Community Practice

Pharmacists 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.

An FDA advisory panel voted 20 to 12 to recommend that the agency allow rosiglitazone (Avandia, GlaxoSmithKline) to remain on the market.

In response to growing concern among hospital pharmacists, the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) has launched an education program on antibiotic resistance.

Summer brings picnics, hikes, and trips to the water, along with sunburn, bug bites, and dry, itchy skin. For all that exposed skin, manufacturers offer several new skin-care aids.

Many pharmacies across the country have adopted new policies and procedures that focus more on patient care and outcomes. Included among these new options is administration of vaccines.

Most 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.

The 2,400-page healthcare reform bill included language establishing the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute, a group grounded in the tenets of comparative effectiveness research. Its mission is significant, but whether it has the power to effect change remains to be seen.

A survey of new Rx, new generic, and new OTC products

In every pharmacy, continuous quality improvement is an essential safeguard. For two approaches that guarantee best practices, read on.

Numerous studies show that patients benefit from medication therapy management (MTM) services provided by pharmacists. The drawback to many programs is that it is financially difficult to offer them. In Wisconsin, however, clinical and retail pharmacists participating in the Pharmacy Society of Wisconsin's (PSW) MTM pilot project are reimbursed for the time they spend reviewing patients' formulary or explaining how patients should use drugs.

Although 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.

Written confirmation is now available from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services indicating that Fluzone High-Dose (Sanofi Pasteur) influenza virus vaccine for patients 65 years or older is a benefit covered by Medicare Part B and will be reimbursed for the upcoming 2010?11 influenza season.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a proposed regulation on June 25 that would exempt community pharmacies from the upcoming bidding process for Medicare Part B diabetes-testing supplies, along with instructions that exempt most independent community pharmacies from accreditation requirements.

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has issued a notice in the Federal Register requesting input about the dispensing of controlled substances for residents in long-term-care (LTC) facilities.

FDA said on June 25 that it does not expect any shortage of children?s pain and allergy medications, despite Johnson & Johnson?s inability to resume production until at least next year, Reuters reported.

An FDA advisory panel voted 20?12 to recommend that the agency allow rosiglitazone (Avandia, GlaxoSmithKline) to remain on the market. However, most panelists want to see tougher warnings on the diabetes drug?s label, according to various media reports.

FDA is once again tackling the naming, labeling, and packaging practices connected with drugs and biologics, according to a top official.

A 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.

Sens. 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.

FDA has announced that the agency is currently evaluating whether the use of the angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB) olmesartan (Benicar, Daiichi Sankyo; also sold in combination with hydrocholorothiazide as Benicar HCT) was associated with increased cardiovascular mortality.

The Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 greatly reduced FDA involvement in assessing the safety of dietary supplements, leaving pharmacists with the problem of obtaining accurate information with which to advise patients.

Pharmacists speak out about the personal touch, personalized medicine, and "personality kids"

Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) skin patches containing low doses of estrogen carry less risk of stroke than oral therapy and may represent a safer alternative.

Switching from branded to generic drugs for epilepsy did not cause increased incidents or utilization changes among patients, according to new study results.

For male pharmacists, anyway, the 1970s were good times, with a sense of fraternity among professionals. What happened to the group spirit?

In the first of its "FDA Drug Info Rounds," a new series of educational videos for pharmacists, FDA is tackling unapproved dispensing of colchicine.

Inhaled insulin may be making a comeback. That's the hope at MannKind, a California-based biopharmaceutical company developing a rapid-acting inhaled insulin known as Afrezza (insulin human rDNA origin).

A survey of new Rx, new generic, and new OTC products

The Drug Enforcement Administration has released its long-awaited interim final rule for electronic prescribing of controlled substances.

A ballot initiative moving toward approval in North Dakota could open the doors to chain pharmacy in the state.