Author: Peter

A federal judge declined Monday to either decide or dismiss a condemned Nevada killer’s lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the state plan for what would its first lethal injection in more than 16 years...U.S. District Judge Richard Boulware II left open Zane Michael Floyd’s case — at least for now — and set an Oct. 11 date for attorneys representing Floyd and the state to return to court in Las Vegas...The judge said he might still close the matter in coming weeks for what he termed “mootness,” since state prison officials testified that they do not have the drugs they would need to conduct an execution. The prison supply of the sedative ketamine expired Feb. 28, and officials said they’ve had trouble procuring more...READ MORE

Are you feeling distressed at work?...The results are in and they are not good. In a nationwide study it shows that Nevada ranks as the state with the highest distress level for pharmacy professionals (APhA)...That is not a number that we should be proud of...READ MORE

State and federal health authorities are investigating ongoing outbreaks at Nevada hospitals and nursing homes of a drug-resistant “superbug” that can lead to serious illness and even death...As of mid-April, the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services has been investigating outbreaks of a fungus called Candida auris at acute-care hospitals, long-term acute-care hospitals and skilled nursing facilities, according to a technical bulletin sent by the state to health care providers...READ MORE

...Biogen went from winning accelerated approval for its Alzheimer’s drug, Aduhelm, to all but abandoning the controversial medicine. Now, Congress is weighing changes to the FDA program that triggered the entire episode...The proposals are designed to give the FDA more control over the accelerated approval program...The approval pathway is designed to speed up therapies for patients with few or no other options, but drugs approved under the program have to go through a postmarketing trial to confirm its benefits...Accelerated approval reform has taken center stage in the wake of the Aduhelm debacle. Last June, the agency approved the drug based on the surrogate endpoint of reducing amyloid beta plaque in the brain. At the time, the agency said a positive effect on the endpoint was “reasonably likely to predict a clinical benefit to patients.”...A controversy ensued, and in a high-profile decision earlier this year, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services restricted coverage to patients in approved clinical trials. The decision amounted to a severe throttling of the rollout...READ MORE

The White House announced the launch of the first federally supported test-to-treat site, a part of the White House test-to-treat initiative designed to improve access to COVID-19 antiviral oral medications for certain high-risk patients. In response, ASHP sent a letter to Ashish Jha, the White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator, requesting the administration dramatically expand access to COVID-19 antivirals in all communities by removing the federal barrier preventing pharmacists from initiating therapy with these time-sensitive medications...READ MORE

Jose Maria Fernandez Sousa-Faro, president of European pharmaceuticals giant PharmaMar, has been charged by police with being falsely vaccinated against Covid-19. Dr. Sousa-Faro has been caught up in a scandal in Europe involving people being added to the National Immunization Registry in exchange for large sums of money...Police allege that Sousa-Faro arranged to be injected with a saline solution instead of a Covid-19 vaccination and paid thousands of dollars to have his name added to Spain's immunization register, as confirmed by police sources and reported by El Periodico de Espana...READ MORE

The role of pharmacy technicians in immunizations has evolved rapidly, particularly over the past 2 years because of COVID-19. Prior to the pandemic, pharmacy technicians for the most part were limited to assisting pharmacists in basic tasks related to immunizations. These included screening patients, preparing for the immunization, and performing administrative tasks required for immunization programs...In 2016, Idaho led the way in expanding the role of pharmacy technicians to include administering immunizations...the results were clear: All pharmacy technicians taking part in the study passed their assessments on the first attempt...The momentum for pharmacy technician-administered immunizations continued in Michigan, Washington state, Rhode Island, Utah, and Nevada...READ MORE

Federal authorities are expanding an investigation into Chicago-based Northshore Clinical Labs following a ProPublica story that raised questions about its COVID-19 testing operations in Nevada...an investigator with the Inspector General’s Office of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services indicated he planned to subpoena documents from Nevada health officials...“Myself and other law enforcement agencies have had a case opened regarding Northshore Clinical Lab for quite some time,” wrote Special Agent Peter Theiler, who is based in Chicago. “After reading the ProPublica article on Northshore Clinical Lab regarding Nevada patients, we are interested in obtaining records related to testing for COVID-19 for Northshore Clinical Lab rapid test results and PCR test results for Nevada.”...READ MORE

Ill-dissolving capsules can hamper drugs’ effectiveness or render them useless, which is especially concerning when they’re used to treat seriously sick blood disorder patients...Teva Pharmaceuticals ran into just such a problem during routine stability testing of its thrombocythemia drug anagrelide. Thanks to a dissolution test failure—when med takes longer to dissolve once ingested—Teva is recalling one lot of 0.5-mg capsules in the U.S. No other batches are affected, the company added...READ MORE