November 21st 2024
James Rider, PharmD, shared reflections on his experiences as a pharmacy manager at CVS.
Plavix biomarker test can improve patient outcomes
September 15th 2010In a novel collaboration with PBM giant CVS Caremark and its specialty pharmacy Generation Health, PGXL Laboratories will use its expertise in anticoagulants to improve the quality of patient care through pharmacogenetic testing, physician education, and drug-specific software programs.
Generic substitution: An opportunity to educate consumers
August 15th 2010In a recent survey by Medco Health Solutions Inc., only 66% of 1,092 patients with insurance surveyed "agreed that a generic drug is the same as the brand-name medication - many patients are still not comfortable using a generic and others still consider brand-name drugs to be superior."
Keeping pharmacy staff: Best practices
August 15th 2010With many pharmacists approaching retirement, positions are opening up. For professionals tasked with greater responsibility and longer working hours, greener pastures have an undeniable appeal. In this business climate, how can employers hold onto their pharmacy professionals?
Protect skin from sun damage: Educate patients
August 15th 2010Pharmacists are in a good position to tell patients that sand, water, snow, and clouds reflect and intensify the sun's rays, causing unsuspected sun damage, even in shade, and that protecting skin from sun damage should be incorporated into a daily routine.
Prescriptions for pharmacy survival may be a bitter pill
August 15th 2010Most of us probably didn't pay a lot of attention to business majors when we were in college. Unfortunately, the business majors have far more influence over the practice of pharmacy today than pharmacists do, and it's going to be up to them to find a way out of the pickle our profession finds itself in.
PPACA creates approval pathway for follow-on biologics
August 15th 2010Although the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) creates an abbreviated approval pathway for biological products that are demonstrated to be ?highly similar? (biosimilar) to or ?interchangeable? with an FDA-approved biological product, only time will tell how long it will take for these biosimilars to reach the marketplace.
Diabetes prevention: Meta-analysis finds glitazones superior to other oral antidiabetic drug classes
July 15th 2010A systematic review assessing the comparative effectiveness of oral anti-diabetic drugs for preventing patients at high risk from progressing to type 2 diabetes has found glitazones (pioglitazone, rosiglitazone), biguanides (metformin), and alpha-glucosidase inhibitors (AGIs; acarbose, voglibose) reduced the relative risk of diabetes by as much as 63%, whereas insulin secretagogues (sulfonylureas and glinides) had no effect.
MTM bill seeks to help seniors manage medications, reduce healthcare costs
July 15th 2010Sens. Kay R. Hagan (D-N.C.) and Al Franken (D-Minn.) have introduced The Medication Therapy Management (MTM) Expanded Benefits Act, a bill that will allow seniors with one chronic illness to thoroughly review all their medications with a pharmacist in a one-on-one session.