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vaccines widely used by humans today…are what we'd call "perfect" vaccines. But new research suggests that "imperfect" or "leaky" vaccines -- ones that don't make their hosts totally immune to the disease...might have a surprising downside…this so-called leakiness only exists in vaccines used to treat farm animals….researchers warn that as humankind tackles bigger, badder diseases,…. potential danger of leaky vaccines..

David D'Altorio, PharmD, senior vice president of health services at MedImpact Healthcare Systems, Inc, discusses takeaways from the impact of high cost drug launches on specialty pharmacy. (video)

Until CMS publishes...regulations, all providers and developers can do is hold tight – but the clock keeps ticking...in a real bind....anxiously waiting for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to release final rule changes to meaningful use regulations...all hospitals and eligible providers would be able to attest to 90 consecutive days of meaningful use for 2015 only, instead of an entire year.

Institute for Safe Medicine Practices....outlined safe practices for certain error-prone medications.."One thing I’d love to see pharmacists do more of is…not just educating patients about the drug, but also how to use the drug safely...and make follow-up calls to patients," …."I don’t think [pharmacists] do that enough."The following high-alert medications are considered safe and effective treatments, but their potential for error could cause serious harm:

1. Warfarin
2. Enoxaparin (Lovenox)
3. Fentanyl patch
4. Methotrexate (Trexall)
5. Hydrocodone and acetaminophen
6. Oxycodone and acetaminophen
7. Insulin lispro (Humalog) and insulin aspart (NovoLog)
8. Insulin glargine (Lantus)
9. Insulin glusine (Apidra)
10. Insulin detemir (Levemir)

Companies fail to report roughly one in 10 serious and unexpected medication side effects to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration within a 15-day window specified by federal regulations to protect patient safety…Drug manufacturers are also less likely to disclose serious adverse events within this window when patient deaths are involved than when complications aren’t fatal,…

Allergan is shelling out $560 million in cash for US biopharma Naurex and its two flagship experimental antidepressants....spending spree continues...

Teva…will acquire Allergan's global generic pharmaceuticals business…. legacy Actavis global generics business, including... international generic commercial units, third-party supplier Medis, global generic manufacturing operations, the global generic R&D unit, the international over-the-counter commercial unit….and some established international brands...

More than one-third of Americans are currently obese,…pharmacists may be in a position to encourage obese patients to lose weight. Here are 5 counseling points pharmacists should consider:

1. Daily weigh-ins can help patients not only lose weight, but also keep the pounds off.
2. Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers can produce significant weight loss with long-term efficacy.
3. Some parents may be reluctant to acknowledge their child’s obesity.
4. Losing weight can help reduce the burden of obesity’s comorbidities.
5. Patients on weight-loss medications are successful if they lose around 5% to 10% of their body weight.　

And you thought the fight over prices of cancer and hepatitis drugs was hot….new cholesterol drugs is setting the stage for a battle over the high prices of those specialty medications and the possibility that millions of people will end up using them each year.

collection of biological codes sits in a library at UNLV…focus is learning how the codes can help cells fight off HIV…work can be used to develop drugs much faster…second would be to apply the codes to a variety of other diseases and understand how the affected cells work… Lastly…would be to create personalized drugs for people by figuring out their own genetic codes.