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DEA chief Chuck Rosenberg on Wednesday rejected the notion that smoking marijuana is "medicine," calling the premise a "joke."…"What really bothers me is the notion that marijuana is also medicinal -- because it's not," Rosenberg said in a briefing to reporters. "We can have an intellectually honest debate about whether we should legalize something that is bad and dangerous, but don't call it medicine -- that is a joke."…Rosenberg said that people shouldn't conflate the issue of legalizing recreational marijuana with medicinal marijuana…"There are pieces of marijuana -- extracts or constituents or component parts -- that have great promise" medicinally, he said. "But if you talk about smoking the leaf of marijuana -- which is what people are talking about when they talk about medicinal marijuana -- it has never been shown to be safe or effective as a medicine."

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…

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…

AstraZeneca and Cephalon — have agreed to pay a total of $54 million to federal and state governments to settle allegations that they shortchanged Medicaid programs on rebates for drugs… The allegations involve rebates owed to Medicare which are negotiated with pharmaceutical companies, which are often touted as a main reason that the cost of any drug is actually less than the published price…in a lawsuit against the two drug companies claiming that they violated so-called “false claims acts” by manipulating how they reported the prices of drugs in order to decrease rebates owed to state Medicaid programs… lawsuit claimed that AstraZeneca and Cephalon falsely treated certain fees paid to wholesalers as “discounts,” improperly lowering the average prices reported and they amount they paid…

Just as 23andMe has made peace with the...Food and Drug Administration, another direct-to-consumer genetics company is testing the regulatory waters with the launch of a $249 DNA test designed to predict drug response…The test, from tiny startup DNA4Life...comes in the wake of 23andMe's two-year tussle with the FDA over its direct-to-consumer personal DNA testing service, which the FDA ordered off the market in 2013…But the agency has yet to approve direct-to-consumer tests for pharmacogenetics, a field experts believe could be much riskier in the hands of consumers, who might use the information to make decisions about the drugs they are taking…"We would be delighted to have a conversation with the FDA," but added that it is not under the agency's purview. "Of course, the government can do what it likes."…The problem…is that patients, and even doctors, struggle to understand what to do with the results.

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.

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

…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…

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…

Caremark, a division of CVS Health, won an incentive package Tuesday from Orange County (FL) to bring a pharmaceutical operation here next year that could create as many as 500 jobs…County commissioners approved the company's request in a 6-1 vote…Caremark plans to establish a support operation here for its pharmacies in the southeastern U.S…The jobs, including 100 pharmacists and 350 pharmacy techs, will pay an average annual salary of about $49,000, qualifying it for a "high-wage jobs" tax break…The Caremark proposal also will boost the county's tax roll by $18.7 million…Caremark would add 275 jobs by the end of next year and another 225 jobs in 2017…The company would be in line for $1.5 million in tax refunds from the state, or about $3,000 per job. The county would kick in up to $300,000.