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Legislators Endorse Resolution Opposing Pharma Provisions in Pending Trade Agreement

The use of evidence-based reviews continues to be a problem for PhRMA.  Various countries apply evidenced reviews of drugs before approval.  The general trade agreements between countries have found the variety of criteria to be confusing.  The following proposal addresses this issue from the standpoint of the States.  It is unclear if this will have any impact on other countries, e.g., Australia, Brazil, Europe, etc.

 

http://forumdemocracy.net/article.php?id=570

Escitalopram Ameliorates Hot Flashes

The SSRI (serotonin reuptake inhibitor), reduces the frequency and severity of menopausal hot flashes, according to tis JAMA study. 200 women were randomized to 8 weeks of treatment with placebo vs escitalopram.

Researchers randomized 200 women to 8 weeks of treatment with either placebo or escitalopram. If by the fourth week hot flashes had not been reduced sufficiently, escitalopram recipients received a doubled dose (20 mg/day) and placebo recipients received a matching dummy pill. The frequency of self-reported hot flashes had decreased roughly half for the patients in the escitalopram.

JAMA article (Free abstract)

 

Medco Pharmacy School at FDU

Medco Health Solutions has teamed up with Fairleigh Dickinson University to launch a pharmacy school in the fall of 2012. The school will offer several doctorate programs (including Pharm.D.) and various masters programs.  The Pharm.D. will be a 4 year program that accepts 85 students annually. The pharmacy school will also offer various dual-degree options.

Grassroots Advocacy Trumps Mandatory Mail Order

Retail pharmacy has been fighting mail forever.  The example that retail pharmacy can influence decisions locally at the purchaser level is not new, but uncommon.  Time will tell if this strategy can work in a broader context.

From: http://www.ncpanet.org/

After independent pharmacists in North Carolina and Virginia expressed strong concerns to the BB&T Corp., a regional banking chain, about the widespread fall out of its switch to mandatory mail for employees, BB&T earlier this month reversed course.

“We appreciate BB&T leadership taking this step, which will benefit its 30,000 employees, their families, and their communities in 12 states,” said NCPA Executive Vice President and CEO Kathleen Jaeger. “In return, independent pharmacists look forward to continuing to provide expert, personalized medication counseling, and other cost-saving health care services to these patients.”

“Hopefully, other corporations will come to see the value of continuing their outreach to community pharmacists and supporting local businesses, particularly in today’s economy,” Jaeger added.

And hopefully, more pharmacists will see the importance ofgrassroots advocacy as a means to continue serving their patients.

 

FDA limits acetaminophen in prescription combination products; requires liver toxicity warnings

From the FDA website: http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm239894.htm

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is asking manufacturers of prescription combination products that contain acetaminophen to limit the amount of acetaminophen to no more than 325 milligrams (mg) in each tablet or capsule.

The FDA also is requiring manufacturers to update labels of all prescription combination acetaminophen products to warn of the potential risk for severe liver injury.

Acetaminophen, also called APAP, is a drug that relieves pain and fever and can be found in both prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) products. It is combined in many prescription products with other ingredients, usually opioids such as codeine (Tylenol with Codeine), oxycodone (Percocet), and hydrocodone (Vicodin). OTC acetaminophen products are not affected by today’s action.

The elimination of higher-dose prescription combination acetaminophen products will be phased in over three years and should not create a shortage of pain medication. Patients and health care professionals are being notified of the new limitation on acetaminophen content, and of the labeling change, in a drug safety communication issued by CDER. The FDA believes that prescription combination products containing no more than 325 mg of acetaminophen per tablet are effective for treating pain.

Acetaminophen is also widely used as an over-the-counter pain and fever medication, and is combined with other OTC ingredients, such as cough and cold ingredients. The actions FDA is taking for prescription acetaminophen products do not affect OTC acetaminophen products.

 

Pharmacy Benefit Management Institute – 16th Annual Conference: 2/16-2-18 in Arizona

The Pharmacy Benefit Management Institute 16th Annual Drug Benefit Conference to be held at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel located in beautiful Phoenix, Arizona, February 16-18, 2011 PBMI Conference Information.

PBMI’s annual conference has a long-standing reputation for providing relevant and actionable information for all members of the pharmacy supply chain.

This year’s conference will feature an Educational Breakout Session, entitled “Medicare Part D Updates” by Craig S. Stern, RPh, PharmD, MBA, President, Pro Pharma Pharmaceutical Consultants, Inc

Dr. Craig S. Stern will address and describe the drastic changes impacting all aspects of Medicare Parts B and D, including those changes to the Medication Therapy Management (MTM) criteria.

At the end of this Educational Session, attendees will be able to:

• Describe reduced barriers for low-income beneficiaries.
• Discuss Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) authority to cover more drugs on plan formularies..
• Identify changes in both Medicare Part B and Part D.
• Describe changes to Medication Therapy Management (MTM) criteria.
• Describe reimbursement issues (prompt payments, e-prescribing bonuses)

 

Average Length of Hospital Stays (Medicare and Non-Medicare)

AHRQ Updates Evidence Report on Treating Acute Otitis Media

FYI – new and updated information about treatment of otitis media. Pay special attention to the finding that all antibiotic use is generally not useful, and no antibiotic is better than amoxicillin.

AHRQ Updates 2001 Evidence Report on Treating Acute Otitis Media AHRQ released a new evidence report on treating children immediately for uncomplicated otitis media with amoxicillin produces a modest benefit compared to placebo or a delay in using antibiotics. The authors, led by Paul G. Shekelle, M.D., Ph.D., of AHRQ’s Southern California Evidence-Based Practice Center in Santa Monica, also found that doing so may increase the likelihood of diarrhea and rash. The review found no evidence that any other antibiotic is superior to amoxicillin for success in treating uncomplicated acute otitis media; that symptoms such as a red, immobile, or bulging eardrum are critical to diagnosis, but the lack of a gold standard for diagnosing acute otitis media currently makes drawing firm conclusions about the precision of diagnostic methods difficult; and that the heptavalent Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV7) has had an impact on microbial epidemiology. The review also found that long-term use of antibiotics in children prone to the disease decreases episodes by about half, but drawbacks, such as diarrhea, allergic reactions, and the emergence of bacterial resistance should be weighed against the risk of the ear infection’s recurrence. AHRQ’s report was requested by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/tp/otitisuptp.htm

Top 10 Chronic Condition Management Applications

These ranks were determined solely by ranking the popularity of the apps on the Apple Store Health and Fitness category for the iPhone. Since, chronic conditions cost our healthcare system over 2 trillion dollars or 73% of total costs, there is definitely a need for the implementation of useful apps to manage patients’ chronic conditions.

Top 10 Chronic Condition Management Apps

1.     GoMeals developed by Sanofi Aventis

2.     GlucoseBuddy developed by oneAppOneCause

3.     Allergy Alert developed by SDI Health

4.     Livestrong developed by Demand Media

5.     WaveSense Diabetes Manager developed by Agamatrix

6.     Diabetes Log developed by Distal Thoughts

7.     Diabetes Companion developed by dLife

8.     Diabetes Health Mobile developed by Diabetes Health

9.     hCG Diet app developed by CodeQ

10.  BloodPressure+Pulse Grapher Lite developed by Michael Hein

Source: Mobihealthnews, December 16, 2010

http://mobihealthnews.com/9778/top-ten-chronic-condition-management-apps/