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In an extension of cooperation begun earlier this year, health insurance plans and pharmacist groups have created a booklet and a Web site to guide Medicare beneficiaries through choosing a 2007 Part D plan, just as open enrollment is set to begin on Nov. 15.

The long-awaited first dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitor will soon make its debut. Januvia (sitagliptin), from Merck & Co., has been approved by the Food & Drug Administration as both a monotherapy and an add-on treatment to improve glycemic control in Type 2 diabetes.

The Food & Drug Administration recently approved ciclesonide (Omnaris, Altana Pharma) for the treatment of nasal symptoms associated with seasonal and perennial allergic rhinitis in adults and children 12 years and older.

CVS and Caremark have entered into a definitive merger agreement that would unite the second-largest mail-order prescription company with the No. 2 drugstore chain.

Public and private payers seemingly intent on wringing the last bit of profit from drug distribution have forced pharmacy to a "critical juncture," according to Bruce Roberts, R.Ph., executive VP/CEO, National Community Pharmacists Association. He believes that if the profession is going to survive, let alone thrive, it must erect a new model built around paying pharmacists for providing face-to-face medication therapy management (MTM) services.

Recent years have seen dramatic growth in the specialty pharmacy market, a segment of the industry addressing the needs of patients with chronic illnesses such as cancer and HIV. Sales of specialty medications-though expensive, often injectable, and typically requiring more patient education-have trended upward at more than 25% annually for the past five years. Industry experts forecast annual increases of more than 30% through the rest of this decade, according to Armada Health Care, a specialty pharmacy group purchasing organization in Short Hills, N.J.

A late September hearing saw patients and advocates telling the government that people are dying due to lack of access to intravenous immune globulin therapy (IVIG). It also recorded allegations about suspected artificial shortages, federal foot-dragging, and supplies directed to less-deserving patients. The "town hall" meeting, held recently in Arlington, Va., took five-minute statements from about three dozen witnesses as part of an independent study the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) contracted for. Patients have been unable to get IVIG, get it in the best setting, or get the brand that works for them.

There will be no doctor to hide behind. You are going to be, in effect, the prescriber. You are going to be the one to question the woman about when the event took place. It could be a mother or sister, maybe the father of a girl under 18. You are the one who will counsel about the correct usage.

Very few drug plan providers left the Medicare market in 2007, but their offerings have shifted. There are fewer plans offering basic coverage and more offering enhanced coverage. Beneficiaries in most states have 50-60 prescription drug plans to consider including 15 or 16 that offer partial or complete coverage in the donut hole.

Even as pharmacists are still divided on whether the profession should have moved to the Pharm.D. degree, there are some industry insiders who believe that an eight-year entry-level degree is in the offing. Fueling this belief is the fact that a majority of students today enter pharmacy schools with several years of undergraduate education and many expect that a prior B.S. (or B.A.) degree will be a requirement in another 10 years.

Patients infected with gram-negative organisms are in trouble. "Drugs that used to be very effective against gram-negative infections no longer work," Johnson & Johnson research fellow Karen Bush, Ph.D., warned the 46th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents & Chemotherapeutics, held recently in San Francisco.