Health System

The pharmacy school at University of Maryland is building an expansion to open in fall 2010. It will feature a dispensing lab, research facilities, lecture halls, and a distance-learning facility.

Flat-rate generic drug programs give pharmacy customers greater satisfaction, according to a 2008 national pharmacy study by J.D. Power and Associates.

Reyataz (atazanavir) used in combination with ritonavir wins FDA approval for treatment of HIV-1 patients.

Online prescription drug trafficking, abuse, and availability are the targets of the newly passed Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act.

A San Francisco judge denied Philip Morris' request for a temporary restraining order against the ban on pharmacy sales of tobacco products. The ban will affect 52 of 54 Walgreens as well as other chain pharmacies such as Rite-Aid and Longs.

The Joint Commission's anticoagulant safety goal goes into effect Jan. 1, 2009. Physicians, pharmacists, and nurses at health-care systems around the country are collaborating to improve best practices and to put more stringent measures in place.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is notifying health care professionals and patients that Tyco Healthcare Group LP (Covidien) is recalling one lot of ReliOn sterile, single-use, disposable, hypodermic syringes with permanently affixed hypodermic needles due to possible mislabeling. The use of these syringes may lead to patients receiving an overdose of as much as 2.5 times the intended dose, which may lead to hypoglycemia, serious health consequences, and even death.

As part of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's ongoing efforts to ensure that heparin for patients remains safe, the government today seized 11 lots of heparin from Celsus Laboratories Inc. in Cincinnati, Ohio.

The American Pharmacists Association (APhA) recently named its new executive vice president and CEO. The decision was made on the heels of the announcement earlier in 2008 that its current CEO is stepping down. Read on to find out what direction APhA will head.

The Pharmacy Museum Foundation of Texas is donating an antique collection worth $250,000 to the University of the Incarnate Word (UIW) Feik School of Pharmacy.

Utilization Review Accreditation Commission recently announced that four companies have achieved accreditation for the new specialty and mail programs under its Pharmacy Quality Management initiative.

The pharmaceutical industry is ever thirsty to satisfy patient's therapeutical needs and apart from active ingredients, inactive excipients play a major role in formulation development.

Over-the-counter stomach remedies is one retail segment that has not been soured by skittish consumer spending.

The Soarian information management system will enable Virginia Hospital Center to revolutionize every aspect of patient information management.

Hospitals throughout California are embracing smart pump technology as a way to reduce error and save lives. Among them are The Little Company of Mary (Torrance), Torrance Memorial Medical Center, and the Kaiser Permanente South Bay Medical Center in Harbor City.

Sen. Edward Kennedy's brain cancer has made the world more aware of malignant glioma. While prognosis for brain-cancer patients is grim, new vaccines and drugs in the pipeline offer extended quality of life and hope of a cure.

Cook County's Provident Hospital in Chicago has opened a pharmacy three times the size of the old one. The new facility offers six customer-service stations instead of two, seating capacity for 90 people, an additional 1,400 square feet of work space, and restrooms.

Walgreens is taking the city of San Francisco to court to contest its ban on tobacco sales in pharmacies.

CleviprexTM is the first new IV antihypertensive treatment to be approved by the FDA in 10 years.

The pharmacy profession needs to turn around its Rodney Dangerfield attitude and start focusing on goals that serve its members as well as the community.

A survey of new drugs, new indications, new formulations, new generics, new OTC, and new HBC.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Rhode Island teams up with Wellpoint NextRx, an independent pharmacy benefit management company, to offer Rhode Island physicians SureScripts-RxHub connectivity, expanding their use of electronic health records and managing patients' prescriptions online.

North Dakota pharmacists must own at least 51 percent of their pharmacies. This has kept many stores from opening in communities throughout the state. Hospitals and drugstore chains are fighting to change the law.

Baby boomer health concerns are just the beginning of what drives vitamin sales.

Readers tell Drug Topics their preferences in presidential candidates and many other issues.

Across the country, independent pharmacies are going the extra mile for their communities. Innovative pharmacists share tips on how they stay successful in a competitive world.

FDA has approved Xenazine from Prestwick Pharmaceuticals for treatment of chorea in Huntington's disease. It is the first medication to treat any symptom of the disease.

Free clinics in West Virginia dispense more than 500,000 prescriptions a year. Earlier this year they came under regulation by the state pharmacy board. Defenders argue that the board is trying to fix something that isn't broken. The board says that patient safety requires oversight.

Criminals buy cold remedies for the pseudoephedrine, which they use to make methamphetamine. Kansas pharmacists are fighting back with MethShield, an electronic program that tracks sales and catches illegal purchasers in the act. It even calls the cops.

Pharmacists speak out about Pharmacy Alliance, the new PhRMA marketing code, and a third drug class