Category:

New Jersey governor…took action…by signing a bill aimed at prohibiting the sale of medications containing dextromethorphan,…found in…over-the-counter cold medications, to any person under the age of 18 unless they have a prescription. New Jersey is the ninth state to implement a law restricting the sale of DXM-containing products…"The enactment of similar legislation in states across the country has indicated that limiting teen access to DXM is a proven way to prevent abuse,"…"We are confident that this law will further allow parents to prevent abuse among their children, while continuing to ensure access for the millions of adults and families who responsibly use products containing DXM to treat common cough symptoms."

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients could spend less time in the hospital if their doctors utilize a checklist of steps called order sets, according to findings published in the Canadian Respiratory Journal…Researchers from St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto…examined the effects of order sets on hospital stay…Using order sets to manage worsening COPD can lead to better medical care and better results for patients…By providing doctors with the best, evidence based information at the point in time when they are deciding on medications and tests for their patients, we can improve doctors' adherence to best practices…Our next step is to advocate for these order sets to be implemented across the healthcare system, to ensure that these patients receive best evidence based and standardized care..

Up to a half of infections after surgery and over a quarter of infections after chemotherapy are caused by organisms already resistant to standard antibiotics in the US… Researchers have reported the strongest evidence yet that rising antibiotic resistance could have disastrous consequences for patients undergoing surgery or cancer chemotherapy… A 30% reduction in the efficacy of antibiotic prophylaxis could result in 120,000 additional infections and 6,300 infection-related deaths every year… Prophylactic antibiotics are used routinely in surgery, organ transplantation and cancer chemotherapy to prevent infections…Increasing antibiotic resistance threatens the safety of these procedures and could result in increased rates of morbidity, amputation or death.

Leaders of India's $15 billion pharmaceuticals industry, a major supplier of affordable generics to the world, have joined public health activists in criticizing a new U.S.-led trade deal they say will delay the arrival of new cheap drugs…The impact of the Trans-Pacific Partnership struck last week between 12 nations…but not India, is still being studied by Indian drug makers. But in initial comments, industry executives said provisions in the deal that shield new drug data from competitors would hurt their business in those nations…Countries from the United States to Africa rely on India as a supplier of cheap medicines, earning it the "pharmacy to the world" nickname.

The best-selling brand-name drugs are not necessarily the most-prescribed medications in the United States…IMS Health recently revealed the 50 most-prescribed brand-name drugs and the 50 best-selling brand-name drugs between April 2014 and March 2015…Here are some noteworthy discrepancies between prescription drug sales and prescribing patterns for particular conditions:

1. Hepatitis C
2. Contraceptives
3. Multiple Sclerosis
4. Hypertension
5. HIV
6. Arthritis
7. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
8. Cancer

Cost regulators for health technologies funded by the National Health Service in England and Wales have rejected a novel treatment for the genetic condition Duchenne Muscular Dsytrophy, seeking more data from the firm to confirm its benefit and justify its high cost...PTC Therapeutics’ Translarna (ataluren) is the first licensed treatment for DMD that addresses the loss of dystrophin, the underlying cause of the condition…NICE has recognised that the drug represents "an important development in the treatment of DMD and could potentially prolong the time before children have to use a wheelchair"…data…show that the therapy failed to achieve its main goal of significantly improving the distance achieved by patients in the standard six-minute walk test….the firm’s task of justifying the £220,256 ($340,000) per patient per year cost of the drug just got somewhat harder.

In a victory for the pharmaceutical industry, a federal judge decided the Health Resources and Services Administration cannot enforce a rule that would allow many so-called safety-net hospitals and clinics to obtain orphan drugs at a discount… The decision caps more than two years of feuding between drug makers and the agency over a federal program known as 340B. This requires drug makers to offer discounts of up to 50 percent on all outpatient drugs to hospitals and clinics that serve indigent populations...

NHS 111 and GP out-of-hours services are to be brought much closer together under a fundamental redesign of urgent care delivery throughout the National Health Service…NHS England said the new "front door" will offer patients simpler and better access to urgent care through a novel 24/7 clinical assessment, advice and treatment service via the 111 number, streamlining provision around the country… reshaping urgent care stem from NHS England’s ongoing Urgent and Emergency Care Review, and come as local health services are responding to the highest ever number of ambulance calls, A&E attendances and emergency admissions in NHS history, with even more demand expected through the coming winter months…Last winter several hospitals in England were forced to declare a ‘major incident’ and close their doors as they struggled to cope with the influx of patients, and A&E waiting times were the worst in a decade, underscoring the need for a new system.

Australia is altering its drug laws to allow for the cultivation of marijuana for medicinal and scientific purposes, removing a major hurdle to the establishment of clinical trials of the drug, the government said…Draft amendments to the Narcotics Drugs Act are being finalised to allow for the controlled cultivation of marijuana, giving patients access to "a safe, legal and sustainable supply of locally produced products for the first time,"…Australian manufacturers, researchers and patients currently have to access international supplies of legal medicinal marijuana, with cost, limited supply and export barriers making this challenging.

This issue brief provides an overview of the 2016 PDP marketplace, focusing on key changes from 2015…Many will see higher premiums and deductibles…highlights include:

• beneficiaries in each region will have a choice of 26 PDPs, on average,
• average PDP premium…to increase by 13 percent…from $36.68 to $41.46 per month…largest since 2009
• More than one-third of the 11.2 million PDP enrollees who do not receive Low-Income Subsidies would pay premiums of $60 or more per month…
• Nearly 4.4 million of these enrollees not receiving the LIS face a premium increase of at least $10 per month...
• Two-thirds of all PDPs will have deductibles…a higher share than in previous years. A growing share of PDPs will impose the maximum deductible…to $360..the largest increase in the deductible since the start of the program
• Most PDPs charge coinsurance, rather than flat copayments, for non-preferred brand-name and specialty drugs, which could lead to higher out-of-pocket costs for those who use high-cost drugs.
• Nearly all PDPs use tiered pharmacy networks, with lower cost sharing in selected network pharmacies and higher cost sharing in other network pharmacies, a significant increase
• Beneficiaries receiving the LIS will have access to 7 plans for no monthly premium…fewer than in any past year.