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Over the past few years, a unique pharmacy operation has been making waves in the Pacific Northwest. Chris Schaffner is a pharmacist by trade, but he also serves as the owner of Apothecary Coffee, a co-located coffee shop attached to his other business, Schaffner Pharmacy. Opening the pharmacy in 2018 and the coffee shop in 2022, Schaffner and his staff have achieved great success in the community pharmacy industry...READ MORE

Drug development is expensive, can take years to complete and doesn't guarantee a novel therapy for treating disease...But consumer genetic testing company 23andMe is forging ahead to leverage its massive database of genetic data for research and to make and sell its own therapies...Using genetic data based on the company's 12 million genotype customers and billions of phenotypic data points gives 23andMe a distinct competitive advantage for its therapeutics business, Kenneth Hillan, 23andMe’s head of therapeutics, said..."We talk about it as our secret power. It really is that statistical power, the size and scale of our databases, and using genetics to see things in terms of drug targets within diseases that others just can't see," he said...READ MORE

Before the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine authorization, there were no mRNA therapies approved anywhere in the world. The idea of using messenger RNA as a way to get your body to be the drug manufacturer has been around for some time, but only in recent years has it become practical. And it was the COVID-19 pandemic that provided the opportunity for the technology to push ahead...In terms of cancer...BioNTech has two types of mRNA vaccines for cancer. “First, we have our off-the-shelf vaccines, where we’ve identified molecular features of tumors that are shared by many patients...By targeting these molecules, you can fight the cancer without getting collateral damage to healthy cells.”...“Second, we have highly personalized vaccines. We identify cancer mutations that are unique to every patient...We biopsy the tumor, sequence it, and design a unique, individualized vaccine for each patient.”...READ MORE

GoodRx has entered into an agreement with Surescripts, to deliver drug discount price information to prescribers using Surescripts Real-Time Prescription Benefit when prescribing medications for uninsured patients and patients whose price information isn’t already available from their PBM or health plan...By improving price transparency at the point of care, prescribers can have more informed conversations with their patients and ensure they can afford the treatment they need before getting to the pharmacy counter...READ MORE

The program provides roughly 700 monthly patients with vital medications they otherwise could not afford at no cost...The shelves stay stocked at the St. Vincent de Paul Charitable Pharmacy. As Southwest Ohio's only free pharmacy, there's no shortage of medication — and no shortage of people who need it...Opened in 2006 after local organization Leadership Cincincinnati advocated for a law change to allow for charitable pharmacies in the state of Ohio, the pharmacy now has a main facility at the Don & Phyllis Neyer Outreach Center and a second at the Western Hills Thrift Store...READ MORE

Amazon is launching a new service for hospitals that will embed its voice technology deeper into clinical settings at scale...As part of Alexa Smart Properties, the service will simplify how hospitals and senior living facilities deploy and manage Alexa-enabled devices across their properties...Using Amazon Alexa devices in hospital rooms, patients can keep in touch with their families, connect with care team members, easily access news and information and play music, according to the company. Patients can ask Alexa for things they need—"Alexa, tell my nurse I need a pillow." The use of artificial intelligence to interpret patient intent enables the message to be sent to the appropriate care team member using existing hospital communication systems..."Voice is intuitive for patients, regardless of age or tech-savviness,"...READ MORE

...the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced the reorganization of the agency's information technology, data management and cybersecurity functions into the new Office of Digital Transformation...The office has been realigned to report directly to the FDA commissioner, elevating the office and its functions to agency-level. This reorganization will advance the agency’s information technology transformation with improved data and IT competencies that improve agency operations to support the public health mission...READ MORE

A Stanford University team has created the amphibious all-terrain vehicle of the drug delivery world. The researchers designed the millimeter-scale robot to roll, flip and spin past obstacles and through liquids to navigate complex biomedical environments...Multiple papers have described the creation of wirelessly operated millimeter-scale origami robots that can move through narrow spaces and change shape to complete specific tasks. Potential applications for the robots include targeted drug delivery, in which context the vehicles would carry a payload for release at a specific site...Operated magnetically, the millirobot is designed to adapt itself to the environment, autonomously switching between rolling and flipping to get over some obstacles. Applying a magnetic field causes the millirobot to jump over bigger barriers...READ MORE

Sharing real-time patient benefit and eligibility information with providers at the point of prescribing improves medication access and, ultimately, patient outcomes...To help patients access their prescribed medications during office closures due to the pandemic, many health plans relaxed or waived medication regulations, such as prior authorization and refill-too-soon orders...Despite this temporary relief, many patients still experienced delays getting their prescriptions filled...Solutions such as real-time prescription benefit, electronic prior authorization and intelligent pharmacy workflows can help reduce administrative and benefit barriers contributing to these delays – and improve medication adherence along the way...READ MORE

During the COVID-19 pandemic many hospitals and health care services teams turned to telepharmacy to reduce delays in providing medications to patients while social distancing practices were in place. Hospitals quickly found that telepharmacy benefitted pharmacy services by providing patients with more efficient access to medical care and reducing costs. Thus, hospitals were able to focus more on patient care and less on logistics, which led to higher turnaround times and increased patient satisfaction...READ MORE