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U.S. Food and Drug Administration inspectors at Zhejiang Hisun Pharmaceutical Co….according to agency documents describing problems at the company...There was evidence that quality control staff deleted records of tests that might show a drug was impure. Audit trails disappeared. A paper shredder was kept close by machines that recorded quality data…U.S. and the rest of the world are more dependent than ever on China for medicine. Along with India, the country is one of the top two producers of base ingredients for drugs in the world…the FDA has made inspections there a priority to keep patients safe. It’s found plenty -- the agency has barred 38 plants in China from exporting some or all of their products to the U.S. for manufacturing violations. And 34 facilities are banned from exporting a blood thinning ingredient, after a past scandal, according to the FDA’s import alert list.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc, seeking to allay investor concerns about its business practices, said Friday it is cutting ties with a specialty pharmacy called Philidor Rx Services accused of helping it inflate revenue…The news failed to stem Valeant's sliding share price, which lost another 12 percent on Friday even after Bill Ackman…told investors the shares were "tremendously undervalued."…three top U.S. drug benefit managers...said they would no longer work with the pharmacy (Philidor). Express Scripts, CVS Health and OptumRx…said they made the decision after conducting audits of the pharmacy…Valeant shares have lost more than half their value since September as the company has come under attack on several fronts. U.S. prosecutors are also investigating the company over drug pricing…

Ken Whittemore Jr, Surescript's senior vice president of professional and regulatory affairs, discusses some of the ways in which e-prescribing trumps traditional prescriptions. (video)

Neil Friedman, COO of Bodimetrics, explains how pharmacists can best leverage the Bodimetrics Performance Monitor technology in their day-to-day practice.

UnitedHealthcare said Thursday it will expand its high-profile test of whether bundled payments for chemotherapy can help slow rising cancer treatment costs, part of a growing effort by insurers to find new ways to pay for care…Results from United’s initial pilot test – reported last year – were puzzling: The overall cost of cancer care for patients in the study dropped by 34 percent, even as spending on chemotherapy drugs spiked significantly…so-called “bundled payments” that are becoming more common… The idea is to bill and pay based on the overall treatment of a certain condition, rather than for each separate procedure and doctor visit. Because cancer treatment is so expensive, it is also now being targeted for bundled payments, but the complexity of treatment makes it harder to design bundles…Meanwhile, United isn’t the only private insurer testing ways to try to slow spending on cancer care, while also improving care…results from three other efforts showed decidedly smaller savings compared with United’s....

Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc.’s deal to acquire Rite Aid Corp. is expected to draw antitrust scrutiny not only because the company would grow to 12,700 locations, but because of what goes on behind the scenes with drug payments…Federal Trade Commission…will look closely at whether the merging of the No. 1 and No. 3 pharmacy chains in the U.S. will lead to higher prices for prescription drugs...the FTC will probably review the approximately $9.4 billion deal market-by-market instead of on a national basis, since CVS, Walgreens, Wal-Mart and Rite Aid together control only about half of the U.S. retail pharmacy market...The rest is held by independent stores, smaller chains and mail-order companies. Walgreens is likely to sell or shutter some stores...

FDA has once again delayed its enforcement of product tracing requirements for pharmacies under the Drug Supply Chain Security Act...Although these track-and-trace requirements took effect on July 1, 2015, the FDA said it would not enforce the product tracing obligations for pharmacies until November 1, 2015, which it has now extended to March (March 1,2016)…FDA granted this latest extension because “some dispensers—primarily smaller, independent pharmacies and health systems—have expressed that they need additional time,” …In the meantime, pharmacies that do not capture and maintain product tracing information, or accept prescription drugs without product tracing information prior to or during a transaction, will not be penalized…this compliance policy does not extend to other requirements for dispensers under the DSCSA, which include verification related to suspect and illegitimate product (including quarantine, investigation, notification, and record keeping) and engaging in transactions only with authorized trading partners.

..specialty pharmacy that fills prescriptions for Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. has altered doctors’ orders to wring more reimbursements out of insurers, according to former employees and an internal document…Workers at the mail-order pharmacy, Philidor RX Services LLC, were given written instructions to change codes on prescriptions in some cases so it would appear that physicians required or patients desired Valeant’s brand-name drugs -- not less expensive generic versions -- be dispensed, the former employees said. Typically, pharmacists will sell a generic version if not precisely told to do otherwise by a “dispense as written” indication on a script. The more "dispense as written" orders, the more sales for the brand-name drugmaker.

Mike Glaicar, Business Development: Pharmacy Times (PTNN) This weekly video program highlights the latest in pharmacy news, product news, and more. (video)

Health care professionals have known about the nocebo effect for years, but it recently reared its head in headlines again…As the darker counterpart to the placebo effect, the nocebo effect leads patients to experience adverse effects from an inactive substance…This effect recently caught the media’s attention when a French woman won a court case that permits her to receive a disability allowance because of her “allergy” to Wi-Fi…Marine Richard claimed that she had an allergy to electromagnetic radiation, which emanates from objects like cell phones and Wi-Fi routers…The woman won the case despite the fact that this allergy is not recognized as a medical condition in most countries…There is also no scientific evidence that electromagnetic exposure is linked to symptoms such as tingling, headaches, fatigue, nausea, or palpitations…Some surmised that fears about harmful effects from Wi-Fi radiation catalyze the nocebo effect in these individuals.

As the nocebo effect becomes more mainstream, here are 5 key points to keep in mind:

1. The nocebo effect can be dangerous.
2. Language is important.
3. Tolerability of medications should be emphasized.
4. The nocebo effect may decrease medication adherence.
5. Communication is paramount.