Author: Peter

William Rogers, MD, director of the Physicians Regulatory Issues Team at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, will act as ICD-10 ombudsman to the federal agency, He will work out of an ICD-10 coordination center in Baltimore.. Implementation of ICD-10 is only 34 days away… CMS has said it will not deny claims as long as the right code family is used, the agency will not send back a message if the wrong code is used.

After Regeneron and Sanofi got FDA approval for their cholesterol drug last month, today is Amgen's turn. CNBC's Meg Tirrell reports. (video)

Nanoengineers at the University of California, San Diego used 3-D printing to build fish-shaped microrobots. The so-called microfish can swim in liquids, are chemically powered by hydrogen peroxide and are magnetically controlled. The scientists said the synthetic microfish will inspire a new generation of ‘smart’ microrobots capable of detoxification, sensing their environment, and directing drug delivery.

CVS opened its first local Minute Clinic in 2007 in its pharmacy on the Strip near the Monte Carlo. To date, it has 11 Minute Clinics throughout Nevada, eight in Las Vegas and three in the Reno/Sparks area. All clinics are open seven days a week with weekend and early evening hours available...Walgreens has 13 clinics in the Las Vegas area, none in Northern Nevada. And like CVS, its clinics are open seven days a week with similar hours of operation. From 50 clinics in 2007, the pharmacy has grown that number to 400 nationally.

Ashley Talamo, Publisher: Pharmacy Times...(PTNN) This weekly video program highlights the latest in pharmacy news, product news, and more. (video)

A UK man has been sentenced to 16 months in prison for smuggling illegal erectile dysfunction drugs following an MHRA investigation. Sundeep Amin, 57, pled guilty to 21 counts of importing, possessing and supplying unlicensed medicines. Officers from the UK medicines regulator seized nearly £900,000 ($1.4m) of unlicensed medicines… As well as illegal importation, Amin admitted possession of a large amount of the Class C, Schedule II benzodiazepine Phenazepam, and to laundering money from his crimes..

Clark County's top law enforcement officer told a room full of marijuana business owners Thursday that he wants to work with them…Sheriff Joe Lombardo,...made light of the historic nature of his appearance at a lunch meeting of the Las Vegas Medical Marijuana Association…sheriff's in a marijuana (meeting)," he said to laughter…. his two biggest concerns are the prospect of people driving under the influence and the potential for robberies or thefts given the cash-heavy nature of the business…

Amgen has won federal approval for the second medicine in a new class of pricey biotech drugs that reduce artery-clogging cholesterol more than older statin drugs that have been used for decades…Repatha (evolocumab) could eventually help millions of Americans who face increased risks of heart disease because they cannot control their cholesterol with existing drugs and methods. .. medication's price tag—$14,100 per year

—patients with extremely high levels of LDL, or bad cholesterol, due to inherited conditions

—patients with persistently high LDL levels and a history of heart attack, stroke and other cardiovascular problems

….designed to be self-injected on a monthly or bi-monthly dosing schedule.

Novo Nordisk plans to invest an estimated 2 billion..dollars over the next five years in new production facilities in Clayton, North Carolina,..and Måløv, Denmark…expansions will help…meet the increasing worldwide demand for its diabetes medicines… a new production facility in Måløv,… for tableting and packaging of oral semaglutide …"We decided to place the new API facilities in the US for strategic reasons,"…"The US is by far our largest market and there are many logistical and economic advantages of having a larger part of our manufacturing in our main market.

Clark County's first marijuana dispensary opened for business Monday. Legal retail sales of pot commenced… Euphoria Wellness…the first medical marijuana… was commercially grown…More than 6,000 registered medical marijuana patients live in Clark County. There still isn't enough supply for all of them…considering Nevada dispensaries are allowed to sell to registered marijuana patients from other states, buyers can expect a limited supply for the near future.