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The American Academy of Pediatrics has announced its endorsement of the World Health Organization's (WHO) recommendation that thimerosal not be banned from vaccines.

Vitamin D deficiency may increase risk for developing autism, a researcher suggests.William Grant, Ph.D., Sunlight, Nutrition, and Health Research Center, San Francisco, Calif., and John Cannell, M.D., Vitamin D Council, San Luis Obispo, Calif., found that children ages 6 to 17 years old who lived in states with lower solar UVB doses during the summer and fall were more likely to be diagnosed with autism than those children who lived in states with higher solar UVB doses.

The FDA has warned more than 350 medical practices that they may have received counterfeit, contaminated or ineffective medications.

The use of aspirin, statins and lifestyle changes prior to elective peripheral vascular intervention for peripheral arterial disease (PAD) may reduce the risk for repeat procedures within six months, according to researchers. However, about half of patients failed to receive this therapy, the researchers found.

Oseltamivir (Tamiflu) can now be used to treat children who are 2 weeks of age and older, according to an FDA press release.

Augmentation therapy with L-methylfolate may benefit patients who have been diagnosed with major depressive disorder and have had a partial or no response to SSRIs.

The label on telaprevir (Incivek, Vertex Pharmaceuticals) will now carry a boxed warning about potentially serious skin reactions following reported fatalities.

Pharmacological resistance to aspirin is rare. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia said they could not identify one case of true drug resistance, according to the study published online Dec. 4 in the journal Circulation.

Following priority review, FDA approved ponatinib (Iclusig , ARIAD Pharmaceuticals) to treat adults with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and Philadelphia chromosome positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia (Ph+ ALL), two rare blood and bone marrow diseases.

About 75% of patients with mental illness and their caretakers reported that community pharmacists "seldom or never" assisted them with safety or effectiveness monitoring assistance, according to a National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) online survey.

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that California has the right to cut reimbursement rates made to Medi-Cal providers-including pharmacies-by 10%, which overturns a lower-court ruling that blocked the rate cuts, according to a recentreport from the Associated Press.

Rite Aid pharmacies in the Cleveland, Ohio area are participating in a Diabetes Control Program (DCP) through UnitedHealth Group to help patients manage their disease, according to a Rite Aid statement.

Healthcare services and information technology company McKesson recently launched four tools to improve medication delivery through automation.

Last week, NABP Executive Director Carmen Catizone, MS, RPh, unveiled an action plan to inspect nonresident compounding pharmacies and create a database to share regulatory information about these pharmacies with the state boards of pharmacy nationwide.

FDA expanded the approved use of abiraterone acetate (Zytiga, Janssen Bioech) to treat men with late-stage castration-resistant prostate cancer prior to receiving chemotherapy.

The American College of Clinical Pharmacy, American Pharmacists Association, and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) are working together to gain specialty recognition of pediatric pharmacy practice and critical care pharmacy practice as specialties in pharmacy, according to the ASHP.

All 4,600 Rite Aid pharmacies will be able to deliver a notification of a patient's immunizations to the patient's healthcare provider through the use of secure electronic exchange, according to a press release from Surescripts.

Qualitest, a subsidiary of Endo Health Solutions, issued a voluntary nationwide recall December 6 for 101 lots of hydrocodone bitartrate and acetaminophen tablets, USP 10 mg/500 mg, due to the potential for oversized tablets.

When men are treated for a longer-duration antibiotic therapy for urinary tract infection (UTI), there is no decrease in early recurrence compared with those treated for a shorter duration, according to a study online in Archives of Internal Medicine

Members of American Pharmacists Association Academy of Pharmacy Practice and Management are working to form three new Special Interest Groups (SIG) that focus on compounding, diabetes management, and immunizing pharmacists.

A new free system will help pharmacies expedite the submission of Prior Authorization requests to health insurance plans.

Heparin container and carton labels must now clearly state the total drug strength, according to an FDA Drug Safety Communication.

A new database system was announced by Omnicell, Inc., Dec. 4 at the 2012 American Society for Health-System Pharmacist Midyear meeting in Las Vegas.

The 32-mg, single intravenous dose of the anti-nausea drug Zofran will no longer be marketed because of the potential for serious cardiac risk, according to an updated Safety Communication from FDA.

Community-based health plans are taking a variety of approaches to reduce the misuse of prescription painkillers while assuring patients in pain get the relief they need, according to a report by the Alliance of Community Health Plans (ACHP).

Pediatricians should counsel teenagers about emergency contraception before they need it and issue advance prescriptions for contraceptive medications as part of routine care, says a policy statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) directed at reducing the rate of unintended pregnancies among adolescents.