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New Drug Checklist - Factive(Gemifloxacin) is a fluroquinolone antibiotic - used to treat bacterial lung infections.

Physicians will soon have a fourth-generation fluoroquinolone with dual activity against bacteria to treat persons with community-acquired respiratory infections. The FDA recently approved gemifloxacin (Factive, GeneSoft Pharmaceuticals) for the treatment of acute bacterial exacerbation of chronic bronchitis (AECB) caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, Haemophilus parainfluenzae, or Moraxella catarrhalis and community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) of mild-to-moderate severity caused by S. pneumoniae (including penicillin-resistant strains), H. influenzae, M. catarrhalis, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, Chlamydia pneumoniae, or Klebsiella pneumoniae. Gemifloxacin will be available in pharmacies by the end of the year.

Beginning in 2004, volunteer hospitals will get unannounced visits by JCAHO surveyors. By 2006, all healthcare organizations will be subject to surprise surveys.

Pharmacists' appearance is at issue.

U.S. regulators target the new gold rush--prescription drug imports from across the border.

The U.S. Supreme Court handed pharmacists and other healthcare providers a victory in a unanimous ruling upholding Kentucky's any-willing-provider laws.

A number of new products, including two under development, are providing women with a wide range of options in hormonal contraception.

Studies show that women have more severe and longer-lasting pain, men and women respond differently to pain medications, and more women are under-treated for pain.

The incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in the United States outranks all other causes of morbidity and mortality. However, the perception still persists that CVD affects primarily men, and that women are somehow protected from it.

May's Drug Stores Chain of the Year 2003

Hospitals to get credit or check back based on manufacturers underreporting Medicaid rebates

Call for pedigree papers increases

Patent expirations, new technology, and other factors are driving the growth of novel drug delivery systems

Physicians and their patients with acromegaly will soon have access to the first drug specifically designed to block the effects of human growth hormone. The FDA recently approved pegvisomant (Somavert, Pharmacia) for the treatment of acromegaly in patients who have had an inadequate response to surgery and/or radiation therapy and/or medical therapies, or for whom those treatments are inappropriate. Pegvisomant is the first of a new class of drugs called growth hormone receptor antagonists.

Expert gives health plans a checklist of variables to consider when deciding whether to set up their own PBM or outsource it

As the American Pharmaceutical Association became the American Pharmacists Association, delegates to the group's annual meeting endorsed unit-of-use drug packaging.

assocations give advice on helping consumers prepare for an emergency at time of war

Healthcare professionals will soon be able to offer women the first vaginal estrogen product that treats both the vasomotor and vaginal symptoms of menopause. The FDA recently approved estradiol (Femring, Galen Holdings) vaginal ring for the treatment of moderate to severe vasomotor symptoms associated with menopause and treatment of moderate to severe symptoms of vulvar and vaginal atrophy associated with menopause. Femring will be available in pharmacies in June.

Ohio's Catalyst program is awarding pharmacists who cut unnecessary Medicaid drug costs in nursing homes

ASCP's Tim Webster to retire

In the wake of an FDA letter warning of civil and criminal liabilities for drug reimportation, American pharmacists are being urged to resist offers to partner with Canadian pharmacies serving U.S. seniors.

Products recommendations and gender differences

Minimum necessary rule

Healthcare providers can now treat HIV-infected patients with an antiretroviral drug that is unlike any other. The FDA recently granted accelerated approval of enfuvirtide (Fuzeon, Roche/Trimeris) to be used in combination with other antiretroviral agents for the treatment of HIV-1 infection in treatment-experienced patients with evidence of HIV-1 infection despite ongoing antiretroviral therapy. Enfuvirtide is approved for use in adults and children ages 6 years and older. It is currently available in pharmacies.

New clinical developments are improving the quality of life and increasing the survival time of lung cancer patients.

Frost & Sullivan provides pharmaceutical industry outlook 2003

Highlights of NACDS distribution conference

Drug errors involving Temodar

Oxytrol - New patch for treatment of overactive bladder.

Rx discount cards are costly to pharmacies, according to Dave Schuetz, R.Ph.