Author: Peter

Money laundering. Customs forms falsifications. Conspiring with a supposedly "impartial"…certification program to sell fake cancer medicines to unsuspecting doctors and clinics — and then giving that certification program’s employee an all-expenses paid trip to a tropical island…disturbing federal indictment unsealed...Department of Justice against CanadaDrugs,..PharmacyChecker,... there are 10 important takeaways,..from the indictment.

1. When they sell to US residents, Canadian Internet pharmacies aren’t really selling drugs from Canada
2. The medicines were fake
3. Cold-chain drugs were stored at too-warm temperatures, returned and then resold to other customers in their adulterated state
4. CanadaDrugs was raking in the profits from the sale of drugs, including counterfeits, to US residents
5. After it became aware of the FDA investigation, CanadaDrugs took steps to cover up its counterfeit drug sales, moving the drugs offshore, and continued selling illegal drugs to US residents
6. CanadaDrugs knowingly engaged in illegal activity, putting patients at risk
7. The Canadian International Pharmacy Association certifies Canadian online pharmacies — and is run, in part, by CanadaDrugs
8. CanadaDrugs lied, and falsified US Customs records to smuggle illegal drugs into the USA
9. PharmacyChecker employee helped store the counterfeit drugs in his garage
10. PharmacyChecker approved CanadaDrugs as legitimate despite knowing that CanadaDrugs used an illegal and unsafe supply chain

Italian Ministry of Health has banned compounding pharmacies from preparing drugs containing any of seven APIs after chemists were discovered making dangerous off-label weight loss treatments....ban, backed by the Italian Drug Agency, comes after some compounding pharmacies created unregistered slimming drugs from combinations of APIs not intended for weight control.

• TRIAC/tiratricol 
• fluoxetine and bupropion
• clorazepate
• furosemide
• metformin
• topiramate

Nye County Emergency Management Office…has developed an emergency response plan to support the needs of the communities directly affected by the closure…"Our number one priority is to ensure the long-term safety to the residents of this community..."

NCEM said it has executed the following procedures to mitigate some of the impact the NRMC (Nye Regional Medical Center ) closure:

1. Life Guard Air Ambulance service has brought in an additional plane to double its air ambulance capability
2. Nye County has reportedly reached agreements with neighboring Nevada counties and Inyo County in California to meet the Nye county ambulances half way to cut patient transport times. The following locations have also been included in the response plan: Battle Mountain, Banner-Churchill, Esmeralda, Goldfield, Beatty, Bishop and Hawthorne
3. Nye County is reportedly in negotiations with Humboldt General Hospital for an additional mutual aid ambulance crew

As the 10th anniversary of Hurrican Katrina approaches, Walmart and the Walmart Foundation are making a commitment to disaster relief efforts… the two organizations would be donating $25 million over five years to worldwide disaster relief and recovery efforts… We will continue to help communities prepare for - and recover from - the unexpected…

A&P is seeking approval to sell pharmacy assets for several of the stores it is immediately closing to Rite Aid in a transaction valued at $8.1 million, Rite Aid has agreed to buy the prescription files for 12 stores that are closing…"When a pharmacy is closing, the value of pharmacy related assets, particularly customer prescriptions, is unstable and the transactions must occur on an accelerated timeline to avoid permanent and significant diminution of value,"

The approval of Sprout Pharma’s Addyi (flibanserin) is emerging as one of the most significant biopharma stories of 2015. Addyi has managed to touch a collective nerve that speaks to the pent-up demand for a women’s libido-enhancing drug, but also our societal anxiety about female sexuality in general. Those issues notwithstanding, some experienced biopharma marketers predict robust uptake in a fairly short period of time..

• The pros and the cons
• Are women willing to give up alcohol?
• Why Addyi is not Viagra
• Let’s talk about sex
• A good month for sexual satisfaction
• Addyi could open the doors to better MD-patient communication
• The challenge for marketers
• Reframing sexuality

PharmTalk is a special production from the University of Arizona, College of Pharmacy that features Keith and Kevin Boesen.

Yes, we know the doctors are usually the stars in the hospital emergency room. And the pharmacist with special training in emergency medicine makes a big contribution too!

Thousands of Nevada Medicaid patients may soon have to find new doctors…One of two managed care organizations that contract with the state..is about to lose a large network of primary care physicians and specialists…HealthCare Partners of Nevada — confirmed that it will withdraw from Amerigroup Community Care on Nov. 30,..

...when medical care providers aren’t forced to accept bundled payments…that could cost them money if the care isn’t better and costs aren’t in check, they are willing to embrace such new reimbursement…about 9% of U.S. acute care hospitals and 7% of skilled nursing facilities are voluntarily assuming financial risk by participating in the latest phase of the… Bundled Payments for Care Improvement Initiative…This means these providers have agreed — long before it’s mandated — to take on financial risk that they can provide the necessary quality medical care for one bundled fee, grouping all of the services involved in an episode.

Food and Drug Administration hasn’t approved ketamine for the treatment of mood disorders, but… studies show that it can quickly alleviate severe depression. There’s no regulation to stop doctors like Brooks from administering ketamine for nonapproved uses—a practice known as "off-label" treatment—"For patients who are suicidal…they can get relief within an hour or two,"…