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MIT researchers have developed a compact, portable pharmaceutical manufacturing system that can be reconfigured to produce a variety of drugs on demand...Just as an emergency generator supplies electricity to handle a power outage, this system could be rapidly deployed to produce drugs needed to handle an unexpected disease outbreak, or to prevent a drug shortage caused by a manufacturing plant shutdown...Think of this as the emergency backup for pharmaceutical manufacturing...The purpose is not to replace traditional manufacturing; it’s to provide an alternative for these special situations...The goal of this project was to build a small-scale, portable unit that was completely integrated, so you could imagine being able to ship it anywhere. And as long as you had the right chemicals, you could make pharmaceuticals...system can produce four drugs formulated as solutions or suspensions — Benadryl, lidocaine, Valium, and Prozac. Using this apparatus, the researchers can manufacture about 1,000 doses of a given drug in 24 hours...researchers are now working on the second phase of the project, which includes making the system about 40 percent smaller and producing drugs whose chemical syntheses are more complex. They are also working on producing tablets, which are more complicated to manufacture than liquid drugs.

Even though US consumers spend 3 times more for hospital care than for medication, they are much angrier with pharmaceutical companies than hospitals for driving up the cost of health care. Drug companies raise this apparent inconsistency in an effort to defend their pricing practices. In so doing, however, they fail to appreciate why they’ve been targeted for so much opprobrium. Ironically, the industry’s biggest public relations problems may arise from its most effective and widely applicable innovations...Taking medications is the most common way US consumers use health care...patients are 8 times more likely take a prescription drug than to use hospital inpatient services...US patients are relatively underinsured for prescription drug expenses, further contributing to high out-of-pocket costs...The upward trajectory of cost sharing amplifies the effect of price increases on patients. As coverage erodes, the veil separating patients from drug prices lifts; fewer get such a clear view of hospital prices...The rate of increase in drug prices has outpaced that of overall medical care every year since 2008...Higher prices may help fuel drug innovation. Yet, at the current price trajectory, the rate of innovation will eventually exceed our ability to pay for it. Fostering valuable innovation with financial reward is the engine of much of American commerce, including in health care. It’s a fantastic model, responsible for tremendous gains in longevity, well-being, and satisfaction. We should keep that engine turning, but only as rapidly as we can afford.

A new algorithm may take the guesswork out of medicating patients with cancer, bacterial infections, organ transplants, and other conditions that require very precise drug dosing...Individual differences can alter patient response to medications...Metabolism, body type, ethnicity, other illnesses, and genetics can play a role in how patients respond to drug treatment...The researchers call their method parabolic personalized dosing, or PPD. They gave patients medication and then observed the dosages which brought positive responses...the dosage could be reduced or increased based on how much medication was in the patient’s blood, with the successful doses added to the parabola. The researchers called the parabola "a robust map that identifies drug doses (inputs) that ensure that a patient will stay in a target range."...Establishing a patient’s parabola still requires administering drugs and then observing the response, something doctors already do. "This allows us to make a better guess,"...In the age of big data, algorithms could play a helpful role in integrating a lot of patient information to make dosing decisions.

A new app may help streamline medication needs for travelers...International travel is increasingly more common, but many travelers are often ill prepared for dealing with health issues while abroad...French pharmacist...developed a new app to help...travelers with essential medication information...The "Convert Drugs Premium" app allows users to find information in 11 different languages for therapeutically equivalent medications in 220 countries...Convert Drugs Premium promises that health care professionals who use it will "be able to quickly help visitors from other countries find the medications they need, or help advise domestic patients about the products they will and will not be able to find in the country they plan to travel in."

Government Accountability Office discovered vulnerabilities in three states and said that other state-run health insurance exchanges may be at risk too...Obamacare health insurance websites in California, Kentucky and Vermont have serious cybersecurity flaws that could result in hackers obtaining personal data from hundreds of thousands of people...One state didn't encrypt passwords, GAO officials said. Another state didn't properly use a filter to block hostile attempts to the site. And the other state didn't use proper encryption - leaving a door for hackers to gain entry...Officials from both California and Kentucky told the AP there was no evidence hackers had stolen anything, while Vermont officials declined to comment on the findings...

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.

We interview Jerry Fahrni Pharmacy Infomatics consultant about his blog post from January 27, 2016 titled: "Integration no longer optional for pharmacy technology" (podcast 28:03 min)

Manikins that breathe, sweat, cry and give birth are the newest high-tech teaching tools at Renown Regional Medical Center. They simulate normal healthy human functions. They can also imitate the symptoms of a medical conditions, giving health care professionals training opportunities...Sensors can tell the coordinators if the right medications and dosage were used. If not, the patient simulator may begin to display symptoms of a reaction. Organizers hope the program gives new and experienced nurses broader knowledge. Doctors and nurses will begin training with the manikins in early May...

The results of the ground-breaking SALOME (Study to Assess Longer-term Opioid Medication Effectiveness) research, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Psychiatry, show chronic heroin addiction now has another effective treatment tool – hyrdomorphone...(The study) found hydromorphone to be as effective as diacetylmorphine (pharmaceutical-grade prescription heroin) for people who have not benefited from previous treatments, such as methadone or suboxone...Key findings of the research include:

• Injectable hydromorphone is as effective as injectable diacetylmorphine for long-term street opioid users not currently benefitting from available treatments
• Study participants on both medications reported far fewer days of street-heroin and other opioid use at six months
• Participants also reported a significant reduction in days of illegal activities
• Almost 80% were retained in treatment at six months.
• Hydromorphone and diacetylmorphine are both safe when taken in a clinical setting.

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.