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Letters, e-mails, comments, and posts from Drug Topics readers

New Rx, formulations, indications, and generics

Critically ill patients requiring mechanical ventilation in an intensive care unit (ICU) may be at increased risk of a new psychiatric illness and medication use following hospital release, according to a report published March 19 in JAMA.

Inventory control and timely communications are key to managing during a drug shortage.

Everyday, approximately one in 25 U.S. patients contracts at least one infection during the course of their hospital care, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Specialty drug pricing and generic drug pricing, especially around single-source generics during their exclusivity period, should be on the radar screens of hospital and managed care decision-makers, according to Catamaran’s 2013 Drug Trend data, which represents 25 million consumers.

Chronically ill adults don’t have consistent access to food due to lack of financial stability were significantly more likely to report cost-related medication underuse, according to a new study published in The American Journal of Medicine. Cost-related medication underuse refers to taking less medication than prescribed, or not taking it at all because of financial concerns.

Here's what thousands of your fellow pharmacists were reading this month at Drug Topics

There are many untapped opportunities for hospital pharmacies to boost their bottom lines, including expanding their services and capturing more reimbursements, according to Mary Baxter, RPh, vice president and national practice leader for Cardinal Health’s Innovation Delivery Solutions business.

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.

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.

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

A penicillin "allergy" label adversely affects the quantity and quality of healthcare in hospitalized patients, a new study reports.

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

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.

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.

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.

This case report underscored the importance of performing accurate genotyping before initiation of therapy.

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.

Is your hospital ready? The emergency is here.

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

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries launched loxapine inhalation powder, 10 mg (Adasuve) March 3, for the acute treatment of agitation associated with schizophrenia or bipolar 1 disorder in adults.

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.