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In Utah, Rep. Gage Froerer has introduced a bill that would save unused prescription drugs and donate them to people in need. The bill would authorize certain physicians, pharmacies, manufacturers, and nursing facilities to donate to "medically indigent" individuals who are on Medicaid, Medicare, or are uninsured. A similar program in Oklahoma has filled more than $16 million worth of prescriptions with recycled medications at a cost of less than $6,000. Several recycling initiatives in other states have experienced success as well. According to George Wang—cofounder of the California-based nonprofit group SIRUM, which helps four states administer drug-recycling programs—the most frequently donated medications are those for diabetes, heart disease, and asthma. The proposed measure in Utah sets criteria for which medications can be donated and who can donate it, and it calls on the Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing to consult with the Utah State Board of Pharmacy to establish up the program.

As the only pharmacist serving in Congress, US Representative Earl L. "Buddy" Carter is a critical leader of efforts to pass federal legislation pertinent to pharmacists...Pharmacy Times recently spoke with the first-term US Congressman, House Community Pharmacy Caucus co-chair, and Carter’s Pharmacy, Inc, owner about his pharmacy past and political progress.

• Why did you become a pharmacist?
• What part of the pharmacy profession stands out to you?
• How did you get into politics?
• Have you maintained your pharmacist license while serving in Congress?
• What is it like to be a pharmacist in Congress?
• How has being a pharmacist helped you understand and tackle legislative issues?
• What pharmacy-related objectives are on your to-do list in Congress?
• What are your thoughts about pharmacist provider status legislation and how are you advancing HR 592?
• What are your thoughts about PBM transparency legislation and how are you advancing HR 244?
• What are your thoughts about "any willing pharmacy" legislation and how are you advancing HR 793?
• What more do you plan to do to advance these 3 bills?
• What efforts is the House Community Pharmacy Caucus making to help community pharmacists?

With no signs of a resolution anytime soon, junior doctors in England have once again taken to picket lines across the country in protest against working and pay conditions being proposed by the government...Around 2,800 operations have reportedly been cancelled as doctors stage a 24-hour walk-out providing only emergency care, after several years of discussions with the government about a new contract have failed to find common ground...The British Medical Association is most concerned with the government’s refusal to recognise Saturday working as unsocial hours, which would see junior doctors take a drop in salary despite an 11 percent rise in basic pay, the removal of safeguards to ensure that doctors aren’t over-worked, as well as the threat to impose the proposed contract if a resolution isn’t reached...imposing the contract would not be a popular move. Almost 90 percent of junior doctors said they would consider resigning from the NHS if the government does so...

Medication errors injure thousands of patients annually, and while mistakes occur with all medication classes, those involving antiretroviral therapies are particularly troublesome...Past studies have suggested that errors are driven by prescribers’ lack of familiarity about antiretrovirals, patients’ ignorance about their complete regimens, and low patient health literacy...Antiretroviral stewardship, which involves educating prescribers and patients and reviewing orders prospectively, helps increase the use of evidence-based medication regimens...researchers addressed the impact of such stewardship on medication errors...The researchers made the following 3 key findings:

1. Medication error rates for patients admitted in the first year were high, but decreased over the 3-year period.
2. Half of the errors occurred in the first 24 hours after admission, especially during late-night and weekend hours when formal consults were unavailable.
3. Incorrect dosing was the most common error, followed by inappropriate use of proton pump inhibitors or histamine-2 receptor antagonists with atazanavir (Reyataz) or rilpivirine (Edurant).

...the study authors recommended initiating an antiretroviral stewardship team that includes infections disease-trained medical and pharmacy staff, as well as increasing staffing to review medications during late-night and weekend hours. They reported that health care systems can further minimize medication errors by triggering an automatic consult request when HIV diagnostic codes are added, or introducing a "hard stop" signaling an infectious disease or stewardship consult...

The meteoric rise in the cost of specialty drugs has been well-documented and appropriately lambasted, at least in some circumstances...Two consequences of the growing cost for specialty medications percolated to the top of my list when considering its ability to impact the specialty pharmaceutical industry...First is the arrival of the pharmaceutical manufacturers’ day at-risk...the deal between Harvard Pilgrim and Amgen for the PCSK9 inhibitor...Harvard Pilgrim will recoup additional rebates from Amgen if various patient groups taking Repatha do not achieve specific cholesterol targets...Given the need for improved alignment within the industry as a whole, this development is a good thing. If manufacturers and payers would allow them to do so, specialty pharmacies could serve as the primary conduit...that enable both parties to generate value from at-risk agreements...we will explore how this can be achieved.

1. Leverage programs proven to improve adherence - Pharmacists and patient care coordinators employed by medication management providers and specialty pharmacies are perfectly suited for this task.
2. Agree on data and outcomes - In order for manufacturers to accept some risk, there should be upfront agreement on financial and health outcomes. Top health outcomes should be close to the clinical trial results manufacturers tout themselves.
3. Assign a near-neutral third-party for health outcomes metrics arbitration - Neither payers nor manufacturers can be the arbiters of the data by which at-risk agreements are adjudicated...In the world of specialty medications, the entity best suited to this task is the specialty pharmacy with validation from a clinical pharmacist.

Barriers to Access are not Good and Must be Broken Down...The second consequence applies to health care on a national level, but the pharmaceutical industry, inclusive of pharmacy benefit managers and payers, has the ability to do something about it...The barriers to treatment access, even preventative treatment, created by increasingly complex prior authorization processes and state budgets stretched to the breaking point, are causing patients to defer treatment...Investing in Access Solutions...new personnel specifically tasked with prior authorization assistance...will carry an arsenal of knowledge and experience that makes them the most suitable resource given the increasingly complex requirements for successful completion of prior authorization forms...

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.

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, one of the top bodies representing American pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, said in an annual report that India's intellectual property rights protection is weak and the group added India to its "priority watch list."...The country's legal and regulatory systems "pose procedural and substantive barriers at every step of the patents process,"..."Not only is this a concern in the Indian market, but also in other emerging markets that may see India as a model to be emulated,"...since 2012 about 25 products "have had their patent rights undermined in India" and that "in 2015 alone, at least six products have faced issues due to the continued denial of applications" under India's patents act...PhRMA also said high tarrifs (tariffs) and taxes in India on APIs and finished products were a huge challenge for the industry and that India "collects more in taxes on pharmaceuticals than it spends on medicines."

Health-system pharmacists can play a critical role in managing drug shortages to prevent medical errors and adverse events...[Pharmacists] can often prevent shortages from impacting their institution by proactively managing inventory...When a shortage situation impacts hospital inventory, pharmacists should inform providers early...Pharmacists can also develop protocols for emergency department staff on what to do if a drug is not available. These protocols should include information about the best alternative medication, dosing recommendations, proper administration of the drug, and contraindications...Pharmacists can also take the following steps:

• To prevent errors, place specific labeling on a medication if a different concentration than what is normally stocked is being used.
• Help develop protocols for the ethical distribution of medications on shortage.
• Minimize waste of medications while compounding.
• Assist emergency medical services providers and directors with out-of-hospital protocols during shortages.
• Monitor and report adverse outcomes and medication errors.

...researchers examined data from the University of Utah Drug Information Service...Here are 7 things pharmacists should know about these findings:

1. Of the 1789 drug shortages, about one-third (610) were within the scope of emergency medicine practice.
2. From January 2008 to March 2014, emergency medicine drug shortages rose by 435%, from 23 to 123.
3. The reason behind shortages remains unknown for around half of the 1789 cases.
4. Infectious disease medications were hit hardest.
5. Around 40% of drug shortages affect emergency care, according to a report from the Health and Human Services’ Emergency Care Coordination Center.
6. The median shortage time for emergency medicine drugs was 9 months.
7. The most common reasons for a drug shortage were related to manufacturing delays or problems.

The government of Japan is changing the lucrative brand-name pharmaceutical market as its population ages and requires more drugs with a push to make at least 80% of the government's drug spending on generics by 2020...International brands are losing out to generic makers under the policies of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe who is pushing his ministers to make price cuts for branded drugs and speed up the shift to generics...Japan, like China and other countries with ageing populations, sees generics as the main way to rein in ballooning healthcare costs and the shift is not only affecting international players, but also domestic companies like Tokyo-based Takeda and would offload much of its off-patent and generic products...

Healthcare software solutions company QS/1 this week announced that it had received a certification for the data security of its point-of-sale system. The company was certified under version 3.1 of the Payment Data Security Standard...Companies that receive PA-DSS certification have to create an application that doesn’t store such information as a credit card’s magnetic stripe, CVV or PIN. QS/1’s certification covers processing new EMV chip cards as well as end-to-end encryption of credit card data and tokenizing card data for customers who store it for recurring charges...Too many times we heard about retailers dealing with massive security breaches that compromise credit card data...Taking the steps to certify on the new 3.1 standard puts QS/1’s point-of-sale system at the forefront of credit card security.