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Debilitating pain-affecting millions of Americans-was often alleviated by traditional nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and COX-2 inhibitors. But the appeal of these once-popular drugs is declining due to safety concerns.

On April 30, 1939, the World's Fair opened in New York City. The theme for the fair was "building the world of tomorrow," and pharmacists were ready to do just that.

Following guidelines issued by the American Pharmacists Association in February, the federal government has also issued guidelines on the disposal of medications.

CMS has issued a final rule establishing a competitive bidding program for durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics, and supplies (DMEPOS) furnished to Medicare beneficiaries under Part B.

Two high-quality reports in the New England Journal of Medicine confirming the risk of valvulopathy with the use of pergolide (Permax, Valiant) have led the FDA to remove the drug from the U.S. market. Two generic forms of the drug, made by Teva and Par Pharmaceuticals, will also be withdrawn.

Trimethobenzamide-containing suppositories are the next product in line to hit the FDA's chopping block as part of the agency's ongoing effort to ensure that all marketed drugs have been officially approved. The rectally administered treatment of nausea and vomiting has been available under the brand names Tigan, Tebamide, Trimazide, Trimethobenz, and T-Gen.

The FDA plans to conduct a study to evaluate the quantity and quality of consumer medication information.

NACDS has named Christopher P. Krese as senior VP of marketing, communications, and media relations.

Take Care Health now operates 49 clinics in five states.

In another move to bolster its position with pharmacy self-service kiosks or ATM-like machines, Parata Systems has acquired Amistar and its Distributed Delivery Networks Corp.

The Consumer Healthcare Products Association's (CHPA) educational foundation, the Consumer Health Education Center, has launched a national education campaign to help mature Americans better mange their health, specifically regarding the OTCs they use.

Bar-coding technology, high-speed networks, and Intranets were the top technologies that respondents to a Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) survey said they intend to implement over the next two years.

According to a recent statement released by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the low reimbursement rates from insurance companies to providers for the cost of providing vaccines to children is a risk to their health.

Voluntary nationwide consumer recall of all lots of the Glacier Mint and Bubble Blast flavors of Listerine Agent Cool Blue Plaque-Detecting Rinse.

RediClinicLLC has entered into a 50-50 partnership with Memorial Hermann, called RCMH LLC, for the operation of all RediClinics in the Greater Houston area.

Less than two months before a May 23 deadline, CMS has finally offered public recognition that many healthcare providers may not be ready for the changeover to the National Provider Identifier (NPI) standards.

Antipsychotic agents have long been integral to the management of schizophrenia. First-generation, "conventional" antipsychotics are high-affinity antagonists of dopamine D2 receptors. Although they are effective against antipsychotic symptoms, they are also associated with a high rate of neurologic adverse effects. Such effects include tardive dyskinesia and extrapyramidal symptoms (EPS).

Debilitating pain-affecting millions of Americans-was often alleviated by traditional nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and COX-2 inhibitors. But the appeal of these once-popular drugs is declining due to safety concerns.

As many as 100,000 patients die every year from hospital-acquired infections. It doesn't have to be that way. HAIs are eminently preventable. Tools exist that can significantly lower HAI mortality and morbidity rates and reduce an associated $6 billion in excess annual health costs.

The clinical success of an ongoing pay-for-performance (P4P) pilot project by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services requires extensive participation by health-system pharmacists.

Improvement of restricted drug distribution systems (RDDS) should be a key element of the reauthorization of the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA).

Pharmacy OneSource has a new Web-based software, called Sentri7, that can monitor medication, laboratory, and patient data.

Pediatric patients are disproportionately affected by improper and wrong-dose errors in perioperative settings.

Now that we have electronic record technology, how should we set up a postmarketing surveillance system for drugs, biologicals, and medical devices?

Diabetes is a deadly, common and costly disease, so the debate about biogenerics is ardent when it concerns insulin. The drug is expensive and indispensable, and scientists agree that creating generic insulin is simpler than creating most other potential biologic equivalents.

A 70-year-old woman, T.R., has been transferred from an extended care nursing facility to your hospital with symptoms of fever, dyspnea with respiratory difficulty, cough, and sputum production. Her current medications include methadone 200 mg/ day (pain syndrome), risperidone (Risperdal, Janssen) 2 mg twice daily, digoxin 0.125 mg daily, and furosemide 20 mg twice daily.

The 2007 Polyanalgesic Consensus Panel recently recommended major changes to the guidelines for treatment, via intraspinal infusion, of patients suffering from severe chronic pain.

Don't forget to review inhaler use

New warnings the Food & Drug Administration has issued about erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs) have prompted many practitioners to change the way they practice, while others remain unconvinced.

In the early 1990s, when Health Mart was owned by regional wholesale distributor FoxMeyer, it was little more than a franchise tallying 800 stores. Now it is a pharmacy franchise logging 1,280 stores. The chain has experienced nearly a 400% growth rate over the past 10 months.