Chain Pharmacy

Remember Goose Rawlings’ story in the February issue of Drug Topics, the one about the young pharm school graduate who thought older pharmacists should step aside and leave their jobs to new PharmDs? Boy, did we get mail.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office for Civil Rights has launched an investigation into alleged patient- privacy violations at Walgreens, following complaints that chain’s new pharmacy design is putting sensitive patient information at risk, according to the Wall Street Journal.

FDA has approved once-daily topiramate extended-release capsules for initial monotherapy to treat partial-onset or primary generalized tonic-clonic seizures.

Benzodiazepines and opioid medications have dangerous synergistic effects. The use of both has climbed in the last decade, and so has co-prescription.

CVS Caremark Corp. faces as much as $29 million in fines associated with 37,000 prescription painkillers that are missing from four of its California stores, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.

As pharmaceutical manufacturers and other life sciences companies cut back their budgets, they are looking for technological solutions.

E-cigarette use recently doubled among teens, and these teens are also smoking conventional cigarettes.

The message for U.S. pharmacies and pharmacy chains: Follow the lead of CVS Caremark and halt pharmacy tobacco sales.

While the big chains compete aggressively for preferred provider status, indies and small chains have a tougher time cutting copays and network prices.

NCPA study finds that community pharmacy med-synch programs can improve patients’ medication adherence and boost the pharmacy's bottom line.

Pharmacists cannot solve the drug abuse problem, but they can refrain from abetting drug-seekers - and give chronic-pain patients the support they deserve.

In the wake of the recent Rite Aid HIV settlement, pharmacists face a new Catch 22.

Don't let the prescriber's hostility stop you from doing the right thing. As the pharmacist, you're the Rx expert.

How much do you identify with your work? Does your role as a pharmacist determine your sense of self? Be careful what you tell yourself. Maybe think again.

Unsalable quantities of expensive branded medications and specialty drugs. Skyrocketing prices for generic drugs. Medicaid rules about what to dispense. And there's more.

CMS is proposing a modified interpretation of the existing non-interference provisions that would remove any limitation on CMS’ regulation of the relationship between pharmacies and plan sponsors.

What would you do if you scrambled through that 3.5 hour window, only to find a colleague waiting with his foot stuck out?

Approved in October 2013 for two patient groups, Riociguat (Adempas, Bayer) is a first-in-class sGC stimulator.

Compared to plasma, treatment with 4-factor PCC for warfarin reversal in patients with intracerebral hemorrhage does not seem to reduce 30-day all-cause mortality.

In the pharmacy, an array of foot-care products awaits patients who can't stand it anymore.

Pharmacists who collaborate with ACOs can find many ways to exercise their skills and expand their knowledge. Partnerships are popping up everywhere, and so are the opportunities.

ISMP reports that a growing number of cases of oral vaccines intended to protect children against rotavirus gastroenteritis are mistakenly being injected.

Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories has launched moxifloxacin HCl tablets, 400 mg, a therapeutic equivalent generic version of Avelox on March 4, following FDA approval.

Pharmacy groups, representing more than 100,000 pharmacists in different pharmacy practice settings, have written to CMS Administrator Marilyn B. Tavenner to express their support for the expansion of medication therapy management (MTM) services to Medicare Part D beneficiaries in the CMS proposal released in early January.

Warfarin use may be safe following a heart attack in patients with both atrial fibrillation and chronic kidney disease, according to a Swedish study of more than 24,000 patients.

Teen can buy generic morning-after contraceptive directly from OTC shelves without proving age.

FDA advisors decided against recommending over-the-counter (OTC) marketing approval of Primatene HFA inhaler (Armstrong Pharmaceuticals) for the temporary relief of mild symptoms of intermittent asthma in patients 12 years and older, at last week’s joint meeting of the FDA’s Nonprescription Drugs Advisory Committee and the Pulmonary-Allergy Drugs Advisory Committee.

The DEA proposal to move hydrocodone combination products from Schedule III to Schedule II could have a major impact on pharmacies.

The National Association of Chain Drug Stores has endorsed a congressional proposal to establish a workgroup to collaborate on solutions to reduce prescription drug abuse and without comprising access to medications.

Health Mart launched its 2014 Healthy Living Tour during the Independent Pharmacy Business Growth Conference in Orlando, Fla. Pharmacists and other healthcare professionals will visit more than 130 communities across the United States providing health education and free health screenings.