Author: Peter

Heather Bonome, PharmD, director of Pharmacy Segment at URAC, discusses the standards that illustrate quality in specialty pharmacy. (video)

Walgreens is providing up to $15 million worth of free flu shot vouchers through its collaboration with the Department of Health and Human Services, in an effort to improve immunization rates among uninsured and underinsured…the voucher initiative has been instrumental in helping to protect more people from the flu each season,… providing access to flu shots at no cost for those who are eligible, we can make a significant impact by protecting more people throughout the flu season…

Rapidly rising drug prices have drawn the ire of the American public, who now want reform...reforming the…pharmaceutical industry could prove to be nearly impossible…attempting to change the prescription drug industry could force jobs to overseas markets where price restrictions are deemed less invasive…playing hardball with drugmakers…likely won't work in the U.S...Look what happened with the implementation of the medical device excise tax…Stryker laid off 5% of its workforce, and…Boston Scientific announced a major investment initiative in China around the time the 2.3% medical device excise tax was implemented…imagine what would happen to pharmaceutical jobs and even innovation if the government began curbing drug prices...

Texas prison officials are helping their counterparts in Virginia prepare for a scheduled execution next week by providing the state with pentobarbital, a lethal drug that corrections agencies nationwide have had difficulty obtaining…Virginia prison officials also confirmed the trade…Texas and Oklahoma are among a handful of states with laws — being challenged by death penalty opponents — that allow prison officials not to disclose where they get execution drugs…Death Penalty Information Center, an anti-death penalty organization, said the drug exchange raised concerns about government transparency.

CEO, CFO step down amid financial mess at NHS hospitals…rollout of a $300M Epic EHR implementation at Cambridge University Hospitals in the UK is making a bad financial situation worse, according to news reports from across the pond…"The introduction of the new computer system was troubled and difficult and I suspect that's contributed to their problems, but I think the basic responsibility for this is the [financial] pressure that's been put on the National Health Service by the government. The Conservatives promised extra for the health service - we haven't seen it."

There was a time when the success of a pharmaceutical sales representative depended on product knowledge, presentation, sales skills, reach and frequency, confidence and persistence. But that combination alone no longer yields the same results. It’s become increasingly difficult for reps to gain access to individual healthcare practices and institutions,…However, the "Death of a Pharma Salesman" paradigm is at odds with what many consider a new era in pharmaceutical sales—an entirely restructured professional reality…what’s happening now is not the death of an entire profession, but rather the decline of an outdated model.

Shares in Novo Nordisk rose as much as 5 percent on Monday after the Food and Drug Administration approved the diabetes drug Tresiba (insulin degludec),..."This will be Novo's largest drug launch ever and we believe it is very well prepared,"… compete against long-acting insulins Lantus and Toujeo...

..first medical residency program at MountainView Hospital has received accreditation, which means as many as 40 doctors-in-training will be working at the Las Vegas facility in July.,, Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education had approved MountainView's Internal Medicine Residency Program…."Southern Nevada has been deficient in graduate medical education opportunities,"…"Many of our medical students,..who are from Las Vegas, had to leave the state to get their training…this will be a chance for those doctors to come back to Southern Nevada to start their training or continue their training and stay here and practice medicine.

..Humira's dominance as the best-selling drug in the world expected to come to an end in the coming years, look for these drugs to potentially take its spot…Last year global pharmaceutical sales topped the $1 trillion mark for the first time ever. By 2018…predicts sales will rise by another 30% to $1.3 trillion. This is a major growth opportunity for investors, but only if they understand what blockbuster drugs are on their ascent, and which ones could be on the decline…I'd keep my eye on a handful of therapies to step up as the best-selling drugs in the world by 2020.

• Harvoni (ledipasvir/sofosbuvir)
• Revlimid (lenalidomide)
• Aducanumab (investigational, BIIB037)

Nevada Health CO-OP is struggling to the end…Nevada Division of Insurance…filed a petition in Clark County District Court to place the CO-OP into a conservation-rehabilitation receivership. If the court grants the petition, the division would take control of the CO-OP's assets, distribution of funds and administration… CO-OP was created by the federal Affordable Care Act...It borrowed $65.9 million from the federal government to get off the ground…It has not made profits to pay back the loans: The CO-OP reported a $19.3 million operating loss in 2014, and losses of $22.7 million from January through June…It's the fourth of 23 Obamacare CO-OPs to fail nationwide.