Health System

Controlling the expensive price tag of Medicare is an ongoing concern of both the Obama administration and Congress. Therefore, any Medicare provider can expect an audit. Is your pharmacy prepared?

Proposed rules designed to cut waste in Medicare Part D could create problems for long-term-care pharmacy.

In response to a Drug Topics column that viewed e-tracking as the solution to illegal methamphetamine use, a law-enforcement veteran speaks out about the drawbacks connected with e-tracking systems.

After its withdrawal from the marketplace 35 years ago, sodium fluoride F 18 for use in bone scans is experiencing a rebirth as a result of a New Drug Application submitted by the National Cancer Institute and approved by FDA.

New CDC guidance recommends that 16-year-olds receive a booster meningitis vaccine shot.

Sanofi-Aventis is appealing a federal judge's decision to lift the injunction against the sale of a generic Allegra D24 product in the United States.

Empty frozen-fruit bags are the most recent healthy eating display in the pharmacy departments of Wegmans Food Markets.

NACDS is urging Congress to make several federal regulations economically viable for retail community pharmacists.

FDA has approved gabapentin (Gralise, Depomed and Abbott Products) tablets for once-daily treatment of post-herpetic neuralgia.

AEDs may increase the risk of nontraumatic fractures in patients aged 50 years and older, according to a study published in the Archives of Neurology, HealthDay News reported.

Elderly patients have difficulty with long-term adherence to medications following myocardial infarction, and this is significantly worse among those with kidney dysfunction, according to a study published online in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, HealthDay News reported.

A combination drug therapy given initially appears to result in better blood-pressure control in individuals compared with those who are treated with monotherapy, according to research published online in The Lancet, HealthDay News reported.

Health advocacy organizations that promote research and access to healthcare services for members routinely fail to disclose their financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry, according to a study released online in the American Journal of Public Health.

Medication errors involving analgesics, including mistakes in prescribing, are a major contributor to suboptimal therapeutic outcomes and preventable adverse patient events, according to a study published in The Journal of Pain, reported Newswise.com.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices has issued updated guidelines regarding the use of antiviral agents for the treatment and chemoprophylaxis of influenza, according to a report in the January 21 issue of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The new recommendations, which include a summary of the effectiveness and safety of antiviral treatment medications, update those issued by the committee in 2008.

The angiogenesis inhibitor bevacizumab, used with chemotherapy or biological therapy, carries an increased risk of treatment-related death in cancer patients compared with chemotherapy alone, a new study shows.

FDA has issued a complete response letter to Eisai for its rabeprazole sodium extended-release capsules, 50 mg, an investigational proton pump inhibitor (PPI) under review for the healing and long-term maintenance of healing and symptom resolution of erosive GERD, and for the treatment of daytime and nighttime heartburn and other symptoms of non-erosive GERD.

FDA has issued a complete response letter for Orexigen?s and Takeda?s Contrave (naltrexone HCl/bupropion HCl) extended-release tablets for the treatment of obesity, including weight loss and maintenance of weight loss.

NCPA is holding the first of 3 pharmacy ownership workshops for 2011 in Atlanta, February 4 to February 6.

NACDS Mobile is the association?s new mobile website that serves as a ?guide on the go? specifically designed for ease of use on any smart phone with a web browser.

A group of regulatory, industry, and consumer groups has created a new voluntary guideline to ensure that nutritional supplement companies have the necessary data to support expiration dating on product labels.

Half of Americans polled don't think vaccines cause autism. However, 18% are convinced that vaccines, like the MMR vaccine, can cause the disorder, and another 30% aren't sure, according to a new Harris Interactive/HealthDay poll.

The Centers for Disease Control included a botanical treatment for genital warts in its recently revised 2010 CDC Sexually Transmitted Diseases Treatment Guidelines.

The Michigan Pharmacy Association criticized a new report suggesting that the state could save $146 million by moving fee-for-service Medicaid recipients to managed care programs.

Despite the electronic-tracking systems for pseudoephedrine that have been implemented in several states, methamphetamine-related activity is on the rise.

British Medical Journal has published a new study, which analyzed 31 randomized controlled trials comparing the cardiovascular safety of any NSAID with placebo or other NSAIDs.

Small-molecule drugs in the United States will experience the greatest degree of brand erosion as patents of many of the most popular drugs expire during the next several years, leaving them exposed to generic competition, according to a report published by Datamonitor.

New draft standards from the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention could bring dramatic changes to Rx labels as early as 2012. Changes to USP Chapter 17, Prescription Container Labeling, include larger font, placement of the most important information at the top, more understandable language, and more white space.

Researchers recently found that extreme obesity can increase patients? risk of death from the H1N1 influenza virus.

In this section we showcase products and product news that ran up against space limitations or fell outside the parameters of recently featured categories in the print edition. Look for more OTC Product News in upcoming issues of the Drug Topics e-newsletter.