Clinical News

Patients treated over long periods with the diabetes drug metformin (Glucophage, Bristol-Myers Squibb) are at risk of developing vitamin-B12 deficiency, according to a study published in the British Medical Journal, Reuters has reported.

FDA is investigating hundreds of consumer complaints involving children's medicines recalled by Johnson & Johnson on April 30, according to a congressional memo, the Associated Press reported.

Pharmacists Planning Service, Inc. is calling for papers for its 17th International Public Health & Pharmacy Issues Conference aboard Royal Caribbean's Adventure of the Seas.

Patients whose doctors over-prescribe antibiotics may develop drug resistance that can last up to a year, putting them and others at risk when more serious treatment is needed, according to a study published in May in the British Medical Journal.

The National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) will present the latest in pharmacy education, case studies, and real-world, business-oriented information for the independent community-pharmacy industry at its 112th Annual Convention and Trade Exposition taking place at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia Oct. 23 to 27.

FDA notified consumers and healthcare professionals that a product represented as "Generic Tamiflu" being sold on the Internet does not contain Tamiflu's active ingredient, oseltamivir, but cloxacillin, an ingredient in the same class of antibiotics as penicillin.

FDA last month launched "FDA Drug Info Rounds," a new educational video series for pharmacists.

FDA announced that it will release risk summaries about medicines approved after September 2007 and post them quarterly to a publicly accessible website, Reuters reported.

FDA has informed four consumer genomics services providers and Illumina that it believes the firms are selling unapproved diagnostic devices, according to a report published by the GenomeWeb Daily News.

CVS Caremark and Generation Health announced 13 drug therapies that will be included in the initial offering of their integrated Genetic Benefit Management service.

FDA has cleared Simplexa Influenza A H1N1 (2009), a test for the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus in patients with signs and symptoms of respiratory infection.

In 2009, the drug trend for children, a measure of prescription-spending growth, increased 10.8%, driven by a 5% increase in drug utilization and higher medication costs, according to the Medco "2010 Drug Trend Report."

Which drugs were most popular in 2009? Check out Drug Topics' list of the Top 200 generic drugs in 2009, ranked by total prescriptions.

Which drugs were most popular in 2009? Check out Drug Topics' lists of the Top 200 generic drugs in 2009, ranked by retail dollars.

Which drugs were most popular in 2009? Check out Drug Topics' list of the Top 200 branded drugs in 2009, ranked by total prescriptions.

Which drugs were most popular in 2009? Check out Drug Topics' list of the Top 200 branded drugs in 2009, ranked by retail dollars.

The promise of personalized medicine is approaching realization. As more medications are developed, pharmacists will be on the front line of individualized prescribing based upon genome-based diagnostic tests.

Adding fenofibrate to statin therapy fails to reduce cardiovascular events in patients with type 2 diabetes, according to results of the first trial to evaluate combination therapy presented at the 59th annual scientific session of the American College of Cardiology.

In a large randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study that evaluated the general safety of the live herpes zoster vaccine (Zostavax, Merck) in adults aged 60 or older, the safety profile of ZOSTAVAX was similar to that of placebo with respect to serious adverse events.

New OTC packaging intended to enhance patient safety began appearing on pharmacy shelves after a new rule for OTC internal analgesic, antipyretic, and antirheumatic drug products took effect on April 29, 2010.

A significant number of patients with chronic illnesses are not filling their prescriptions, according to a new study conducted by CVS Caremark and Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

The FDA issued new label information on May 6 affecting all approved protease inhibitors for treatment of HIV when co-administered with colchicine (Colcrys, USP).

The FDA on April 29 announced the approval of sipuleucel-T (Provenge, Dendreon Corp.) for the treatment of certain men with prostate cancer, marking the first approval of a vaccine to treat cancer.

FDA would like to alert healthcare providers to the recent proprietary name change for dexlansoprazole delayed-release capsules. Now known as Dexilant, dexlansoprazole is the proton pump inhibitor formerly known as Kapidex.

Clinical pharmacy pioneer Mary Anne Koda-Kimble, PharmD, dean of the School of Pharmacy at University of California, San Francisco, was awarded the 2010 Remington Honor Medal, the highest honor given by the American Pharmacists Association, at its recent annual meeting in Washington.

A report issued by the Senate Finance Committee earlier this year noted that Avandia is associated with 83,000 excess heart attacks occurring between 1999 and 2007.

Compounded medicines - also called personalized solutions - have become an important element in many independent pharmacies.

FDA announced that clopidogrel, an antiplatelet agent given to reduce the risk of heart attack, unstable angina, stroke, and cardiovascular death in patients with cardiovascular disease, will require a new black-box warning about its reduced effectiveness in patients who are poor metabolizers of the drug.

Seven metered-dose inhalers for treatment of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease will soon be phased out, according to FDA. The move goes along with U.S. commitments to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.

A reformulation of controlled-release oxycodone (OxyContin, Purdue Pharma), designed to curb misuse and abuse of the drug, has received FDA approval.