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Medication reconciliation is back on the front burner. The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) has expanded its existing National Patient Safety Goal on medication reconciliation for 2007.

The FDA wants to alert healthcare providers about name confusion between Mucomyst and Mucinex. These errors may be occurring due to the increased off-label use of Mucomyst for the prevention of acute renal failure associated with radiographic contrast media. To date, all errors reported to the FDA MedWatch system occurred during the prescription order, transcription, and product selection phases of inpatient medication use. No adverse events were reported as a result of these errors.

The generic pharmaceutical industry has been at odds with the Food & Drug Administration over several key issues lately, including authorized generics, facilitating the development of more generic agents, and approving generic biopharmaceuticals. At a recent conference in New York City sponsored by the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA), Scott Gottlieb, M.D., deputy commissioner for medical and scientific affairs at FDA, attempted to clarify the agency's position on several hot-button topics.

When the Governor signed the legislation in May, New Hampshire became, by at least one count, the 41st state to permit pharmacists to enter collaborative practice agreements with physicians. But no one knows for sure how many pharmacists are taking advantage of the professional privilege.

Reflecting the economic consequences of a manpower shortage, the median total compensation of staff pharmacists is pushing six figures, according to the latest survey from Mercer Human Resource Consulting.

There are people who actually schedule regular doctor visits as social events.

At the American Academy of Neurology's (AAN) 58th annual meeting in April, new guidelines were released for the diagnosis and treatment of Parkinson's disease (PD). The recommendations were later published in the April 11, 2006, issue of Neurology as four separate practice parameters.

Women now have the option of being immunized against cervical cancer following approval of Merck's Gardasil. Roughly 6.2 million Americans become infected with genital human papillomavirus (HPV) each year, and more than 50% of all sexually active persons become infected at some point. HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States. While the body's immune system clears the virus in most women, some go on to develop cervical abnormalities that can lead to cancer. Cervical cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death in women, with roughly 470,000 new cases and 233,000 deaths occurring each year worldwide.

The Food & Drug Administration recently approved three generic versions of simvastatin (Zocor, Merck), the largest-selling drug yet to be opened to generic competition. For the next 180 days, Teva will have exclusive rights to sell the 5-, 10-, 20-, and 40-mg dosages of simvastatin and Ranbaxy will have the rights to sell the 80-mg dosage. In addition, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories will sell all five dosages under an agreement with Merck to be the authorized generic manufacturer of the drug.

NABP has launched its Pharmacy Authenticated Licensure Service (PALS) program providing licensure authentication of pharmacists and on-line pharmacies to state boards and the public. PALS provides a directory of licensed pharmacies and pharmacists-in-charge. Authenticated on-line pharmacies will be issued a hyperlink that users can click on to go to NABP's PALS site for details.

A lot of azathioprine 50-mg tablets (Lot 558470A, Exp. March 2009) has been recalled by Roxane Laboratories after the company discovered a single bottle containing methotrexate 2.5-mg tablets.

Bayer Diabetes Care, a division of Bayer HealthCare LLC and a member of the Bayer Group, has acquired Metrika Inc., Sunnyvale, Calif. The company manufactures and markets A1CNow+, a meter-based diabetes monitoring system that has single-use, disposable test cartridges.

Pennsylvania's Gov. Edward Rendell has signed into law a new PACE Plus program, which will provide the state's seniors with a prescription assistance program. PACE Plus combines the popular lottery-funded PACE/PACENET program with the Medicare Part D prescription drug program. The Governor estimates that seniors in Pennsylvania will pay $2,000 less for their Rx benefits than older adults in other states.

More than one-third (35%) of patients report not filling all the prescriptions they receive, according to a new study conducted by Wilson Health Information and The J. Scott Group. The study of 32,000 patients indicated that this percentage is virtually unchanged over the past three years in spite of efforts by healthcare providers and pharmaceutical companies to convey the benefits of compliance.

Walgreens has launched an initiative to hire people with disabilities at its new distribution center in Anderson, S.C., and is recruiting through a new, specially designed Web site. Walgreensoutreach.com describes jobs available at the Walgreens distribution center and is designed to be accessible by people with sensory, physical, and cognitive disabilities.

DrugMax, a specialty pharmacy and medical specialty product provider, announced that it plans to open two new pharmacies in leading medical office buildings during the second half of 2006. The company is also in discussion with existing physician group partners to launch additional pharmacies this year.

Medicare prescription drug plans generally provided incomplete and inaccurate information to callers who asked questions about the new benefit, according to a new GAO report entitled "Medicare Part D: Prescription Drug Plan Sponsor Call Center Responses Were Prompt, but Not always Accurate." Investigators placed 900 calls to 10 of the largest companies that offer drug coverage to Medicare beneficiaries and reached representatives in 864 of those calls.

Oregon State University is launching a new continuing education course entitled "Management and Human Resource Skills for Pharmacists." The course Web site is at http://ecampus.oregonstate.edu/online-degrees/human-resources-pharmacy.

Prescribing physicians will now be able to initiate treatment for Type 2 diabetes with GlaxoSmithKline's Avandamet, a combination product containing both rosiglitazone maleate and metformin HCl, following a recent approval by the FDA. Previously, the drug was approved only as a second-line therapy in patients whose diabetes was uncontrolled on metformin alone.

The FDA is warning consumers not to purchase or consume Zimaxx, Libidus, Neophase, Nasutra, Vigor-25, Actra-Rx, or 4EVERON. These products are promoted and sold on Web sites as "dietary supplements" for treating erectile dysfunction (ED) and enhancing sexual performance, but they are in fact illegal drugs that contain potentially harmful undeclared ingredients.

CHD Meridian Healthcare, an I-trax Inc. company, has opened an employer-sponsored on-site pharmacy for Vermeer Manufacturing, an agricultural and industrial equipment manufacturing company based in Pella, Iowa. The pharmacy offers prescription services at a substantial cost savings to Vermeer and its more than 7,000 employees, dependents, and retirees.

Aetna is launching a new program that will provide consumers with discounts of 10% to 50% off the cost of routine health expenses such as doctor visits and certain healthcare services, discounts of 10% to 40% off the average wholesale price of prescription medications, and a prepaid debit card to pay for discounted services at Aetna participating health care providers that accept Visa. The new program, called Vital Savings on Health, will be available to employers of all sizes on Sept. 1 in Denver and southern New Jersey and on Oct. 1 in Tampa, Fla., and Raleigh, N.C.

CVS Corp. announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Minneapolis-based MinuteClinic, a provider of retail-based health clinics. MinuteClinic will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of CVS Corp.

FFF Enterprises, Temecula, Calif., a national distributor of flu vaccine, has a new service available at MyFluVaccine.com. The service allows customers to place orders on-line and to select their delivery dates.

Pharmacists can soon offer to women an extended-use oral contraceptive (OC) regimen that contains low-dose ethinyl estradiol tablets in place of placebo pills. The Food & Drug Administration recently approved levonorgestrel/ethinyl estradiol and ethinyl estradiol (Seasonique, Barr Laboratories) 0.15 mg/0.03 mg and 0.01 mg tablets for the prevention of pregnancy. Seasonique will be available through retail pharmacies and physicians' offices before the end of the summer.

FDA has completed its safety assessment of Sanofi Aventis' Ketek (telithromycin) and is advising health practitioners and patients to be aware of rare but potentially serious health risks. Ketek is the first FDA-approved antibiotic of the ketolide class.

Merck announced that the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) unanimously voted to recommend that children four to six years of age receive a second dose of varicella vaccine for the prevention of chickenpox. Merck's Varivax (varicella virus vaccine live, Oka/Merck) and Proquad (measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella virus vaccine live, Oka/Merck) are the only vaccines to protect against chickenpox in the United States.

FFF Enterprises, Temecula, Calif., a national distributor of flu vaccine, has a new service available at MyFluVaccine.com. The service allows customers to place orders on-line and to select their delivery dates.

Pharmacists were rated the best at healthcare customer service, according to a survey of 7,479 consumers by BIGresearch, a market intelligence firm. Two-thirds of those surveyed think pharmacists provide a good or excellent level of customer service.