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Veterans Affairs Department will begin providing hepatitis C treatment to all veterans in its health system who have the virus, regardless of their disease stage...Having received a boost in funding from Congress late last year for the costly medications needed to cure hepatitis C, the VA is now able to treat the 174,000 veterans in its health system who have the disease…The Food and Drug Administration in January approved Zepatier (elbasvir and grazoprevir), made by Merck, to treat the disease...executives said they priced the medication to broaden and accelerate access to treatment for patients covered in commercial or public plans, including our country’s veterans...This is a good example of how government and industry can work together toward a shared goal in the best interests of public health — particularly for our veterans who are so deserving...Merck spokeswoman said it was too early to tell whether Zepatier will become the favored treatment within VA...but that the company priced it appropriately to ensure that it could be accessed by all veterans.

The American Pharmacists Association...released the 2016 edition of the APhA Pharmacists’ Patient Care Services Digest. The publication shows the continued growth of pharmacists’ patient care services and highlights the expanded roles pharmacists have in the health care system... Overall, findings from the survey indicate that there is a continued expansion of pharmacist-provided patient care; confidence in pharmacists as care providers continues to grow; pharmacists are reducing gaps in care and improving performance for health plans; and work systems and processes are being aligned with desired outcomes of care...

The National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day aims to provide a safe, convenient, and responsible means of disposing of prescription drugs, while also educating the general public about the potential for abuse of medications.

The whistleblower who exposed quality problems at one of India’s largest generic drug makers is now taking on the Indian government...Dinesh Thakur, whose work helped US authorities obtain a $500 million fine from Ranbaxy Laboratories three years ago, wants to force the Indian government to follow safety laws and also create one central regulator for the entire country...He claims the country’s fractured system of separate regulators for 37 states and territories, not only leads to inconsistent and spotty oversight, but also violates the constitution...A hearing at the Indian Supreme Court is scheduled...

PillDrill won this year’s Drug Store News/ECRM Most Innovative Product Award...PillDrill was developed to be a smart, friendly medication tracking system that simplifies the task of everyday pill taking. It gives reminders when pills need to be taken, tracks what’s being taken with a quick scan and sends real-time adherence updates to those people involved in the patients' well-being...We learned early on that medication adherence is not a technology problem, it’s a human problem...So what makes PillDrill special is that it’s completely user-centric. It’s not some complicated piece of hardware, and it’s not an app; those things don’t really work for people in their everyday context…PillDrill is a light overlay onto an existing routine that provides all the benefits of a technology product without any of the hassles.

Mike Glaicar, Business Development: Pharmacy Times...(PTNN) This weekly video program provides our readers with an in-depth review of the latest news, product approvals, FDA rulings and more.

A genetically engineered mosquito being used in the fight against Zika will not have a significant impact on the environment, the maker Intrexon Corp said, citing preliminary findings from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration...Males of the self-limiting strain of the Aedes aegypti mosquito are modified so their offspring die before being able to reproduce, says Intrexon...The FDA findings agree with the draft environmental assessment submitted by Oxitec, the UK unit of Intrexon that developed the mosquito.

FlavoRx debuted its newest piece of pharmacy equipment — the FlavorMaster — the reconstituting and flavoring device...The FlavorMaster uses FlavoRx’s Fillmaster water dispensing technology and its flavors, making reconstitution available with the press of a button...pharmacies have the power to boost pediatric adherence and improve a child’s health outcome...

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services late this month plans to publish a long-awaited official revision to the maximum allowable reimbursement amount for multiple-source outpatient drugs covered by state Medicaid programs...The revised amounts, known as federal upper limits, will become effective April 1 to coincide with provisions in the Covered Outpatient Drugs final rule...FULs were most recently updated in September of 2009...Starting in April, the agency plans to update the FULs monthly. State Medicaid plans will have up to 30 days to implement each set of new FULs...state Medicaid plans have flexibility to implement the new reimbursement model, as long as the state's plan is based on pharmacies' true drug acquisition costs...states have flexibility in setting their professional dispensing fees, including whether to use state or national data to calculate rates...CMS expects state Medicaid plans to provide "credible data" that demonstrates how their reimbursement plan accurately accounts for dispensing costs...States must consider the totality of reimbursement to pharmacies when they are looking at changes in either the ingredient cost or professional dispensing fee...State Medicaid agencies have until June 30, 2017, to submit their amended plans to CMS. The revised plans must go into effect by April 1, 2017.

 The maker of a prescription fish-oil drug says it has reached a legal settlement that will allow it to promote unapproved uses of its drug for lowering fat levels...The closely watched case between Amarin and the Food and Drug Administration could strengthen the drug industry's hand in the ongoing debate over promoting drugs for uses that have not been declared safe and effective by regulators...FDA said...the settlement is "specific to this particular case and situation," and did not mark a new legal precedent...pharmaceutical experts said companies would likely pursue more aggressive legal action against FDA, in light of the settlement...We would expect companies throughout the country to ask courts to provide the same legal reasoning...Amarin won a surprise victory over the FDA when a U.S. District Court judge ruled that the company had a First Amendment right to distribute journal articles about unapproved indications for Vascepa (icosapent)...Drugmakers are not allowed to advertise drugs for "off-label" uses, or those that have not been cleared by the FDA as safe and effective. But companies' ability to distribute independent materials about their drugs — such as medical journal articles — has been subject to years of legal debate centering around the limits of "commercial speech."