U.S. pharmacists helping to keep banned drugs away from Beijing Olympics

The Beijing Olympics begins today, but some U.S. pharmacists have been hard at work there for days on end now. For instance, as one of the doping control officers, Peter Ambrose, a pharmacy professor at the University of California San Francisco School of Pharmacy, has been in Beijing for more than two weeks, doing pre-game testing as a volunteer. He has set up a blog about his experiences on his school's Web site.

Another U.S. pharmacist playing a role at this event is Mike Pavlovich, pharmacist-in-charge of HNP Pharmaceuticals, a pharmaceutical compounding laboratory in Torrance, Calif. Through its SportPharm division, HNP Pharmaceuticals serves more than 250 professional, collegiate, and Olympic clients across the country. Pavlovich is operating as the pharmacist for the 45-member U.S. Olympic medical team in Beijing. In this role, he is responsible for the management of all the dispensing databases and provides medications and drug information to athletes and staff alike. He told Drug Topics that he is following in the footsteps of president and CEO of SportPharm Robert Nickell, who served as the pharmacist at the Olympics four years ago.

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