- September 6 Pharmacy Week in Review: Study Links Tramadol to Increased Risk of Hypoglycemia; Pinterest Supporting Reliable Vaccine Health Information (pharmacytimes.com)
Nicole Grassano, PTNN, Pharmacy Week in Review, this weekly video program provides our readers with an in-depth review of the latest news, product approvals, FDA rulings and more.
- Health Authorities Issue National Warning on Pot (newsmax.com)
Surgeon General Jerome Adams
Federal health officials issued a national warning...against marijuana use by adolescents and pregnant women, as more states legalize the increasingly potent drug for medicinal and recreational use...Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Surgeon General Jerome Adams made the announcement, with Azar calling marijuana "a dangerous drug."...The warning comes as legal marijuana has grown into a $10-billion industry in the U.S. with nearly two-thirds of states legalizing it, mainly for medical uses. An increasing number of states and localities are also allowing personal, recreational use...Adams said science shows that marijuana is harmful to the developing brains of teenagers and to the human fetus. The drug has also gotten stronger, with a three-fold increase in the concentration of the active ingredient THC in cultivated plants over the last 20 years...READ MORE
- Amgen patents on Repatha invalid, judge rules in reversal (biopharmadive.com)
A federal judge...ruled two patents held by Amgen on its cholesterol drug Repatha are invalid, reversing a February jury verdict that had upheld the California biotech's claims in its legal battle with rivals Sanofi and Regeneron...Amgen said it plans to appeal. Still, it's a setback that strengthens the position of Sanofi and Regeneron, which sell the competing drug Praluent...Litigation between the companies has dragged on since 2014…Both Amgen and Sanofi and Regeneron have since cut their prices to a about $6,000 a year in bids to grow market share. Repatha sales have so far paced ahead of Praluent's…READ MORE
- China says U.S. can do more to reduce fentanyl demand (reuters.com)China says has only 'limited' cooperation with U.S. on fentanyl (reuters.com)
Xi Jinping, President of China
The U.S. government can do more to reduce demand for fentanyl and should stop shifting the blame onto others, China said...in another riposte to Trump administration criticism that China is not helping resolve the drug problem...U.S. officials say China is the main source of illicit fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances that are trafficked into the United States, much of it through international mail. China denies that most of the illicit fentanyl...originates in China...READ MORE
- U.S. government gives states nearly $2 billion to combat opioid crisis (reuters.com)
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said...it will offer states more than $1.8 billion in new funding to fight the opioid epidemic...The funds will be used for expanding access to treatments for opioid overdosing and to gather case data from across states…The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will spend $900 million...to help states and territories track overdose data...HHS unit Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration is awarding about $932 million to support prevention, treatment and recovery services...READ MORE
- This Week in Managed Care: August 30, 2019 (ajmc.com)
Laura Joszt, Managing Editor at The American Journal of Managed Care. Welcome to This Week in Managed Care from the Managed Markets News Network
- U.S. to pay for thousands of doses of HIV drugs for Venezuelan migrants (reuters.com)
The United States (HHS Secretary Alex Azar) said...it will provide thousands of doses of HIV medication to treat Venezuelans in Colombia as part of regional efforts to manage care for millions of migrants fleeing the crisis-hit nation...The United Sates will provide 12,000 doses, an HHS spokeswoman said, enough for a year’s medication for 1,000 migrants...“We believe that its vital to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and to treat those who have it because with appropriate treatment individuals who have HIV/AIDS can live healthy, long, productive lives”...READ MORE
- China expands drug bulk-buy program, puts pressure on pharma firms (reuters.com)
China has expanded a pilot drug bulk-buying program to almost the entire country in an attempt to negotiate lower prices from drug manufacturers, heaping fresh pressure on multinational pharmaceutical companies and their domestic rivals...The program rolled out last year saw 11 Chinese cities...band together behind a tender process to bulk-buy 25 types of drugs. This caused the price of some medicines to plunge over 90%…The scheme will be expanded to 25 provinces and regions, who will form a league to look for suppliers for these drugs that will be stocked at public hospitals as well as some military and private medical institutions...READ MORE
- August 30 Pharmacy Week in Review: Family History of Diabetes Linked to Increased Bone Mineral Density; Moderate Exercise May Benefit Patients with Metastatic Colon Cancer (pharmacytimes.com)
Nicole Grassano, PTNN, Pharmacy Week in Review, this weekly video program provides our readers with an in-depth review of the latest news, product approvals, FDA rulings and more.
- FDA says widening probe on generic drug impurities (reuters.com)
The U.S. Food and Drugs Administration said...it was expanding its investigation into impurities in U.S. generic drugs beyond a class of medicines for high blood pressure known as angiotensin II receptor blockers...The agency did not specify which types of additional drugs it was looking at, but said it was testing samples of other medicines with similar manufacturing processes to those in which concerning impurities have been discovered...READ MORE