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Sandoz, a division of Novartis, is voluntarily recalling 10 lots of its generic oral contraceptive Introvale (levonorgestrel and ethinyl estradiol) tablets in the United States, after a consumer reported a packaging flaw.

The industry should collaborate to develop a U.S. Biopharmacopeia Registry of Biopharmaceutical Products to help resolve biosimilar and broader biopharmaceutical nomenclature issues, according to a leading author and publisher.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is partnering with providers, caregivers, and patients to ensure appropriate use of antipsychotic medications for nursing home patients, the government announced last week.

The Obama administration?s plan to close the racial and ethnic gap on childhood asthma has drawn strong support from the Merck Childhood Asthma Network.

Intensive control of blood-sugar levels among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus may reduce the risk of microalbuminuria and macroalbuminuria, signs of kidney damage, but evidence is lacking regarding the effect over renal end points, according to the results of a study published May 28 in Archives of Internal Medicine.

The Health Data Initiative Forum III: The Health Datapalooza cohosted by the Institute of Medicine and the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is convening this week in Washington, DC, focusing on innovative applications and services that harness the power of open data from HHS and other sources to help improve health and healthcare.

Patients taking statins for the first time demonstrated better medication adherence if they participated in face-to-face counseling sessions with a community pharmacist than patients who did not, according to a new study by Walgreens.

Walgreens, the nation's largest drugstore chain, and OptumRx, one of the largest pharmacy benefit managers in the United States, today announced they will extend a multi-year agreement that provides access to OptumRx's members at Walgreens' 7,800 locations.

The American Pharmacists Association was forced to take its website offline this week after the site was hacked into and defaced.

The most destructive thing an employer can do to an employee is to assign tasks that are impossible to accomplish. Retail chain pharmacists experience this daily.

A number of pharmacy groups are protesting an amendment changing the classification of hydrocodone-containing pain relief products from Schedule III to the more restrictive Schedule II under the Controlled Substances Act.

Three major pharmacy associations have sent recommendations to FDA for maximizing the health benefit and costs savings of generic biologic products.

The use of benzocaine gels and liquids to sooth teething and mouth and gum pain can lead to a rare but serious--and sometimes fatal--condition called methemoglobinemia, according to an FDA Consumer Update.

FDA has warned consumers and healthcare professionals that counterfeit versions of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries' Adderall 30-mg tablets are being sold on the Internet.

The California Pharmacists Association (CPhA) announced Tuesday that its board of trustees has endorsed the California Cancer Research Act, also known as Proposition 29, which would raise $735 million annually for cancer research and smoking education by imposing a $1 tax on a pack of cigarettes

The first large-scale U.S. study linking medication adherence and text message reminders showed improved adherence rates for patients with diabetes and heart conditions.

CDC is proposing an expansion of its current hepatitis C risk-based guidelines to include a simple, one-time blood test ?for anyone born from 1945 through 1965.

The number of physicians and clinicians using e-prescribing increased by 67% in 2011 and they filled 75% more medication orders electronically, according to a new downloadable report by Surescripts, which operates a nationwide network connecting the computer systems of physicians and pharmacies.

The drug-shortage crisis got a step closer to being alleviated Thursday, when the U.S. Senate passed FDA?s Safety and Innovation Act (SB-3187).

Franck?s Compounding Pharmacy in Ocala, Fla., announced today that it is recalling all sterile human and veterinary prescriptions that is distributed from November 21, 2011, to May 21, 2012.

Statin therapy is safe and effective for people at low risk of major vascular events and, therefore, current guidelines might need to be reconsidered, according to a study published online in The Lancet.

The Affordable Care Act saved Medicare recipients more than $3 billion on prescription drugs and 12.1 million recipients used a free preventive service in the first four months of 2012, the government said in a news release today.

Taking probiotics during a course of antibiotics reduces the risk of antibiotic-associated diarrhea, according to the results of a study published May 9 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Changes in procedural antithrombotic strategy are associated with a significant temporal reduction in major bleeding over time in patients undergoing elective post-percutaneous intervention, according to a study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

The use of atypical antipsychotics in patients with major depressive disorder who have not responded to antidepressant therapy substantially increased clinical response rates at 6 weeks; however the drugs are also much more costly, according to the results of an analysis published in the May issue of The Annals of Pharmacotherapy.

More than a third of patients newly diagnosed with diabetes mellitus did not receive the recommended first-line drug, a finding that could have substantial implications for healthcare spending, according to a study published in the American Journal of Medicine.

Pharmacists included in team-based care improve blood-pressure control for patients, according to new recommendations from the Community Preventive Services Task Force.

The University of Arizona College of Pharmacy, the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, and The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy won the first Innovative Adherence Educators Challenge for the best practices in medication adherence teaching.

The multiple sclerosis drug fingolimod (Gilenya, Novartis) is now contraindicated for use in patients with certain pre-existing or recent heart conditions or stroke, or who are taking certain antiarrhythmic medications, according to FDA.

FDA has notified healthcare professionals that it is aware of a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine reporting a small increase in cardiovascular deaths and in the risk of death from any cause in persons treated with a 5-day course of azithromycin (Zithromax) compared to persons treated with amoxicillin, ciprofloxacin, or no drug.