Author: Peter

Amazon is launching a new service for hospitals that will embed its voice technology deeper into clinical settings at scale...As part of Alexa Smart Properties, the service will simplify how hospitals and senior living facilities deploy and manage Alexa-enabled devices across their properties...Using Amazon Alexa devices in hospital rooms, patients can keep in touch with their families, connect with care team members, easily access news and information and play music, according to the company. Patients can ask Alexa for things they need—"Alexa, tell my nurse I need a pillow." The use of artificial intelligence to interpret patient intent enables the message to be sent to the appropriate care team member using existing hospital communication systems..."Voice is intuitive for patients, regardless of age or tech-savviness,"...READ MORE

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has given its go-ahead for the use of Moderna's and Janssen's COVID-19 vaccines as booster shots...after their initial series as well as the approval of mixing and matching vaccines...READ MORE

For the first time, the Food and Drug Administration...authorized an electronic cigarette, saying the vaping device from R.J. Reynolds can help smokers cut back on conventional cigarettes...E-cigarettes have been sold in the U.S. for more than a decade with minimal government oversight or research. Facing a court deadline, the FDA has been conducting a sweeping review of vaping products to determine which ones should be allowed to remain on the market...The agency said in September it had rejected applications for more than a million e-cigarettes and related products, mainly due to their potential appeal to underage teens. But regulators delayed making decisions on most of the major vaping companies, including market leader Juul, which is still pending...READ MORE

...the US Department of Justice, three companies—Taro Pharmaceuticals, Sandoz, and Apotex—have agreed to fork over a total of $447.2m USD to settle their alleged violations of the False Claims Act. According to the government’s allegations, the firms conspired to fix the prices of various generic drugs, resulting in higher prices paid by federal health care programs and beneficiaries...The charges allege that between the years of 2013 and 2015, the trio of companies paid and received compensation, which is prohibited by the Anti-Kickback Statute, via arrangements on price, supply, and allocation of customers with other pharmaceutical manufacturers for certain generic drugs manufactured by the companies...READ MORE

Testimony revealed Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos issued marketing materials to future partner Walgreens that included the use of Pfizer’s corporate logo despite Pfizer’s decline to partner with the startup blood-testing company...The ongoing criminal trial of Holmes revealed the misrepresentation of Pfizer’s logo...Holmes, along with former Theranos President Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, were charged with multiple counts of fraud in 2018. According to the charges that the government brought against the duo, from 2013 to 2015, Holmes and Balwani raised more than $700 million from investors for falsely claiming their single-drop blood-testing technology would revolutionize the medical industry...READ MORE

Before the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine authorization, there were no mRNA therapies approved anywhere in the world. The idea of using messenger RNA as a way to get your body to be the drug manufacturer has been around for some time, but only in recent years has it become practical. And it was the COVID-19 pandemic that provided the opportunity for the technology to push ahead...In terms of cancer...BioNTech has two types of mRNA vaccines for cancer. “First, we have our off-the-shelf vaccines, where we’ve identified molecular features of tumors that are shared by many patients...By targeting these molecules, you can fight the cancer without getting collateral damage to healthy cells.”...“Second, we have highly personalized vaccines. We identify cancer mutations that are unique to every patient...We biopsy the tumor, sequence it, and design a unique, individualized vaccine for each patient.”...READ MORE

...Silicon Valley startup NowRx decided to avoid venture capital dollars...The online pharmacy aims to raise $73 million series C funding through SeedInvest, an equity crowdfunding platform...Once completed, the series C round will bring the company’s total funding to more than $100 million...The startup, which provides same-day and same-hour prescription medication delivery and telehealth services, aims to use the funds to expand into additional territories, and accelerate the technology roadmap for its proprietary pharmacy management software and logistics technology...The raise comes on the heels of strong growth as the company charted $13.4 million in revenue in 2020...READ MORE

Sharing real-time patient benefit and eligibility information with providers at the point of prescribing improves medication access and, ultimately, patient outcomes...To help patients access their prescribed medications during office closures due to the pandemic, many health plans relaxed or waived medication regulations, such as prior authorization and refill-too-soon orders...Despite this temporary relief, many patients still experienced delays getting their prescriptions filled...Solutions such as real-time prescription benefit, electronic prior authorization and intelligent pharmacy workflows can help reduce administrative and benefit barriers contributing to these delays – and improve medication adherence along the way...READ MORE

The NCPA Digest...found that the industry in 2020 represented 34% of all retail pharmacies in the United States and a $67.1 billion marketplace...

...total number of independent pharmacies, which is 19,397 as of June 2021. The store count...of 21,683 in 2019.

Ninety-five percent of independent community pharmacy...identified their primary pharmacy operation as retail pharmacy. Nearly 5% identified as compounding, long-term care, or specialty.

Between 2014-20, the generic dispense rate increased from 80% to 86%.

Seventy-four percent of community pharmacies serve population areas of 50,000 or fewer.

3,483 pharmacies are participating in the CPESN USA national network of clinically integrated pharmacies.

...2020, average prescription volume was 57,648 per store, a very slight increase from the 57,414 prescriptions dispensed in 2019.

Government programs continue to grow in importance, with 55% of total prescriptions covered by the Medicare Part D and Medicaid programs.

The top four point-of-care services provided are SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic testing (32%), blood glucose (24%), influenza (24%), and rapid strep (22%)...READ MORE

Drugmakers may face stricter rules to ensure the supply of medicines in the European Union, EU officials said...as the bloc tries to reduce its imports of pharmaceutical products from China and other foreign "autocracies"...At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, the 27-country bloc encountered protracted problems in obtaining a wide range of medicines and their ingredients from India and China, as supplies tightened amid lockdowns and export restrictions...The planned rules change is also aimed at reducing the EU's reliance on medicine ingredients produced abroad, as the Commission estimates that two-thirds of the global supply is concentrated in India and China...READ MORE