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Products marketed to enhance sexual performance, such as the one used by Lamar Odom at a Pahrump brothel, might contain other ingredients that can pose risks to users, especially when used in combination with other drugs…more information is needed before any determination can be made about the cause of Odom's health complications…The former NBA basketball star was hospitalized...after being found unconscious at the brothel…Unapproved remedies for erectile dysfunction may include combinations of undisclosed ingredients or excessively high doses, both potentially dangerous situations…"I could take two herbal supplements off the shelf, and they could claim to be the same thing, and they won't be anything alike," said Jason Penrod, a member of the Nevada State Board of Pharmacy. "The only way you can know for sure is to take your 'herbal Viagra'...and analyze it in a biochemistry lab."…"They may or may not be effective," Dr. Michael Verni of the Urology Center of Las Vegas said. "All the vitamin makers have to prove is that their products are not harmful. They don't have to prove they work."

Ranchi: Around 18,000 licensed chemists of Jharkhand participated in the nationwide strike of drug sellers on Wednesday to protest against the growing online sale of medicines in the country, posing problems for customers…Private drug stores in Ranchi and across 24 districts kept their shutters down while the Jharkhand Chemists and Druggists Association, the umbrella organization of drug sellers in the state, kept a handful of medicine shops operational to sell emergency medicines to consumers. They demanded the Union government check e-commerce in medicine.

DNA4Life announced the…launch of its Pharmacogenetic Report, which will be available…to patients… DNA4Life’s test analyzes a person’s DNA to predict how they will respond to 120 commonly prescribed medication. One of the main goals of pharmacogenetics is avoiding adverse drug reaction…"Our differentiated and more comprehensive analysis will assist healthcare professionals in customizing a personalized treatment plan for their patients…particularly those being treated for chronic conditions, like high cholesterol, depression, ADHD or pain."

Now that Bristol-Myers Squibb has settled its foreign bribery case with the US government, speculation has turned to which pharma company will be next…Department of Justice will being putting a bigger squeeze on companies…the department is adding to the resources devoted to investigating foreign bribery cases and is focusing on large-value, high-impact matters…Glaxo is a leading example. It paid the largest healthcare fraud settlement ever – $3 billion – to the US in 2012 to resolve criminal and civil allegations of improper marketing practices...Glaxo’s Chinese subsidiary paid nearly $500 million to China after a court found the local subsidiary guilty of bribing healthcare officials. Glaxo is likely to pay millions more to settle bribery charges as both US and UK regulators are investigating the drugmaker’s practices in China, Poland, Jordan and Lebanon.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc, under fire for price increases of its two heart drugs, said it was subpoenaed by U.S. prosecutors on its pricing, drug distribution and patient assistance programs…. The company, which came under attack from Democratic lawmakers in late September over "massive" price increases, said it was reviewing subpoenas from the offices of attorneys for the District of Massachusetts and the Southern District of New York…Valeant had tripled Isuprel's price and raised Nitropress price more than six times after buying them in February.

Jay Greco, RPh, owner of Jersey Shore Pharmacy, discusses significant issues causing difficulties for specialty pharmacy.

This infographic from the 2015 HIMSS Cybersecurity Survey shows the greatest areas of improvement in cybersecurity that healthcare organizations were able to achieve this year.

The biotechnology sector has taken a big dive in recent weeks, mostly for reasons that have more to do with political posturing than with industry fundamentals...Let's examine why biotech's plummet happened -- and explore two growth-and-income stocks that are poised to soar because of it.

..majority of healthcare professionals in the UK support greater transparency on payments received from pharmaceutical companies, but some feel the move could make working with the industry more difficult…87% agreed that payments from pharma to individually named healthcare professionals should be disclosed…32% of healthcare professionals surveyed feel the disclosure of individual payments is unnecessary, while 26% believe that doing so will adversely affect medical innovation… survey results come as pharmaceutical companies gear up to unveil payments and other ‘transfers of value’ …on a publicly accessible database…the new ‘Sunshine rule’, which comes into force next year, NHS staff who fail to disclose perks received from drug companies could face being disciplined, dismissed or even sent to jail for breach of the Bribery Act.

US pharmacists moving abroad, beware. You may have to take a pay cut, considering that pharmacists in the United States tend to receive higher salaries than their counterparts in other countries...See how the United States ranks against some other high-paying countries for pharmacists below: (average salary)

• United States - $107,000 to $118,000
• Switzerland - $83,600
• Canada - $80,700
• United Kingdom - $57,000 to $53,300
• Germany - $44,800