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Nicole Grassano, PTNN, Pharmacy Week in Review, this weekly video program provides our readers with an in-depth review of the latest news, product approvals, FDA rulings and more.

Diabetes care is providing a gateway for better interaction between pharmacists and patients...people with diabetes visit the retail pharmacy not only to have their prescriptions filled, but also to learn more about blood sugar levels, A1C testing and self-care... Pharmacists also have to face the challenges of keeping costs down, not just for the retailer, but for the patients as well...Manufacturers said many of the latest innovations can help. The product launches help make blood glucose testing easier, more comfortable and more affordable. As a result, patients can be encouraged to improve their self-care, and also reduce certain costs... Greater involvement in the patient’s health care can improve patient results and hopefully, in the process, buy greater loyalty to the pharmacy that they happen to be working with...There are more than a few pharmacy chains that hire pharmacists not to fill prescriptions, but to work on phones, do medication management, and, when they see an issue, they can call the patient or call the healthcare provider...READ MORE

• Needle innovations
• Beyond testing and injecting
• The future

The deaths of 64 people and sickening of nearly 800 due to criminal negligence by employees of the New England Compounding Center in 2012 marked a profound failure of state and federal regulatory enforcement…led to…the Drug Quality and Security Act of 2013 provisions to create a more robust regulatory framework for compounding pharmacies…The legislation instructed the FDA to create regulations…that would assure patient safety while permitting local compounders to continue to meet patient needs by providing customized compounded medications using FDA-approved substances…But the FDA has overreached in implementing the provisions, all but halting common compounding practices that have been safely performed for years and on which patients with legitimate needs for compounded medications rely. Not only that, but the FDA has done so by circumventing the federal Administrative Procedure Act, issuing “guidance documents” to implement policies rather than following the statutory rule-making process that requires stakeholder input regarding proposed regulations…READ MORE

Laura Joszt, Managing Editor at The American Journal of Managed Care. Welcome to This Week in Managed Care from the Managed Markets News Network

Seizures of tramadol globally have surged from less than 10 kg in 2010 to almost 9 tonnes in 2013 and 125 tonnes in 2017, the report showed, adding that the problem was particularly severe in West, Central and North Africa...Several West African countries have reported that tramadol is one of the most widely used drugs for non-medical purposes after cannabis, which remains by far the most popular globally… Some consume tramadol for its calming, analgesic and anti-fatigue effects in order to improve intellectual, physical and working performances, and to lessen the need for sleep and decrease appetite...In farming communities, there are reports of tramadol being used by humans and fed to cattle to enable them to work under extreme conditions. Others use tramadol as a recreational drug on account of its stimulant and euphoric effects, or to improve sexual stamina...READ MORE

An Oklahoma judge...approved Teva Pharmaceuticals’ revised $85 million settlement with the state over allegations the company helped fuel the nationwide opioid epidemic...decision came after state legislative leaders argued an earlier agreement did not comply with new state laws. Teva had reached an agreement with the state of Oklahoma last month, just two days before the drugmaker was set to face a trial alongside Johnson & Johnson...READ MORE

340B Health, which lobbies for hospitals that participate in the 340B Drug Pricing Program, recently issued an eye-opening member survey. It found that 340B Health’s member hospitals reported total 340B discounts of $15.3 billion...The 340B Health report also claims to show evidence that hospitals are properly using 340B funds...In reality, the report merely affirms that hospitals are spending money to meet their fundamental legal and statutory community benefit obligations. Any money from 340B discounts shouldn’t be double-counted to meet hospitals’ fundamental spending requirements...This latest report therefore again highlights the need for transparency and accountability to ensure that billions in 340B discounts are shared with the patients whose prescriptions generated those funds...READ MORE

CVS Pharmacy has completed the rollout of time delay safes in all of its 318 CVS Pharmacy locations in Michigan, including pharmacies located in Target stores...The safes are anticipated to help prevent pharmacy robberies and the diversion of controlled substance narcotic medications by keeping them out of the hands of unauthorized individuals, as well as help the company ensure the safety and well-being of its customers and employees...The company expects these time delay safes to help deter pharmacy robberies including those involving opioid medications such as oxycodone and hydrocodone by electronically delaying the time it takes for pharmacy employees to be able to open the safe. CVS Pharmacy first implemented time delay safes in Indianapolis, a city experiencing at the time a high volume of pharmacy robberies, in 2015. The company saw a 70% decline in pharmacy robberies among the Indianapolis stores where the time delay safes had been installed...READ MORE

GW Pharma created a virtual reality voyage to allow doctors to see for themselves its pharma-quality growing operations and process…Looking to grow some trust, GW Pharma takes physicians on VR 'voyage' to marijuana greenhouse…GW Pharmaceuticals' strategy for promoting its new epilepsy drug Epidiolex (cannabidiol) to doctors sounded simple—earn their trust. But that's easier said than done, no thanks to Kim Kardashian…“A lot of people, especially in the medical community, were really skeptical about CBD. They associate it with pseudoscience and fluff…Epidiolex is the first and still only FDA-approved drug derived from the cannabis plant, and it's specifically indicated to treat two rare forms of epilepsy: Dravet syndrome and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome… The idea was to show doctors the grand scale of GW’s facilities as well as let them, from a more clinical standpoint, learn about the operation… If they only saw it, she told him, “they would understand that this is real medicine”…READ MORE

U.S. women will soon have another drug option designed to boost low sex drive: a shot they can give themselves in the thigh or abdomen that raises sexual interest for several hours...The medication OK’d...by the Food and Drug Administration is only the second approved to increase sexual desire in a women, a market drugmakers have been trying to cultivate since the blockbuster success of Viagra for men...The upside of the new drug “is that you only use it when you need it,”...“The downside is that it’s a shot — and some people are very squeamish.”...The FDA approved the new drug, Vyleesi (pronounced vie-LEE’-see), for premenopausal women with a disorder defined by a persistent lack of interest in sex, causing stress. The most common side effect in company studies was nausea...READ MORE