Author: Peter

$57 million experiment to deliver better, more efficient care at federally funded health centers struggled to meet its goals and is unlikely to save money,… run by the Department of Health and Human Services’ innovation center… paints a picture of understaffed clinics struggling to file reports and participate in conference calls…while they did their normal jobs of caring for patients and trying to get paid by insurance plans.

GlaxoSmithKline,..was fined a record $483 million for corruption in China last year and … new allegations of bribery… paid Romanian doctors hundreds, and in one cases thousands, of euros between 2009 and 2012 for prescribing its medicines,…U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission,... are investigating GSK for possible breaches of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

online prescription drug seller has agreed to forfeit $450,000 in illegal sales after knowingly dispensing medication without a prescription… Aracoma Drug Company of West Virginia, received electronic, invalid prescriptions…issued from questionnaires completed over the Internet and not after a physician’s examination as required by law….

Expectations in the drug business have been getting extremely high. Hepatitis C drugs are generating some of the biggest annual sales ever. New medicines from Merck and Bristol-Myers Squibb that harness the immune system to fight tumors are generating huge excitement. For a quick sense of what is possible in the pharmaceutical industry, here are the top drug launches of all time,..

release of draft guidance for the pharmaceutical industry called, "Request for Quality Metrics." …describes a set of measurements to …evaluate the quality of the facilities and the processes that manufacturers use to make FDA-regulated drugs and biologics…encourages…manufacturers to conduct robust quality measurements on their own products..We look forward to receiving comments..

To encourage and provide education for female pharmacists interested in becoming entrepreneurs, Cardinal Health…Pharmacy Ownership Boot Camp at its Retail Business Conference…stagnant number of female pharmacist entrepreneurs…"real or perceived lack of business or financial acumen" could be keeping women out of pharmacy ownership...

National Association of Boards of Pharmacy…planning to enhance several of its examination and assessment programs to better reflect the evolving practice of pharmacy. The new North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination (NAPLEX )… competency statements and revised passing standard…transition to a new administration model..increase in length from 185 items to 250 items…move…to a pass/fail platform...

Video

HealthSpot's…telehealth stations went live inside 25 Rite Aid locations… first-of-its-kind model pairs licensed healthcare providers with state-of-the-art technology…consumers looking for convenient and quality healthcare… allows users to interact with…providers in a private, 40-square foot station using high-definition videoconferencing and interactive medical devices...

European Union nations have until August 20 to suspend the sale of some 700 generic drugs made in India,...after an Indian firm contracted by drug companies to test the medications was found to have manipulated data...On-site verifications....showed irregularities "in each and every one of the nine trials inspected,"