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Jerry McKee, PharmD, assistant director of Community Care of North Carolina, discusses the goals of the Pharmacy Home Project.

City and health directors from across the country are urging the Food and Drug Administration to adopt new labels to "explicitly warn about a dangerous combination of medications" that have been fueling the nation’s prescription drug overdose epidemic over the years...Available online, the petition, which has been signed by academics, researchers and physicians, requests that the FDA amend black box warnings on all opioid analgesic and benzodiazepine class medications...to require medication guides that specifically warn patients of concurrently using both drug classes...We believe that this black box warning is a critical first step in raising awareness around the danger of co-prescribing these medications…The warning educates doctors so that they can provide the highest quality of care to patients...

Among the trial methods: genetic engineering, radiation, larvicide...Until there’s a vaccine or treatment for the Zika virus, the quickest way to control its spread is to attack the mosquitoes that carry it. Biotech companies and governments are wielding their best weapons, all of which involve breeding the bloodsuckers in labs and applying treatments that render them unable to reproduce or spread viruses, then releasing them into the wild...In Brazil, Oxitec says it expects approval within weeks to sell the government a bioengineered mosquito incapable of having offspring...The United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency has offered to show Brazilian authorities how to sterilize male mosquitoes with radiation...Australian scientists say they might be able to block transmission of Zika by infecting mosquitoes with a naturally occurring bacterium. And MosquitoMate...is experimenting with a way to dust the bugs with a hormone-based larvicide...These strategies mark a sharp departure from the old pesticide-centric method of "spray-’n’-pray." So far, "we don’t really have any method that’s working,"...

Dartmouth College researchers claim to have developed a "magic wand" they say will prevent hackers from stealing personal data. They've named the digital tool Wanda...The focus of the work is to secure data at home on patients' computers, laptops, tablets, mobile phones and medical devices...Wireless and mobile health technologies have great potential to improve quality and access to care, reduce costs and improve health...But these new technologies, whether in the form of software for smartphones or specialized devices to be worn, carried or applied as needed, also pose risks if they're not designed or configured with security and privacy in mind...one of the main challenges is that most people don't know how to set up and maintain a secure network in their home. That...can lead to compromised or stolen data or potentially allow hackers access to devices such as heart rate monitors or dialysis machines. That's where Wanda comes in...A small device that has two antennas separated by one-half wavelength and uses radio strength as a communication channel...The digital tool makes it easy for people to add a new device to their home – or clinic – Wi-Fi network...Users need only pull the wand from a USB port on the Wi-Fi access point, carry it close to the new device and point it at the device, like a magic wand. The wand securely beams the Wi-Fi network information to the device while preventing anyone nearby from capturing or tampering with the information...

Rose Bengal (PV-10), a cheap industrial chemical that turns yarn and food bright red, has been used as a diagnostic staining agent for some time. Now, some scientists are looking at its potential to fight various forms of cancer...Provectus Biopharmaceuticals...is testing a reformulated version of the industrial dye on melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer...Rose Bengal’s potential against cancer was discovered by accident. The salt was first patented in 1882 as a wool dye and has been used for years as a diagnostic stain in tests for jaundice in newborns and to detect eye damage...In 1998, scientists....were looking for a safe photoreactive agent to use in an investigation of lasers against cancer. Rose Bengal fit the bill...As it turned out, the Rose Bengal solution appeared to work on its own to dissolve tumors when directed injectly (directly injected) into them...Provectus executives say the small development tab—along with relatively low manufacturing costs and easy handling requirements—could make PV-10 a less expensive new treatment...Provectus plans to put itself up for sale once its drug is approved...

Ritzman Pharmacy and Northeast Ohio Medical Center’s ‘Pharmacy of the Future" collaboration is about to be open to the public. The Ritzman Pharmacy at NEOMED’s grand opening will take place March 7 at the...Education and Wellness Center...The new pharmacy is driven by an interest in creating a pharmacy experience that takes a holistic approach to wellness where the pharmacist is at the center of a patient’s care. It will offer fitness facility membership, primary care services, medication management and physical therapy in addition to standard pharmacy services...I am proud to be at the forefront of this effort to promote community-oriented, whole-person health. The pharmacy experience can be so much more than an errand to check off a list...

Nevada's Office of Vital Statistics issued a call this month for relevant physicians to sign up as quickly as possible for a system that allows doctors to fill in required information for death certificates electronically. That system became mandatory statewide Jan. 1...Some doctors did not sign up after the state began notifying them of the change in fall because they have had issues registering or have outright refused to participate, vital records program officer Jason Lewis said...Karen Massey, chief administrative officer at Northern Nevada Emergency Physicians, said physicians have struggled with some requirements of the system, including its incompatibility with Windows 10 and Apple computers. The changeover has been time-consuming...I'm dismayed when it sounds like physicians haven't been responsive about it...Physicians have raised several concerns and have been working with the state to get them resolved...

Imagine new medicines that effectively fight cancer, but may result in fewer side effects thanks to more accurate targeting of tumor cells. Today, PhRMA released a new video that highlights these promising new therapies called antibody drug conjugates, or ADCs...represent a continuing shift in the cancer treatment landscape toward personalized medicines that more accurately attack specific targets fueling cancer cell growth while leaving more healthy cells unharmed...You can think of them as smart bombs, basically. Precision weapons against cancer...which may provide patients the same level of benefits of standard chemotherapy without some of the side effects that often accompany such treatments...

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.

An ibuprofen patch that delivers the painkiller directly through the skin to the site of pain, at a consistent dose for up to 24 hours, has been developed by UK researchers...Scientists at the University of Warwick and spin-off company Medherant say their TEPI patch could revolutionize the transdermal drug delivery market...the polymer matrix in the patch acts as a reservoir for the drug, capable of releasing between five and ten times the amount of drugs used in gels and patches currently on the market, for periods of six hours, 12 hours, and even 24 hours...The patches could help treat conditions like chronic back pain, neuralgia and arthritis without the need to take potentially damaging doses of the drug orally... the technology has exciting potential for other medications, such as opioid painkillers. What's important is to be able to extend the range of drugs that are available by patches because at the moment we're limited to about 20 different drugs, and there are thousands of drugs out there...which is limited by the technology of the adhesive...The TEPI patch incorporates new adhesive technology developed by...Bostik...Nutrition companies have also shown an interest in adapting Medherant's technology for transmitting minerals and vitamins through the skin.