- July 5 Pharmacy Week in Review: Vitamin D Deficiency Linked to Elevated Blood Pressure in Children, Chronic Pain is the Most Common Long-Term Effect of Cancer Treatment (pharmacytimes.com)
Nicole Grassano, PTNN, Pharmacy Week in Review, this weekly video program provides our readers with an in-depth review of the latest news, product approvals, FDA rulings and more.
- WBA’s Boots banner to close roughly 200 stores (drugstorenews.com)
Walgreens Boots Alliance is downsizing its U.K. retail footprint...The company is closing some 200 of its more than 2,500 Boots stores in the U.K., consolidating them with other Boots locations. The shutterings are part of Walgreens’ “global cost management transformation program,” which is expected to provide a good part of the funding required for its technology upgrades and development investments...In a statement, Boots UK managing director Sebastian James said the stores to be shuttered were local pharmacy stores in locations where the company has a large number of stores within close proximity...READ MORE
- June 28 Pharmacy Week in Review: PBM Reform in 1 State Could Have Implications on Federal Reform, Study Shows Medical Marijuana Does Not Reduce Fatal Opioid Overdoses (pharmacytimes.com)
Nicole Grassano, PTNN, Pharmacy Week in Review, this weekly video program provides our readers with an in-depth review of the latest news, product approvals, FDA rulings and more.
- Diabetes innovations enable self-care, patient engagement (drugstorenews.com)
Diabetes care is providing a gateway for better interaction between pharmacists and patients...people with diabetes visit the retail pharmacy not only to have their prescriptions filled, but also to learn more about blood sugar levels, A1C testing and self-care... Pharmacists also have to face the challenges of keeping costs down, not just for the retailer, but for the patients as well...Manufacturers said many of the latest innovations can help. The product launches help make blood glucose testing easier, more comfortable and more affordable. As a result, patients can be encouraged to improve their self-care, and also reduce certain costs... Greater involvement in the patient’s health care can improve patient results and hopefully, in the process, buy greater loyalty to the pharmacy that they happen to be working with...There are more than a few pharmacy chains that hire pharmacists not to fill prescriptions, but to work on phones, do medication management, and, when they see an issue, they can call the patient or call the healthcare provider...READ MORE
- Needle innovations
- Beyond testing and injecting
- The future
- Albertsons pharmacy technicians first in Idaho trained to prescribe naloxone (drugstorenews.com)
As a new Idaho law allowing pharmacy technicians to prescribe naloxone takes effect, Albertsons announced that its Boise-area pharmacy technicians are the first in the state who have been trained to do so...The law, signed in February, makes Idaho the first state in the nation to add pharmacy technicians to the ranks of pharmacists, physicians and nurse practitioners in being able to prescribe the opioid overdose reversal drug. Idaho Gov. Brad Little also issued an executive order creating an advisory group in the state to guide healthcare decisions and strategies related to opioid misuse...“Idaho is leading other states in the steps we are taking to expand access to this critical medication and in our efforts to address the opioid crisis,” Little said. “Training pharmacy technicians and all health professionals to prescribe naloxone further reaches our underserved and rural communities. Albertsons has been a key partner in increasing the scope of practice for both pharmacists and technicians to continue improving access to beneficial and lifesaving medications.”...READ MORE
- How medication management tech helps one hospital better identify interventions (healthcareitnews.com)
CGH Medical Center pharmacists say the system’s Med Card gives patients a better way to keep track of their medications – and say using the software has helped increase clinical knowledge...At CGH Medical Center in Sterling, Illinois, preventable readmissions represent a huge financial and clinical uncertainty...
- THE PROBLEM
- PROPOSAL
- MARKETPLACE
- MEETING THE CHALLENGE
- RESULTS
Pharmacists counseled more than 650 patients in the first eight months of the program at the 97-bed facility. They identified medication interventions in nearly half of all discharges. Depending on the intervention made, these changes had a major impact on patient safety and the cost of their medications...“While we haven’t been able to measure it yet, we are looking into how this program will impact our overall readmission rates and penalties, as well as HCAHPS scores,” said Tim Dunphy, director of pharmacy at CGH Medical Center...READ MORE
- Opioid use booming as tramadol crisis emerges in Africa – U.N. drug report (reuters.com)World Drug Report 2019 - Executive Summary (wdr.unodc.org)World Drug Report 2019 (wdr.unodc.org)
Seizures of tramadol globally have surged from less than 10 kg in 2010 to almost 9 tonnes in 2013 and 125 tonnes in 2017, the report showed, adding that the problem was particularly severe in West, Central and North Africa...Several West African countries have reported that tramadol is one of the most widely used drugs for non-medical purposes after cannabis, which remains by far the most popular globally… Some consume tramadol for its calming, analgesic and anti-fatigue effects in order to improve intellectual, physical and working performances, and to lessen the need for sleep and decrease appetite...In farming communities, there are reports of tramadol being used by humans and fed to cattle to enable them to work under extreme conditions. Others use tramadol as a recreational drug on account of its stimulant and euphoric effects, or to improve sexual stamina...READ MORE
- Former FDA head Gottlieb joins Pfizer board (biopharmadive.com)Warren blasts Gottlieb's jump to Pfizer, but ex-FDA chief says he's 'proud' (fiercepharma.com)
Pharma giant Pfizer...named former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb to its board of directors, less than three months after he left his post at the agency...Since departing the FDA, Gottlieb has also rejoined the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington, D.C. think tank, and New Enterprise Associates, a venture capital firm, both organizations he worked at before becoming FDA chief...Former commissioners frequently join industry boards following their tenure at the FDA. Robert Califf, Gottlieb's immediate predecessor, serves on the board of Cytokinetics, a small biotech developing drugs for neuromuscular and heart diseases...READ MORE
- American caravan arrives in Canadian ‘birthplace of insulin’ for cheaper medicine (ca.reuters.com)Americans caravan to Canada to buy insulin (toronto.citynews.ca)Life with diabetes is complicated. Access to vital insulin, diabetes supplies and medical care should not be. (t1international.com)
A self-declared “caravan” of Americans bused across the Canada-U.S. border...seeking affordable prices for insulin and raising awareness of “the insulin price crisis” in the United States...The group called Caravan to Canada started the journey from Minneapolis, Minnesota...and stopped at London, Ontario...to purchase life-saving type 1 diabetes medication at a pharmacy...The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported in May that Canadian pharmacists have seen a “quiet resurgence” in Americans coming to Canada looking for cheaper pharmaceuticals...Quinn Nystrom, a leader of T1International’s Minnesota chapter, said on May via Twitter that the price of insulin in the United States per vial was $320, while in Canada the same medication under a different name was $30...READ MORE
- CVS Pharmacy completes time delay safe rollout in Michigan (drugstorenews.com)
CVS Pharmacy has completed the rollout of time delay safes in all of its 318 CVS Pharmacy locations in Michigan, including pharmacies located in Target stores...The safes are anticipated to help prevent pharmacy robberies and the diversion of controlled substance narcotic medications by keeping them out of the hands of unauthorized individuals, as well as help the company ensure the safety and well-being of its customers and employees...The company expects these time delay safes to help deter pharmacy robberies including those involving opioid medications such as oxycodone and hydrocodone by electronically delaying the time it takes for pharmacy employees to be able to open the safe. CVS Pharmacy first implemented time delay safes in Indianapolis, a city experiencing at the time a high volume of pharmacy robberies, in 2015. The company saw a 70% decline in pharmacy robberies among the Indianapolis stores where the time delay safes had been installed...READ MORE