Author: Peter

Pharmacists can play a critical role in coordinating better strategies to enhance antimicrobial stewardship. Often, they are already working directly with medical and nursing staff to ensure that patients are prescribed the best treatment by advising on drug selection, dose, and administration method…“Pharmacists can’t just expect others to do it,”…“We must make our own contributions if we want to fix this problem.”...Here are some ways pharmacists practicing in all care settings can continue to fight antibiotic resistance:

1. Counsel Patients in Community Pharmacy Settings
2. Make Sure Everyone Knows How Important Immunizations Are
3. Prevent Unnecessary Antibiotic Use for Non-Bacterial Infections
4. You Can’t Spell “Hospital Health Care Team” Without “Team”

UnitedHealth, the biggest health insurer in the United States, is considering quitting offering coverage under Obamacare, just one month after discussing expanding coverage in 11 new markets. Bloomberg's Drew Armstrong examines the move and how it may impact the insurance industry and the future of the Affordable Care Act. He speaks on "Bloomberg Markets."

In a controversial move, France has asked the European Commission to allow new labeling on medicines that would indicate whether products and ingredients come from Europe or elsewhere. But the effort is likely to divide drug makers amid concerns about the quality of prescription drugs…The stated reason for the request is to bolster transparency, because French consumers may have “doubts” about their medicines, according to the filing by the French government. And the notice singled out generic medicines, in particular…The filing also follows the recent suspension of some 700 mostly generic drugs by the European Union. The EU acted after French regulators questioned the reliability of clinical trial data generated by GVK Biosciences, a contract research organization in India that conducts studies for drug makers.

Food and Drug Administration approved the first-ever nasal spray emergency treatment for opioid overdose…The spray, developed by privately held Adapt Pharma Ltd, uses naloxone, a drug used to treat opioid overdose for nearly 45 years but approved only in injectable forms…The treatment…is expected to have wide coverage under health insurance with affordable co-pays…Group purchasers, such as law enforcement, fire fighters, departments of health, local school districts, colleges and universities, and community-based organizations will be able to purchase the spray at a discounted price of $37.50 per 4 mg device…

A group of San Diego, California, pharmacies and their owners have paid $750,000 to the federal government to resolve drug diversion claims…pharmacies had been accused of mishandling prescription narcotics and ephedrine/pseudoephedrine products…The settlement was with Park Medical Pharmacy Inc…and owners Joseph Grasela and John Grasela…Drug Enforcement Administration alleged that the pharmacies had violated the Controlled Substances Act by diverting a “significant” amount of controlled substances, not taking adequate inventory of controlled substances, and not maintaining records of the pharmacies’ distribution of products.

Marshall Sonenshine, Sonenshine Partners chairman, comments on Pfizer possibly being in advanced talks to buy Allergan for as much as $380 per share. He speaks with Bloomberg's Betty Liu on "Bloomberg Markets."

All health care facilities would be banned from flushing drugs among other changes in a proposed rule…Stop flushing pills down the toilet…That’s the message behind a proposed rule from the Environmental Protection Agency that would ban health care facilities from disposing of hazardous pharmaceuticals by flushing them…significant changes may be required if the rule is enacted…The EPA estimates that the proposal is projected to prevent the flushing of more than 6,400 tons of hazardous waste pharmaceuticals annually…The rule would fall under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, and is open for comment from the public until Dec. 24.

We are joined by independent pharmacy business accounting expert – Ollin Sykes founder of Sykes & Company, P.A. (podcast 21:45 min)

Shortages of life-saving medicine because of political protests in Nepal that have blocked key roads could lead to a crisis, as hospitals have started to cut services…Hospitals are rescheduling surgeries by weeks, and patients are finding it difficult to get to medical facilities due to fuel shortages…Truckloads of medicine have been blocked at the main border crossing with India for the last few months by Nepal's Madhesi ethnic protesters…adding that Indian authorities were also not allowing the shipments across even at points where there are no protests…The...Madhesis have been protesting Nepal's new constitution, demanding to be given greater autonomy over local matters…Nepal imports about 60 percent of its medicine from India. The remaining locally made drugs also get most of the raw material and packaging from India.

Apixio announced…the release of its new cognitive computing platform, Iris, which it says will bring advanced data insights to healthcare by extracting and analyzing medical data previously trapped in electronic health records…The U.S. annually produces 1.2 billion clinical care documents, but about 80 percent of the data is unstructured and difficult to access…"Making sense of unstructured healthcare data is extremely challenging and requires sophisticated technology like cognitive computing to make the information useful,"…Iris is meant to give healthcare institutions access to patient data to create a more accurate care profile, thus improving the quality and efficiency...