Category:

…the Obama administration wrote state Medicaid programs that they may be violating federal law by restricting access to hepatitis C medicines. At the same time, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services wrote four drug makers asking for information about pricing arrangements with insurers and pharmacy benefits managers… A new crop of hepatitis C treatments have factored heavily in the conversation, thanks to very high cure rates but also high price tags… Ever since the new hepatitis C medications arrived nearly two years ago, public and private payers have called them budget-busters...some state Medicaid programs began restricting access based on a number of factors…CMS officials warned the state Medicaid programs against “imposing conditions for coverage that may unreasonably restrict access” to hepatitis C drugs. Placing restrictions may be “contrary to the statutory requirements” of a federal law that requires state Medicaid programs to pay for all medically necessary treatments…

Bryan Ziegler, PharmD, executive director of Kennedy Pharmacy Innovation Center, talks about important health care quality metrics for pharmacists and comments on how pharmacists can be active in driving value-based reimbursement.

David D'Altorio, PharmD, senior vice president of health services at MedImpact Healthcare Systems, Inc, discusses how the ACA has impacted the specialty landscape.

James Schiffer, RPh, associate at Allegaert Berger & Vogel LLC, discusses some safeguards independent pharmacies can implement to avoid issues with controlled substance prescriptions.

Researchers seek to determine which side effects will be experienced by different patient groups…the most difficult hurdles for patients… to overcome are the debilitating side effects that accompany some treatments…To address this…investigators…constructed a proof of concept predictive model that may be able to forecast side effects different patients are likely to experience…We're not just interested in predicting the efficacy of a drug, but its side effects as well…Side effects are very personalized. Two different people can take the same drug, but one person might experience side effects while the other doesn't...This study is a step forward in demonstrating that patients could be precisely treated based on their genetic makeup…

University of Arizona College of Pharmacy Dean Jessie Lyle Bootman has been indicted on felony sexual assault charges, following accusations that he attacked a woman at his house…Bootman was arraigned on October 28, 2015, and pleaded not guilty to charges of sexual assault, sexual abuse, and aggravated assault...the woman…went to the Tuscon Medical Center, where medical personnel determined she had a broken nose, serious bruising, and injuries to her lip and knee…Detectives searched Bootman’s house for evidence of sexual assault and date-rape drugs and found incriminating evidence but did not specify what it was, the paper reported…The woman told law enforcement that she did not have a prior sexual relationship with Bootman and did not give consent…The University of Arizona put Bootman on paid administrative leave from his position as dean…

Regenerative medicine is one of the fastest growing biomedical industries in the world because patients are being cured of diseases that were once incurable…represents a new paradigm in human health because the vast majority of treatments for chronic and life-threatening diseases focus on treating the symptoms, not curing the disease…there are few therapies in use today capable of curing or significantly changing the course of a disease. New regenerative medicine is changing this by engineering, growing, and regenerating tissues and organs using biological processes similar to those normally used in humans…Cell therapy makes up over 60% of the regenerative medicine market…Pharmaceutical companies are building relationships with innovating regenerative medicine companies… Transnational supply-side economics is driving the market; there is low regulation and multiple offerings for numerous conditions, with some being offered to treat life-threatening diseases. Regenerative medicine has the potential to ultimately change the way medicine is practiced throughout the world.

Tine Hansen-Turton, Executive Director of the Convenient Care Association, discusses the extent to which retail clinics have met her past expectations.

• What Will Be the Next Technology Disruption in Retail Clinics?
• How Will Opportunities for Retail Health Clinics Expand?
• What Opportunities Do NPs and PAs Have in Retail Settings Versus Other Settings?

California unveiled a new method for executing condemned prisoners Friday, proposing a single-drug lethal injection protocol that could restart capital punishment…The proposal came as a result of a lawsuit filed against the state by crime victims…Executions are not likely to resume immediately…The new protocol would require the injection drug to be selected on a "case-by-case basis, taking into account changing factors such as the availability of a supply of chemical." The state would have the option of using one of four barbiturates: amobarbital, pentobarbital, secobarbital and thiopental…Executions around the country have declined in recent years as prisons have been unable to obtain lethal injection drugs…Manufacturers, pressed by death penalty opponents, have refused to sell the anesthetics to prisons. Compounding pharmacies are an alternative, but even they would be vulnerable to boycotts if their identities were disclosed…

J. Michael Pearson, the embattled CEO of Valeant Pharmaceuticals , came under a different kind of pressure Thursday after weeks of battling allegations of accounting impropriety and usurious business practices. Pearson was forced to sell 1.3 million Valeant shares yesterday after facing a margin call from Goldman Sachs on a $100 million loan…The margin call stems from a sharp plunge in the value of Valeant shares over the past three months as the company faced scrutiny from lawmakers into its drug pricing practices, and surprised investors by disclosing a web of consolidated specialty pharmacies it uses to distribute drugs. Valeant’s shares were battered a week ago after large pharmacy benefit managers refused to accept orders from its specialty pharmacies, and Pearson had no choice but to cut ties with the operations…The plunge, it turns out, only added to the company’s woe.