- Can Sprout’s Addyi shrug off serious side effects? These blockbusters did (fiercepharmamarketing.com)
Female libido drug Addyi from Sprout stirred up its fair share of controversy last week with its FDA green light, which came despite serious potential side effects such as severe drowsiness, nausea and dizziness. But if it can succeed despite those side effect worries, it certainly wouldn't be the first drug to do so......Advair, Fosamax, Epogen, Gilenya, Tecfidera
- The FDA blundered badly on the Addyi approval (fiercebiotech.com)The FDA Is Basically Approving Everything. Here's The Data To Prove It (forbes.com)
..in approving Addyi, the FDA has gone overboard, exchanging greater efficiency in favor of purposeful permissiveness…it's lowering its standards on the risk/benefit equation by ignoring the realities of the Internet…agency can't control the viral campaign that's already well under way. It can't control prescribing habits or, more importantly, the demand for this drug. It can't prevent the side effects that we will now be seeing as the drug starts to become available to a much wider population than it's intended for…it's the kind of blunder that could well cost the entire industry if the inevitable backlash causes the FDA to grow overzealous about safety issues…This is a regulatory failure of the worst kind.
- Top 4 technologies for community pharmacists to watch (drugtopics.modernmedicine.com)
future of community pharmacy is a high-tech, connected world, where teleprescribing is common and pharmacists share information with patients via smart lenses. At least that is the vision of Dan Benamoz, RPh,..Pharmacy Development Services, a pharmacist training, consulting, and mentoring firm.
- Information sharing via "smart" lens
- Telepharmacy
- Pharmacogenomics
- Radio frequency technology
- CVS Health institute experts call for retooled cholesterol treatment guidelines in JAMA (drugstorenews.com)New Therapies in the Treatment of High CholesterolAn Argument to Return to Goal-Based Lipid Guidelines (jama.jamanetwork.com)
Experts from the CVS Health Research Institute,.. are calling for a reconsideration of treatment guidelines for high cholesterol as PCSK9 inhibitors hit the market…"As PCSK9 inhibitors become available, the current cholesterol management guidelines do not provide clarity as to how these expensive new medications could fit in the treatment paradigm, potentially resulting in some scenarios where a prescriber could consider a PCSK9 inhibitor for a low-risk patient,"
- Value, results center stage in health care (drugstorenews.com)
PwC’s (PricewaterhouseCoopers) Health Research Institute asserted that the reforms spawned by the ACA have left "an indelible mark on the $2.9 trillion health sector."… Those reforms are forcing industry leaders to "rethink strategies to remain relevant in a post-ACA world" as they roil every facet of health care and drive a gradual but sweeping transformation of the way health services are provided and paid for…
- A massive shifting of risk among different health provider sectors as the ACA drives "new payment models that reward outcomes and penalize poor performance."
- A "back to basics" movement that’s "making primary care once again the critical touchpoint."
- A surge of new, innovative companies that are rushing "to meet the demand for lower-cost, consumer-oriented care options
- A shift in the health insurance industry "from wholesale to retail" as insurers adapt to the demands of consumers, federal and state health administrators
- The emergence of states "as key players in the reconfigured healthcare landscape."
- Drugs just don’t get rejected much anymore, report says (fiercebiotech.com)
Picking apart biopharma’s protracted boom,…the vibe that getting drugs approved is simply much easier than it once was…. FDA has been green-lighting new drugs at an escalating rate for the past few years… some think the agency can go farther… 21st Century Cures Act,..contains a bevy of provisions designed to bring medicines to the market more quickly…The bill has faced staunch criticism from public health officials and media outlets, cautioning that there can be too much of a good thing, and improperly evaluated drugs can be just as dangerous to patients as no treatments at all.
- Kim Kardashian, Dr. Oz And TV Drug Ads (forbes.com)
Data show that these ads certainly increase the sales of an advertised drug… these ads also tend to trigger a negative response from the public, This use of drug promotion via social media is far more dangerous than TV drug ads. Getting celebrities with millions of followers to tout your product,…can have a big impact… FDA needs to crack down on this as vigorously as it does other forms of drug promotion....
- How Addyi will change the way we talk about sex—and what it means for marketers (biopharmadive.com)
The approval of Sprout Pharma’s Addyi (flibanserin) is emerging as one of the most significant biopharma stories of 2015. Addyi has managed to touch a collective nerve that speaks to the pent-up demand for a women’s libido-enhancing drug, but also our societal anxiety about female sexuality in general. Those issues notwithstanding, some experienced biopharma marketers predict robust uptake in a fairly short period of time..
- The pros and the cons
- Are women willing to give up alcohol?
- Why Addyi is not Viagra
- Let’s talk about sex
- A good month for sexual satisfaction
- Addyi could open the doors to better MD-patient communication
- The challenge for marketers
- Reframing sexuality
- 5 Useful Career Skills Pharmacists Develop (pharmacytimes.com)
"If you weren’t a pharmacist, what would you be doing?" I get tons of diverse responses from faces that light up when they talk about it…Pharmacists are in a great position to reinvent themselves because they have developed the following skills over time that are useful in many career fields:
- Management skills
- Finance skills
- Mentoring skills
- Multitasking and efficiency skills
- Communication skills
- How to Survive a Negative Pharmacy Culture (pharmacytimes.com)
A negative culture in the pharmacy can diminish morale…"People leave their manager; they don’t leave companies." If the leader of the pharmacy doesn’t try to change a negative culture, people will start leaving… For those who want to give a little time to see what happens, or need time to find a new job, here are some tips for dealing with a difficult work environment.
- Switch from an "I" focus to an "Other" focus
- Exercise
- Join a support group outside of work
- Try to be positive at work
- See the big picture