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..latest wonder drug to make headlines sounds like a dream for ambitious workers: Modafinil, a narcolepsy pill, has been shown to make you a sharper thinker, a better decision maker, and generally more alert – whether or not you have a sleep disorder, researchers found few safety concerns or side effects from the drug…main problem…no long-term studies of safety and efficacy in healthy people,..Without safety studies,. .."we do not know that modafinil is safe in the long-term for people to use."

…it’s time to dole out some grades to drug companies. …I give each company a letter grade, just like the ones you got in school. An A+ requires changing the face of medicine and making a ton of money. An F means a drug safety crisis and a financial failure – or a severe ethical breach. Everything else is in-between. I do not believe in grade inflation.

Top of the Class

1. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ..... A-
2. Valeant Pharmaceuticals ..... B+
3. Gilead Sciences, Inc ..... B+
4. Novo Nordisk ..... B
5. Eli Lilly and Company ..... B
6. Allergan plc ..... B
7. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated ..... B
8. Illumina ..... B
9. Novartis ..... B
10. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries ..... B-
11. Sanofi ..... B-
12. Celgene Corporation ..... B-
13. Pfizer Inc. ..... B-
14. Bristol-Myers Squibb ..... B-
15. Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ..... B-
16. Merck & Co., Inc. ..... B-
17. Shire PLC Sponsored ADR ..... C+
18. Roche Holding ..... C+
19. Amgen Inc. ..... C+
20. AbbVie, Inc. ..... C+
21. Johnson & Johnson ..... C+
22. GlaxoSmithKline ..... C
23. Astrazeneca PLC Sponsored ADR ..... C
24. Biogen Inc. ..... C

During the month of September, Rite Aid associates nationwide will honor 274 students who have been named recipients of Folds of Honor educational scholarships provided by the Rite Aid Foundation’s KidCents program…Folds of Honor,..dedicated to providing educational scholarships to children of fallen or disabled veterans…

…the world’s largest cancer epidemic, China has been one of the most rapidly expanding markets for oncologic drugs for years. Now, an alternative approach is growing about twice as fast: traditional Chinese medicines… Sales of traditional cancer treatments…surged 35 percent to almost 17 billion yuan ($2.7 billion) last year…Chinese medicine serves more often as an adjuvant therapy…drugmakers are seeking ways to integrate traditional Chinese medicines with conventional therapies.

Smart medicines that tell doctors when their patients have taken them moved a step closer to reality after a company developing the first "digital pill" had its drug application accepted…the pill, produced by Proteus Digital Health, will help ensure patients stick to their prescriptions…Food and Drug Administration had agreed to review its device which is embedded in a schizophrenia medicine (aripiprazole)…new regulatory pathway that allows the pharmaceuticals industry to combine its medical innovation with innovation in software.."smart pill" contains a tiny ingestible sensor that detects when the drug has reached the stomach…It communicates with a wearable patch…then transmits the information to a mobile device.

A growing number of evolving health needs means the proliferation of many models,…there are six big themes that will drive new business models in health care. Those themes include:

1. scalability
2. decision support
3. process change
4. customization
5. integration
6. services to enhance product delivery

Attention, proles! ...Health Resources and Services Administration has released its long-awaited Omnibus Guidance for the 340B Drug Pricing Program…guidance brings some much-needed clarity to the definition of an eligible patient...duplicate discounts…diversion…covered entities audit and monitor contract pharmacies…Unfortunately, HRSA has granted itself intrusive oversight for what it calls "limited distribution plans." Under the guise of auditing manufacturer compliance,…is asserting novel and impractical review and approval authority over manufacturers' channel strategies… every manufacturer is expected to have its channel strategies reviewed and then published…Watch out!

Amy Grogg, PharmD, senior vice president of Strategy and Commercialization at AmerisourceBergen Specialty Group, discusses the projected ramifications from the launch of biosimilars in the United States.

An article citing the positive impact of prescription drugs on reducing other medical costs in the Medicaid program was published Wednesday by the journal Health Affairs' September issue. "Proper use of prescription medications is paramount in helping to improve patient health, especially for those with chronic conditions,"… "This research is further evidence of the impact of taking medications as prescribed – both in helping patients manage their chronic conditions and reducing emergency or catastrophic medical costs associated with medication non-adherence."

Not to be lost among all of Apple's new products is an upgraded Watch tuned for remote monitoring… what Apple would like to be most relevant to healthcare organizations: an upgraded Apple Watch… spotlighted the potential for use in the healthcare realm with an app that can connect a mother-to-be to her doctor… Sense4Baby was adapted for the new Apple Watch OS2 through a partnership with AirStrip…further evolution of the smartwatch as a clinical tool… the newly updated Apple Watch to make rounds, view schedules, communicate with care team members and even view lab results.