Community Practice

FDA approved mipomersen sodium (Kynamro, Genzyme and Isis Pharmaceuticals) once-a-week injection as an addition to lipid-lowering medications and diet to treat patients with a rare type of high cholesterol called homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HoFH).

An FDA advisory committee voted to move hydrocodone combination drugs from Schedule III into the more restrictive Schedule II category of controlled substances in late January.

The cost of managing diabetes patients is extremely high, and many patients still experience poor glycemic control and renal complications, according to results of a study published online Dec. 13, 2012 in the journal Diabetes Care.

The use of clarithromycin in the first trimester of pregnancy may increase the risk of miscarriage, according to researchers in Denmark. However, the researchers did not find a link between exposure to clarithromycin and major congenital malformations.

Social ties to industry appear to influence physician prescribing behaviors, according to a recent study published online January 7 in JAMA Internal Medicine (formerly Archives of Internal Medicine).

Researchers examining the effectiveness of cefixime in the treatment of gonorrhea found a relatively high treatment failure rate, raising concern that gonorrhea may become untreatable, according to results published Jan. 9 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Early estimates from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) place effectiveness of the seasonal influenza vaccine at 62%.

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has proposed a rule that would finally make it legal for pharmacy retailers to collect and dispose of customers’ unwanted prescription medications.

The spike in flu cases over the past month, along with limited supplies of influenza vaccine and Tamiflu across the United States, has led FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg to issue guidance to pharmacists and other healthcare providers.

Opioid use and physician dispensing top the list of cost drivers for workers’ compensation pharmacy programs across the country.

To help prevent opioid abuse, New York City hospitals will be limiting opioid prescriptions dispensed from its emergency departments to a three-day supply, will not be prescribing long-acting opioids, and will not be refilling lost, stolen, or destroyed prescriptions, according to new voluntary emergency room guidelines that were made available on Jan. 10.

It may seem like pharmacy has reached a very low point. One pharmacist argues that specialization could be the best way forward.