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Clinicians will soon be able to offer another treatment option to men with prostate cancer who have not responded to hormonal therapy. The FDA recently approved abarelix (Plenaxis, Praecis Pharmaceuticals) for the palliative treatment of men with advanced symptomatic prostate cancer in whom luteinizing hormone releasing hormone (LHRH) agonist therapy is inappropriate and who refuse surgical castration, and have risk of neurological compromise due to metastases; ureteral or bladder outlet obstruction due to local encroachment or metastatic disease; and/or severe bone pain from skeletal metastases persisting on narcotic analgesia. The drug will be available sometime during the first quarter of 2004.

Clinicians will soon be able to offer men with erectile dysfunction (ED) a new drug that researchers believe has several advantages over currently available therapies. The FDA recently approved tadalafil (Cialis, Eli Lilly) for the treatment of ED. Tadalafil is currently available in pharmacies.

The past year has been one of substantial progress for the American College of Clinical Pharmacy, declared C. Edwin Webb, Pharm.D., MPH, ACCP?s director for government and professional affairs. Provider status for pharmacists remains the association?s priority advocacy issue, and was reaffirmed as such by the Board of Regents, he told attendees at the ACCP annual meeting in Atlanta, Ga., last month.

Walgreens threatened to pull its 356 pharmacies out of the California Medicaid program (Medi-Cal) if the state proceeds with a 5% reimbursement cut slated to begin on New Year's Day.

A plan to issue temporary Medicare Rx discount cards could become a political headache if seniors don't want to give them up when the larger benefit starts in 2006, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation report.

How holiday selling season is expected to turn out for 2003

Pharmacy leaders oppose an Illinois proposal to pay pharmacists to conduct DUR and counsel patients who get their prescriptions filled through Canadian mail order pharmacies.

This installment deals with offering sex advice to patients in their golden years

This installment deals with protected health information and the patient's right to a report on what was disclosed

The author grouses about the lack of time for pharmacists to counsel patients

A progress report on how California hospitals are complying with a state law requiring them to implement programs to reduce med errors

USP Safety Column

Auburn University's Ken Barker licenses his drug error reduction software to another company to commercialize it

The past year has been one of substantial progress for the American College of Clinical Pharmacy, declared C. Edwin Webb, Pharm.D., MPH, ACCP?s director for government and professional affairs. Provider status for pharmacists remains the association?s priority advocacy issue, and was reaffirmed as such by the Board of Regents, he told attendees at the ACCP annual meeting in Atlanta, Ga., last month.

What are the legal implications of dispensing to a physician who is prescribing drugs for himself or his family members?

Economist J.D. Kleinke asserts that the health insurance enterprise, not drug manufacturers, are responsible for rising drug prices.

CVS Vs. Walgreens How the two chains are competing and growing.

Clinicians will soon be able to treat patients with advanced Alzheimer?s disease (AD) using the first drug approved for use in the later stages of this progressive condition. The FDA recently approved memantine (Namenda, Forest Laboratories) for the treatment of moderate to severe AD. The drug will be available in pharmacies January.

The author wonders why pharmaceutical companies don't dispatch detailers to pharmacies any more

USP's top 50 drug products involved in errors

USP safety column for Nov. 17, 2003

Author looks at the merger between Caremark and AdvancePCS and wonders if the purchase price makes sense

Get ready for a new wave of companies to introduce tamper-evident packaging to deter drug counterfeiting

Hospitals selecting ISO certification, instead of JCAHO accreditation, pay less cost and claim to be more outcome focused

Grant to Michigan hospitals to study ICU safety

This installment covers what happens if changes occur to protected health information

Clinicians will soon be able to offer HIV-positive patients a protease inhibitor (PI) that combines the convenience of flexible dosing with no restrictions on food or water. The FDA recently approved fosamprenavir (Lexiva, GlaxoSmithKline/Vertex Pharmaceuticals) for the treatment of HIV infection in adults in combination with other antiretroviral agents. Fosamprenavir will be available in pharmacies later this month.

Massachusetts hospital's discovery of an unlicensed pharmacist on staff offers lessons for other hospitals

FDA holds meeting to discuss strategies to thwart drug counterfeiting