ASHP 08: Safety strategies for pediatric medicines concern all pharmacists
December 7th 2008According to Stuart Levine, PharmD, an informatics specialist with the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) in Horsham, Pennsylvania, although a hospital may not have a defined pediatric program, every hospital provides pediatric care. "If a child comes into your ER because of a car wreck, for example, you will be treating that child," Dr. Levine said.
ASHP 08: ASHP kicks off its 43rd annual midyear clinical meeting
December 7th 2008The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) kicked off its 43rd annual midyear clinical meeting on Sunday with the announcement that the organization has received the 2008 Award for Excellence in Medication-Use Safety
CMS altering some reporting requirements
December 4th 2008The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently informed Part D plans they are suspending the current collection of long-term care rebate reports for 2008 and 2009, in lieu of a new reporting requirement that will be changed in 2010. Additionally, the agency plans to test the proposed reporting requirements with a small number of Part D sponsors prior to 2010.
Health Mart continues to expand
December 2nd 2008Health Mart pharmacy network now represents 2,000 independently-owned pharmacies across the United States, the company recently announced. Since the Health Mart pharmacy network was re-launched in June 2006, the franchise?s membership has grown by more than 500 percent. The Health Mart franchise is owned and operated by McKesson Corp.
Personal diagnostics category continues to expand
November 20th 2008According to Information Resources, Inc. (IRI), the at-home testing kits segment generated over $41 million in food, drug, and mass outlets (excluding Walmart) during the 52 weeks ending October 5, 2008 and has seen a 6 percent increase in sales from just one year earlier.
Pharmacy recruits offered lucrative incentives
November 12th 2008Pharmacists remain in short supply across the country, particularly in rural areas, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. With such a high demand, some retail and hospital pharmacies are offering signing bonuses and other incentives to recruit new pharmacists.
PhRMA hopes Obama will usher in change at the FDA
November 12th 2008Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) President and CEO Billy Tauzin today expressed his hope that the next head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration can work with diverse constituents and improve the agency?s scientific bases.
AHA 2008: Microalbuminuria associated with development and progression of coronary calcium
November 12th 2008New Orleans-Subjects without symptoms of heart disease who have microalbuminuria are more likely to have coronary artery calcium and are more likely to have progression of coronary artery calcium over time than those without microalbuminuria, says Andrew P. DeFilippis, MD.
AHA 2008: New stent entices progenitor cells, has low rate of thrombosis
November 12th 2008New Orleans-A new type of stent coated with an antibody that binds circulating endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) is associated with a low rate of stent thrombosis and requires only 1 month of dual antiplatelet therapy. Drug-eluting stents require at least 6 months of dual antiplatelet therapy to reduce the risk of stent thrombosis.
AHA 2008: MR-proADM strong short-term prognosticator of mortality in heart failure
November 12th 2008New Orleans-Mid-regional pro-adrenomedullin (MR-proADM) is a better biomarker for predicting short-term mortality in patients presenting with shortness of breath who are diagnosed with heart failure, according to results of the Biomarkers in the Assessment of Congestive Heart Failure (BACH) trial. Use of this marker was significantly more accurate than brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) or N-terminal prohormone BNP (NT-proBNP) in detecting which heart failure patients were likely to die.
AHA 2008: ARB ineffective in HF with preserved ejection fraction
November 12th 2008New Orleans-The use of irbesartan for heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFPEF) failed to improve outcomes compared to placebo, says Barry Massie, MD, investigator for the Irbesartan in Heart Failure with Preserved EF (I-PRESERVE) trial. These results are consistent with two previous trials (CHARM PRESERVED, PEP-CHF) that failed to show a positive effect with an angiotensin-receptor blocker (ARB) for these patients, explains Dr. Massie, University of California, San Francisco.
AHA 2008: ‘Vascular age’ of obese children similar to that of middle-aged men
November 12th 2008New Orleans-Obese children, particularly those with elevated triglycerides, have a “vascular age” similar to those of 45-year-old white men, says Geetha Raghuveer, MD, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine. “I think this is a wake up call,” she says. “These children may need intensive management including pharmacological management of risk factors.
AHA 2008: New anticoagulant is promising in treatment of ACS
November 11th 2008An investigational oral anticoagulant-the factor Xa inhibitor rivaroxaban-performed well enough in a Phase II study in patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS) to support a pivotal Phase III trial in patients with ACS, reports C. Michael Gibson, MD.
AHA 2008: Anticoagulation can be maintained during invasive procedures
November 11th 2008A patient on chronic warfarin is scheduled for a pacemaker implantation, so naturally you discontinue the warfarin several days prior to the procedure to reduce the chance of bleeding. That may not be necessary, says Peter H. Belott, MD, who contends that “we can keep the patient [at a] therapeutic INR [international normalized ratio] and will not incur any deleterious effects.”
AHA 2008: Stratification beyond Framingham criteria is possible using coronary calcium score
November 11th 2008Precisely defining intermediate cardiovascular-event risk using the Framingham Risk Score (FRS) is a challenge for clinicians. This is magnified when one considers that the number of patients who fall under the intermediate risk category outnumbers those considered low or high risk.
AHA 2008: Drug-eluting stents show increased safety in diabetics
November 11th 2008Drug-eluting stents (DES) were associated with decreased rates of death, myocardial infarction (MI), and revascularization at 3 years of follow up in diabetic patients compared to bare-metal stents (BMS), according to results of a large observational study. “Our primary concern was to look at safety,” says Laura Mauri, MD (pictured) Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston. “Considering the safety concerns surrounding DES recently, it was to our surprise that we found a significant difference in the opposite direction.
AHA 2008: Transition from pediatric to adult cardiac care should start early
November 11th 2008The process of transitioning pediatric cardiology patients into adult cardiac care should begin in late childhood or early adolescence, says Arwa Saidi, MD (pictured) department of internal medicine and pediatric cardiology, University of Florida. The 2008 American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association guidelines recommend preparing young people for the transition beginning at age 12.
AHA 2008: Human heart valve grown from stem cells offers hope for prenatal infants with defects
November 11th 2008Researchers have successfully used umbilical cord stem cells to build a functional heart valve that may someday be perfected so that infants born with valve abnormalities could receive a new valve derived from their own stem cells, reports Philipp Schaefermeier, MD, University Hospital of Munich, Germany.
AHA 2008: Resistant hypertension is multifactorial in etiology, requires combinations of drugs
November 10th 2008A coalescence of factors usually conspires to cause resistant hypertension, which is defined as the failure to reach goal blood pressure in patients adhering to full doses of an appropriate three-drug antihypertensive treatment regimen, says Domenic Sica, MD.