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Staring down the barrel of $6.3 billion in state and federal Medicaid reimbursement cuts over the next five years, NCPA and NACDS have vowed to take community pharmacy's case to HHS and the states, which must write regulations and implement the changes.

Three Massachusetts women plan to go to court to force Wal-Mart tostock emergency contraceptive (EC) agents in all its pharmacies inthe state. The plaintiffs contend that state pharmacy regulationsrequire pharmacies to stock commonly prescribed medications.

Pharmacists in all settings must take personal action to defend their profession against outsiders who wish to marginalize them as frontline healthcare providers, according to NCPA. Warning that 2006 is a "now or never" year, NCPA pointed to Medicare Part D, severe cuts to Medicaid reimbursement, and growing mandatory mail order as examples of efforts to undermine traditional community pharmacy practice.

Researchers in an NIH network have found that premature infants given a common class of nonprescription drugs used to treat acid reflux are slightly more likely to develop a potentially fatal bowel disorder than are infants who are not treated with the drugs. The drugs, known as H 2 blockers, inhibit the production of stomach acid and may put premature infants at risk of necrotizing enterocolitis, a serious inflammation of the intestines.

Problems processing Medicare Part D claims have created a cash flow crisis for community pharmacies, according to NCPA. In letters to Part D Rx plan sponsors, wholesalers, and pharmaceutical manufacturers, NCPA urged giving community pharmacies flexibility in paying their accounts as an emergency effort to ease the cash crunch.

Forty percent of claims submitted to Anthem under WellPoint's POS system for Part D dual eligibles have "junk" in the cardholder ID field, said a company spokeswoman during a CMS conference call. Since incorrect data slow down claims processing, Anthem instituted hard edits in the cardholder ID field to reject claims back to pharmacies that do not use the correct format for Medicare numbers.

Ranolazine extended-release tablets (Ranexa, CV Therapeutics) have received FDA approval for the treatment of chronic angina. Ranolazine prolongs the QT interval and should be reserved for patients who have not achieved an adequate response with other antianginal drugs.

Providing language-appropriate prescription labels could eliminate some of the medical errors responsible for 98,000 deaths each year in the U.S., but chain-owned pharmacies were less likely to provide them than were small, independent drugstores. This finding comes from a study in the February issue of the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, published by Meharry Medical College in Nashville.

Thirty days into the new Medicare prescription drug benefit, discounts on the top 25 drugs prescribed to seniors and the disabled are holding steady, with an average 35% savings on drugs purchased at a retail pharmacy compared with those purchased by cash-paying customers and 46% for drugs purchased through the mail-service pharmacy option, according to a new analysis of Medicare drug prices from the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA). "These data are an encouraging sign for beneficiaries paying Part D deductibles or concerned about their drugs costs in the donut hole as well as the overall costs of the Part D program," said PCMA president Mark Merritt.

The USP has submitted to CMS its Medicare Rx drug benefit model guidelines that Part D drug plans can use for formulary development during the 2007 benefit year. Version 2.0 of the guidelines reduced the number of unique drug categories and classes from 146 to 133 and increased the formulary key drug types from 118 to 141.

Publix Super Markets and The Little Clinic LLC have signed an agreement to open medical clinics within Publix stores. The first clinics will be located in the Atlanta and the Miami, Orlando, and Tampa, Fla., markets in the first half of 2006.

Merck's Rotateq, an oral, live, pentavalent vaccine, has received FDA approval for the prevention of rotavirus gastroenteritis in infants, an illness that causes vomiting, watery diarrhea, fever, and abdominal pain and results in 55,000 hospitalizations annually. Clinical studies of the vaccine included more than 72,000 healthy infants and closely examined the risk of intussusception, a serious life-threatening condition in which the intestines become twisted.

Bristol-Myers Squibb and Otsuka Pharmaceutical announced two newly available formulations of Abilify (aripiprazole)-a 2-mg tablet strength and a nonrefrigerated oral solution (1 mg/ml). The 2-mg tablet equips physicians with another dosage strength to help them titrate patients to an effective dose.

A coalition of seven drug companies is working on a way to help low-income Medicare beneficiaries pay for their medicines when they hit the Part D coverage donut hole. The Bridge Rx plan would offer certain low-income beneficiaries at least 50% off their drugs during the gap when Part D does not cover them.

Walgreens Health Initiatives (WHI), the pharmacy benefit management (PBM) subsidiary of Walgreen Co., has added Medicine Shoppe and Rite Aid to its Advantage90 network. Of the 56,000 pharmacies in the WHI network, more than 31,000 participate in the Advantage90 network.

C.B. Fleet Co. has changed its corporate identity from Fleet Pharmaceuticals to Fleet Laboratories and has changed its logo. Headquartered in Lynchburg, Va., C.B. Fleet is a leader in the development and distribution of healthcare and personal care products.

Humalog Mix 50/50 has been launched by Lilly to give patients another option in their fight against diabetes. The premixed product contains 50% insulin lispro protamine suspension and 50% insulin lispro injection (rDNA origin) and is designed to give blood sugar control both between meals and at mealtime.

The FDA has issued a public health advisory for aprotinin injection (Trasylol, Bayer), a drug used to prevent blood loss during coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery, after it was linked to a higher risk of serious side effects, including kidney problems, heart attacks, and strokes, in two different studies. The agency said it is evaluating the potential risks to determine whether there is a need for further action and plans to convene an advisory committee this year to discuss the existing data. In the meantime, the FDA recommends that healthcare providers carefully monitor patients receiving the drug for the occurrence of toxicity to the kidneys, heart, or central nervous system and report any findings to the drug manufacturer or the FDA Medwatch program.

DrugMax has launched a new technology platform to improve sales and accounts receivable management in its growing infusion, specialty, and home medical products segments. The technology was purchased through a licensing arrangement with Fastrack Healthcare Systems Inc., a Plainview, N.Y.-based company that specializes in home medical equipment and infusion/pharmacy software.

Human plasma and flu vaccine distributor FFF Enterprises plans to launch Verified Electronic Pedigree (VEP) to track products through the supply chain. Hosted by SupplyScape, VEP will allow hospitals, pharmacies, and physicians to view and authenticate e-drug pedigrees.

H.D. Smith, a Springfield, Ill.-based distributor, plans to launch what it claims is Florida's first drug pedigree tracking system in April 2006. This will purportedly make the company's Pompano Beach distribution center the first warehouse in Florida to be in compliance with Florida's deadline for drug tracking, called pedigree regulations, which are slated to become effective in July.

NABP announced that CVS/pharmacy's distribution center in Indianapolis and US Oncology Inc.'s Fort Worth facility have completed the association's Verified-Accredited Wholesale Distributors (VAWD) program's comprehensive criteria and on-site inspection to earn distinction as the first two wholesale distributors accredited by NABP.