Health System

Vardenafil HCI (Staxyn, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, and Bayer), an orally disintegrating tablet indicated for the treatment of erectile dysfunction in men, is now available in U.S. pharmacies.

In a closely watched vote, pharmacists at Kaiser Permanente Southern California voted down a tentative contract negotiated by the Guild for Professional Pharmacists.

Pharmacist staffing agencies are growing as the demand for temporary pharmacy professionals continues to rise.

The National Community Pharmacists Association Conference taking place May 23 to May 25 in Washington, D.C., at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill is focusing on how the expert medication counseling and new, nontraditional services provided by local pharmacists can help reduce costs and improve patient outcomes.

U.S. pharmacies are ready and able to assist in the case of a national emergency, pharmacy officials recently told a Homeland Security subcommittee.

Allergic rhinitis patients are likely to have sleep disturbances and are not likely to be satisfied with the nasal sprays on the market, according to the new Nasal Allergy Survey Assessing Limitations 2010 study.

Proton pump inhibitors are associated with a 29% increased risk of fracture, including a 31% increased risk of hip fracture and a 54% increased risk of vertebral fracture, according to a study published in the May/June 2011 issue of Annals of Family Medicine.

There is no safe therapeutic window of time for using NSAIDs in patients with prior myocardial infarction. Even short-term treatment with most NSAIDs appears associated with increased risk of death and recurrent MI, reported a study published in Circulation.

New competency reports for pharmacists and other healthcare professionals aim to set forth strategies that will help providers work together better.

FDA approved telaprevir (Incivek, Vertex) tablets to treat certain adults with chronic hepatitis C infection.

FDA has approved sunitinib malate (Sutent, Pfizer) as the first anti-vascular endothelial growth factor therapy to treat progressive, well-differentiated pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors in patients with unresectable locally advanced or metastatic disease.

FDA has approved rilpivirine (Edurant, Tibotec Therapeutics, a division of Centocor Ortho Biotech) in combination with other antiretroviral drugs for the treatment of HIV-1 infection in adults who have never taken HIV therapy.

FDA announced May 18 to the public new restrictions to the prescribing, dispensing, and use of rosiglitazone-containing medications (Avandia, Avandamet, and Avandaryl, GlaxoSmithKline [GSK]) as part of a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy.

ASHP names Abramowitz EVP and CEO-designate

The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists board of directors recently selected Paul W. Abramowitz, PharmD, FASHP, as executive vice president and CEO-designate.

Adult patients with schizophrenia treated with lurasidone HCl tablets (Latuda, Sunovion Pharmaceuticals) had minimal weight gain and metabolic changes, according to the results from a new pooled data analysis of short- and long-term studies, which were presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychiatric Association in Honolulu, Hawaii.

For the fourth consecutive year, diabetes therapy topped the list of contributors to drug use trends in therapeutic categories, contributing 16.1% to overall growth in drug spending in 2010 due to an increasing number of patients, according to the recently released 2011 Medco Drug Trend Report, which tracks utilization and spending.

FDA has approved boceprevir (Victrelis, Merck) for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C genotype 1 infection, in combination with peginterferon alfa and ribavirin, in adult patients aged 18 years and older with compensated liver disease.

Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour has signed into law S.B. 2445, which reauthorizes the state?s Pharmacy Practice Act and requires pharmacy benefit managers to be subject to oversight by the Mississippi Board of Pharmacy.

The National Lipid Association kicked off, "FH: It's Relative-Know Your Family Cholesterol History," a public health campaign about familial hypercholesterolemia, on May 18.

Makers of OTC single-ingredient pediatric liquid acetaminophen will convert these products to just 1 concentration, according to the Consumer Healthcare Products Association.

APhA's white paper focusing on improving REMS programs and designing a system that maximizes patient safety while minimizing burdens on the healthcare system was published in the May/June issue of the Journal of the American Pharmacists Association.

Diane Wallace, vice president of shopper marketing for Coca-Cola, was recently elected as a board member to the NACDS Foundation?s board of directors.

The NACDS Foundation awarded $320,000 in pharmacy scholarships at its annual meeting in Scottsdale, Ariz., April 30 to May 3.

Richard D. Loeffler stressed the pressing need for ?active diligence? in engaging with federal and state lawmakers in his inaugural address as chairman of the NACDS board of directors at the organization?s recent annual meeting.

Are pharmacies subcontractors when they fill prescriptions for TRICARE, the federal health program for military personnel? Not according to the National Association of Chain Drugs Stores.

Frustrated by its lack of success at reining in drug-company abuses, FDA is bringing back a legal doctrine spawned by long-dead rodents to bring criminal charges against pharmaceutical executives, including executives who had no personal knowledge of company misdeeds.

If the Affordable Care Act makes pharmacists primary care providers, the profession gains a host of advantages, including Medicare provider status. For AACP, the goal is eligibility for student loan forgiveness under the NHSC.

Reimbursement and medication adherence issues will be front and center at the PQA/URAC Medication Adherence Summit in Washington, D.C., June 2 and 3.

Pharmacists need to leverage any tool that will minimize the demands placed on them and reduce distractions that can lead to medication errors, longer patient waiting time, and other complications. One available tool is the call center.