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Food and Drug Administration has approved a new extended released version of the opioid painkiller oxycodone that has abuse deterrent properties unlike anything else on the market...Xtampza – can be ingested in capsule form, but users can also sprinkle the capsule contents on soft foods or into a cup, and then directly into the mouth...The medication, which can also be ingested through a feeding tube, is the sixth opioid pain medication with an abuse deterrent formula to be approved by the FDA...Xtampza is made by...Collegium Pharmaceutical with proprietary technology (DETERx technology platform) that combines oxycodone with fatty acid and waxes to form small spherical beads that are placed inside the capsule...The beads are designed to resist breaking, crushing, chewing, dissolving and melting, methods long used by drugs abusers to snort or inject opioids.

India's lower house of parliament passed a bill this week to back a regional biotech center aimed at promoting expertise and research in South Asia and wider in the Asian region...The Regional Centre for Biotechnology--to be located in the northern state of Haryana--would offer degrees up to the doctorate level, while also serving as a home to academics with access to research facilities in biotechnology...India has lagged in comparison to other Asian nations such as Japan, China and Australia in growing a local biotech industry...The new center would seek to aid growth domestically in biotech as well as establish links abroad by offering course work training and research in biotechnology to students and researchers...

A new partnership between savings program company Medical Security Card’s ScriptSave WellRx app and medication management company SinfoníaRx will bring on-demand pharmacist access to users of the savings program app...ScriptSave WellRx app users can use a click-to-call feature that will connect them to one of SinfoníaRx’s on-call pharmacist, who will answer patients’ questions about their prescriptions, medication interactions and OTC drugs...Our ability to help patients by leveraging the latest technology makes this partnership with MSC a natural fit...Our companies share the same goal — to ensure patients follow their prescribed medication regimens to achieve better health outcomes. The ScriptSave WellRx app also gives patients the ability to reduce their out-of-pocket drug costs, which can be a huge barrier to medication adherence and improved health...SinfoníaRx's pharmacists bring an important component to ScriptSave WellRx, offering medication information to our members if they have a question about drug interaction, dosage or alternatives...

Mike Glaicar, Business Development: Pharmacy Times...(PTNN) This weekly video program provides our readers with an in-depth review of the latest news, product approvals, FDA rulings and more.

Two companies are on the cusp of taking a new treatment for opioid addiction to the U.S. market at a time when lawmakers are seeking ways to arrest an epidemic of heroin and painkiller abuse...Titan Pharmaceuticals Inc and...Braeburn Pharmaceuticals have together developed a matchstick-sized implant that analysts expect will be approved next month, despite mixed reviews...Implanted into the arm, the treatment is designed to be less vulnerable to abuse or illicit resale than the oral drugs that are currently used to treat opioid addiction...Two drugs are predominantly used to treat opioid addiction: methadone, which is dispensed only in government-endorsed clinics, and the less-addictive buprenorphine, which exists as a pill or strip of film...The implant, known as Probuphine, offers an alternative by administering buprenorphine for up to six months after users have first been stabilized on the oral form of the drug...Food and Drug Administration have raised reservations about possible complications from the insertion and removal of the 26mm long implant...

Importance The optional free-text Notes field in ambulatory electronic prescriptions allows prescribers to communicate additional prescription-related information to dispensing pharmacists. However, populating this field with irrelevant or inappropriate information can create confusion, workflow disruptions, and potential patient harm.

Objectives To analyze the content of free-text prescriber notes in new ambulatory e-prescriptions and to develop recommendations to improve e-prescribing practices.

Main Outcomes and Measures Reviewers classified free-text prescriber notes as appropriate, inappropriate, or unnecessary.

Results 66.1% contained inappropriate content...

Conclusions and Relevance The free-text Notes field in e-prescriptions is frequently used inappropriately, suggesting the need for better prerelease usability testing, consistent end user training and feedback, and rigorous postmarketing evaluation and surveillance of EHR or e-prescribing software applications. Accelerated implementation of new e-prescribing standards and rapid adoption of existing ones could also reduce prescribers’ reliance on free-text use in ambulatory e-prescriptions.

London Drugs announced...that it would be holding 15 oral health screening clinics in the Vancouver metro area between April 25 and May 18. The clinic initiative follows a successful pilot...which featured what the chain said was the first oral cancer screening in a pharmacy..."What began as a three clinic trial with a dental professional in collaboration with our pharmacists in April 2015, quickly grew to 12 clinics in a matter of weeks, during our first ever attempt at this program,"..."There is clearly demand for the oral screening and continued need for awareness of oral cancer and oral cancer prevention."...the sixth most-common cancer in the world..."London Drugs' clinics bring incredible awareness to oral cancer screening and the importance of early detection,"..."The best way to monitor your oral health is to work with your dental care provider either at the dental office or at a screening clinic such as the one offered at London Drugs. This program is especially popular among individuals who might not regularly visit a dentist."...Screenings are done by appointment and cost $25, with $5 being donated to the BC Oral Cancer Prevention Program.

Mike Glaicar, Business Development: Pharmacy Times...(PTNN) This weekly video program provides our readers with an in-depth review of the latest news, product approvals, FDA rulings and more.

Latest Pharmacy Industry Healthcare Policy Update Review with Ron Lanton – Government Affairs Strategist for the Pharmacy Podcast Show and President of True North Political Solutions. (podcast 30 min)

The last few months have witnessed the unraveling of the remarkable life sciences company Theranos, culminating in the latest news that federal regulators may ban founder Elizabeth Holmes from the blood-testing industry for at least two years. The company is also facing a federal criminal investigation into whether it misled investors about its technology and company operations...How has this widely acclaimed biomedical innovator fallen so far, so fast?...Theranos' revolutionary claim...wowed investors, journalists and even groups like the Cleveland Clinic and Walgreens with what you might call an "iMedicine" vision of blood testing...A few drops of blood from a fingertip are collected into a "nanotainer" collection tube and analyzed on the company’s proprietary machine, named after...Thomas Edison. How exactly the Edison devices work is unknown. But the claim was that many – possibly dozens – of tests could be run on those few drops of blood...Millions invested without any proof?...Why didn’t investors and journalists dig more deeply, such as by demanding a head-to-head comparison of Theranos' Edison machine to standard chemistry analyzers?...Part of the problem seems to have been the secrecy surrounding these types of startups...which means that there was...no peer-reviewed information out there about its technology...the leading explanation seems to be that they were enthralled by the company’s charismatic young founder...It still remains possible that Theranos has discovered a breakthrough technology...But even if this increasingly unlikely prospect is a reality, Holmes' erstwhile acolytes need to remember the lessons learned from the pantheon of past pied pipers and summed up by statistician W. Edwards Deming: In God we trust; all others must bring data.