellow award.

The National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) is still working to urge Congress to exempt community pharmacies from the Oct. 1 accreditation and surety bond requirements needed to continue providing durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics and supplies (DMEPOS) to Medicare patients.

Earlier this week at the annual meeting of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) in Boston, Mass., teams of pharmacy students from three universities were named as finalists in the Pruitt-Schutte Student Business Plan Competition sponsored by the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA).

Orlando, Fla.? National health care reform and the growth of generic drugs were the top issues noted by McKesson U.S. Pharmaceutical executives during this week's pharmacy strategies conference here.

Carolyn Brackett, PharmD, Associate Professor of Clinical Pharmacy at Ohio State University?s College of Pharmacy believes it?s possible to bring more humanity and human-to-human interaction to pharmacy ? regardless of the area in which they practice.

On July 20, Steven C. Anderson, president and chief executive officer of the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS), sent a letter to political leaders regarding the America's Affordable Health Choices Act.

As the 2009 American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) Annual Meeting started July 18, one of the first issues on the agenda was pharmacists who plan on entering academia and how graduate students can make the transition into a faculty position.

Congress gave the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) jurisdiction over tobacco in June, but don?t look for any quick changes in tobacco policy, products, or marketing. The agency is asking the public for guidance before jumping into regulation.

As of June 2009, it appears that North Carolina remains the only state to require any consistent public reporting of pharmacy-associated medication errors. In North Carolina, pharmacists must report errors associated with deaths.

The National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) Foundation has announced that Edith A. Rosato, RPh, IOM, was elected president.

Record budget problems have pushed California to eliminate funding for the largest poison control system in the nation. Keep reading to find out about a California pharmacy's fight to keep the poison control system going.

CVS, Merck, and Pfizer are just a few of the pharmaceutical heavyweights working together to electronically trace pharmaceutical products through the healthcare supply chain.