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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...

A board composed partially of representatives from local trauma centers recommended not designating any of three new applicants as a Level 3 trauma center...The Regional Trauma Advisory Board, which makes a recommendation to the Southern Nevada Health District Board of Health on trauma center applications, voted to reject approval of authorization for the Level 3 trauma centers sought by Centennial Hills Hospital Medical Center, Southern Hills Hospital and Medical Center and Mountain View Hospital...The hospitals applied in the fall to receive Level 3 designation, the lowest trauma designation recognized by the Southern Nevada Trauma System. Level 3 centers provide "definitive care to the less severely injured patients" and work to support any Level 1 and 2 facilities in the trauma system, which can provide care to more severely injured patients...UMC Department of Trauma Services Medical Director John Fildes...suggested the formation of a needs-based assessment task force, which would review the community's trauma needs and assess the impact of adding new trauma centers in the future. He suggested all three applicants be invited to become part of the task force.

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.

When it comes to enjoying a life-long career, mentoring, networking, and learning are all critical. Where can you go to power up on this trifecta of career development all at once?...Pharmacy association annual meetings, of course!... There is power in attending and participating in pharmacy professional associations. Learning the trends, getting up-to-date education, and reconnecting with mentors and colleagues can all happen when you take the time to attend professional society or association meetings...Regardless of your area of practice or the passions you have in pharmacy, do yourself a favor and attend a few pharmacy association meetings this year. Although the cost of attending is high in terms of both time and money, the rewards from participating in these conferences can be immense, from meeting up with colleagues and discovering best practices to learning how to get more involved in pharmacy on a larger level.

Independent pharmacy owners face significant business challenges in a market dominated by large retail pharmacy chains...research has shown that 83% of all new pharmacies go out of business within an average of 2.5 years...Pharmacy Development Services recently brought independent pharmacy leaders together at its annual conference in Orlando, Florida, to discuss building business strength and solvency...In a keynote session called "How Truly Wealthy Entrepreneurs Secure Big Gains with Their Money," Kevin O’Leary, who’s also known as Mr. Wonderful on ABC’s "Shark Tank," candidly offered no-nonsense advice for independent pharmacy businesses to not only stay afloat, but also reach the next level of success...Specifically, he advised PDS attendees to abide by the following 10 tips that can help strengthen their businesses.

1. Employees are valuable, but they aren’t your friends.
2. Maintain a clear line of command.
3. Be accessible.
4. Delegate, delegate, delegate.
5. Don’t procrastinate.
6. Never pass the buck.
7. Service trumps price.
8. Use technology as a weapon.
9. The boss shouldn’t necessarily make the most money.
10. Business is war.

The...controversial Cancer Drugs Fund will be replaced by a new fund controlled by the National Institute of Clinical Excellence from July this year... officials have now waved through proposals that will see the CDF switch to a ‘managed access’ fund...the current CDF list will be rolled over but will remain closed to new drugs pending the start of the new scheme in July...The operational detail of the new scheme will be developed over the coming months, but NHS England insists that it will help provide faster access to the most promising new cancer treatments for patients, drive stronger value for money for the taxpayer, and for drug companies willing to price their products "responsibly," offer a new fast-track route to NHS funding...Industry reaction... largely unchanged proposals that carry a very real risk of significantly setting back patient access to cancer medicines, now and for the foreseeable future...if cancer medicines go through more or less exactly the same NICE appraisal process that was in place five years ago - which necessitated the setting up of the CDF in the first place - we will largely get the same answers as before - the majority of medicines will be turned down...The Government needs to come clean about the impact of these proposals on cancer patients by publishing an assessment of their impact...

Sweden should become the new home of the European Medicines Agency if Britons vote to leave the European Union in a June referendum, according to the head of the Swedish pharmaceutical association...The agency, which approves medicines for all EU countries, has been based in London since it started in 1995. However, a so-called Brexit would leave Europe's equivalent of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration outside the bloc and could force a move...Shifting to Sweden would make sense, given the country's scientific strength and the leading role Swedish experts already play in European drug regulation…If the referendum in the UK results in a 'no' to the EU, the government should immediately launch an intensive lobbying campaign to make Sweden the new host country for the EMA...Many pharmaceutical executives also see a move as inevitable and they fear that a British "Out" vote would disrupt healthcare regulation in the world's biggest trading bloc...

Loblaw...posted $33.6 billion in revenue for its year ended Jan. 2, a 6.5% lift with one week less of sales - Loblaw's fiscal 2015 represents 52 weeks while fiscal 2014 represents 53 weeks...I am pleased to report that we continued to deliver against our financial plan in the fourth quarter...The company continues to execute on its strategic framework and purpose...delivering the best in food, best in health and beauty, operational excellence and growth...this framework has positioned us to achieve our financial plan amidst a competitive environment and continued pressures from healthcare reform...For the fourth quarter, Loblaw's retail pharmacy arm Shoppers Drug Mart realized same-store sales growth of 5%, with same-store pharmacy sales increasing by 4.2% and same-store front-store sales increasing by 5.7%.

McKesson announced...that it has signed definitive agreements to purchase Vantage Oncology, a leading national provider of radiation oncology, medical oncology and integrated cancer care, and Biologics, an oncology pharmacy services company, in a pair of transactions valued at $1.2 billion...Collectively, these acquisitions will increase McKesson’s specialty pharmaceutical distribution scale, oncology-focused pharmacy offerings, solutions for manufacturers and payers and scope of community-based oncology and practice management services available to providers and patients...Vantage will broaden the company’s scale in radiation oncology management services, adding more than 50 cancer centers across 13 states. Vantage operates a practice management model through joint ventures and shares profits with their partner physicians and hospitals...Biologics...specialty pharmacy model provides controlled dispensing channels, including rapid and traceable pharmaceutical delivery solutions, increased analytics, and services for oncology 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,"...