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Health advocacy organizations that promote research and access to healthcare services for members routinely fail to disclose their financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry, according to a study released online in the American Journal of Public Health.

Medication errors involving analgesics, including mistakes in prescribing, are a major contributor to suboptimal therapeutic outcomes and preventable adverse patient events, according to a study published in The Journal of Pain, reported Newswise.com.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices has issued updated guidelines regarding the use of antiviral agents for the treatment and chemoprophylaxis of influenza, according to a report in the January 21 issue of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The new recommendations, which include a summary of the effectiveness and safety of antiviral treatment medications, update those issued by the committee in 2008.

The angiogenesis inhibitor bevacizumab, used with chemotherapy or biological therapy, carries an increased risk of treatment-related death in cancer patients compared with chemotherapy alone, a new study shows.

FDA has issued a complete response letter to Eisai for its rabeprazole sodium extended-release capsules, 50 mg, an investigational proton pump inhibitor (PPI) under review for the healing and long-term maintenance of healing and symptom resolution of erosive GERD, and for the treatment of daytime and nighttime heartburn and other symptoms of non-erosive GERD.

FDA has issued a complete response letter for Orexigen?s and Takeda?s Contrave (naltrexone HCl/bupropion HCl) extended-release tablets for the treatment of obesity, including weight loss and maintenance of weight loss.

NCPA is holding the first of 3 pharmacy ownership workshops for 2011 in Atlanta, February 4 to February 6.

NACDS Mobile is the association?s new mobile website that serves as a ?guide on the go? specifically designed for ease of use on any smart phone with a web browser.

A group of regulatory, industry, and consumer groups has created a new voluntary guideline to ensure that nutritional supplement companies have the necessary data to support expiration dating on product labels.

Half of Americans polled don't think vaccines cause autism. However, 18% are convinced that vaccines, like the MMR vaccine, can cause the disorder, and another 30% aren't sure, according to a new Harris Interactive/HealthDay poll.

The Centers for Disease Control included a botanical treatment for genital warts in its recently revised 2010 CDC Sexually Transmitted Diseases Treatment Guidelines.

The Michigan Pharmacy Association criticized a new report suggesting that the state could save $146 million by moving fee-for-service Medicaid recipients to managed care programs.

Despite the electronic-tracking systems for pseudoephedrine that have been implemented in several states, methamphetamine-related activity is on the rise.

British Medical Journal has published a new study, which analyzed 31 randomized controlled trials comparing the cardiovascular safety of any NSAID with placebo or other NSAIDs.

Small-molecule drugs in the United States will experience the greatest degree of brand erosion as patents of many of the most popular drugs expire during the next several years, leaving them exposed to generic competition, according to a report published by Datamonitor.

New draft standards from the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention could bring dramatic changes to Rx labels as early as 2012. Changes to USP Chapter 17, Prescription Container Labeling, include larger font, placement of the most important information at the top, more understandable language, and more white space.

One pharmacist fantasizes about a world that draws the distinction between fast food and pharmacy.

Researchers recently found that extreme obesity can increase patients? risk of death from the H1N1 influenza virus.

In this section we showcase products and product news that ran up against space limitations or fell outside the parameters of recently featured categories in the print edition. Look for more OTC Product News in upcoming issues of the Drug Topics e-newsletter.

The National Association of Chain Drug Stores Foundation announced the 2010 recipients of the NACDS Foundation Pharmacy Student Scholarship Awards.

Pfizer Inc. recently launched a syringe that aims to help hemophilia patients lead active lives and take care of their condition faster and easier.

With several blockbusters going off patent, Secretary Kathleen Sebelius of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services asked the office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation to ?examine barriers to and identify opportunities for increasing generic use.?

A new study conducted by CVS Caremark and published in Health Affairs, found that among patients who had increased drug costs but were adherent with their medications, a ?substantial medical savings as a result of reductions in hospitalization and emergency department use? was realized.

The United States Department of Health and Human Services division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has released a study examining trends of admissions to U.S. substance abuse treatment facilities of people aged 12 years and over, during the period from 1998 to 2008.

Executives with the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists and other groups are urging Congress to pass federal legislation to ease drug shortages in the United States.

FDA has approved vilazodone HCl tablets (Viibryd, Clinical Data) for the treatment of adults with major depressive disorder.

FDA has approved the premix formulation of vancomycin injection, USP (750 mg/150 mL) (Baxter). Vancomycin is an antibiotic used to treat severe infections caused by susceptible strains of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and/or treat patients who are penicillin-resistant.

Bayer instructed patients to immediately discontinue use of the Triad alcohol prep pads included in Betaseron (interferon beta 1-b) packaging and to dispose of those pads in the trash.

FDA has sent MannKind Corp. a complete response letter regarding the company?s New Drug Application for Afrezza (insulin human [rDNA origin]) Inhalation Powder for the treatment of adult patients with types 1 and 2 diabetes for the control of hyperglycemia.

Concern that its drug vorapaxar, in trial for its potential to prevent clots, actually increased the risk of bleeding in stroke victims has prompted Merck & Co. to halt a late-stage study of the drug, the Associated Press reported.