- Development goals to support transformation of the entire pharmacy profession launched by FIP (fip.org)Pharmaceutical Workforce Development Goals (fip.org)
Goals to support the transformation of the pharmacy profession around the world are launched today by FIP...The FIP Development Goals build on 13 Pharmaceutical Workforce Development Goals for pharmacy education developed by the federation in 2016. Additions have been made to these 13 goals and eight new goals have been developed, providing a total of 21 goals relevant to fields of practice and science as well as to workforce and education...READ MORE
The new goals cover:
• Medicines expertise
• People-centred care
• Communicable diseases
• Antimicrobial stewardship
• Access to medicines, devices & services
• Patient safety
• Digital health
• Sustainability in pharmacy - U.S. imposes sanctions on Argentina-based online pharmacies for opioids (reuters.com)
The U.S. Treasury Department...placed sanctions on Goldpharma, an Argentina-based network of online pharmacies that it said contributed to the opioid crisis by selling clandestinely produced narcotics to customers in the United States...The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control also designated eight Argentine nationals and nine entities located in Argentina, Colombia, Canada, Britain and the Netherlands for their roles in Goldpharma...“The Goldpharma network illustrates the sophisticated tactics drug traffickers and money launderers use to capitalize on the Internet and online pharmacy sites to sell highly addictive illicit narcotics around the world,” said Sigal Mandelker, Treasury under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence...READ MORE
- CVS offers ‘guaranteed net cost’ for pharmacy benefit clients (reuters.com)
Pharmacy chain and benefits manager CVS Health Corp...said...it will offer a new prescription benefit option guaranteeing its health plan clients 100 percent of any rebates, discounts or other fees paid by drugmakers...The new plan model is aimed at providing greater drug cost simplicity, predictability and transparency...Under its new option, CVS takes on the risk of drug price inflation and shifts in drug use - at least for the term of each contract...The new model guarantees average spending per prescription across each distribution channel – retail, mail order and specialty pharmacy...
- Drug chains tumble on reports Amazon eyeing their pie (reuters.com)
Shares of drug retailers Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc, CVS Health Corp and Rite Aid Corp tumbled on Friday after reports that Amazon.com Inc was looking to make a move into selling drugs online...Amazon is reported to be in discussions with mid-market pharmacy benefit managers and has been hiring talent to assess the drug retailing market for its entry…We are convinced that AMZN will almost certainly enter the drug distribution value chain within 2 years, evolving into a more disruptive offering over time...Amazon’s entry into pharmaceuticals has been long rumored in the media...Shares of drug retailers Walgreens closed down 5.8 percent, Rite Aid 4.9 percent and CVS Health 4.9 percent.
- FDA cracks down on online retailers selling scam COVID-19 treatments (mmm-online.com)Fraudulent Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Products (fda.gov)
With little still known about the novel coronavirus and its treatments, some shady websites are grabbing coronavirus-related URLs to push unproven products to consumers...The Food and Drug Administration has issued more than 20 warning letters since mid-May to websites selling unproven COVID-19 treatments. These online retailers are selling products like hydroxychloroquine, essential oils and alternative sanitizers that claim to treat COVID-19 or kill the virus on surfaces...The FDA took action against these websites, requiring that they remove claims that certain products will treat COVID-19 and stop selling drugs like chloroquine for unapproved uses...READ MORE
- Nevada State Board of Pharmacy News (bop.nv.gov)
Board Members
Leo Basch, PharmD, RPh, Las Vegas
Robert Sullivan, Reno
Jason Penrod, PharmD, RPh, Reno
Kevin Desmond, RPh, Reno
Wayne Mitchell, PharmD, RPh, Carson City
Melissa Shake, PharmD, RPh, Las Vegas
Jade Jacobo, PharmD, JD, RPh, Las Vegas
Retirement of the Executive Secretary
- Larry L. Pinson, PharmD, RPhNew Reno Office -
985 Damonte Ranch Parkway, Suite 206, Reno, NV 89521.
Board Member UpdateNevada Medicaid Initiates Antibiotics Prior Authorization Criteria - Nevada Department of Health and Human Services
National Pharmacy Compliance NewsFinal Guidance Documents Address FDA Policies Related to DSCSA
First FDA-Approved Drug Containing Extract From Cannabis Plant to Be Placed in Schedule V
ASHP Guidelines Provide Recommendations for Preventing Patient Harm From Medication Errors
FDA’s Final Guidance Documents Address Compounding and Repackaging of Radiopharmaceuticals
Pharmacy Toolkit Encourages Conversations With Patients About Prescription Opioids
Biosimilars Added to FIP’s Policy on Pharmacists’ Right to Substitute a Medication
FDA Offers CE Course on Reducing Hypoglycemic Events in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes - Leveraging Health Literacy and Patient Preferences to Reduce Hypoglycemic Events in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes
- Amazon Buys PillPack: Six Pharmacy and Drug Channel Implications (drugchannels.net)Why Amazon’s Push Into Prescription Drugs Isn’t a Guaranteed Success (nytimes.com)Amazon could start selling discounted meds to cash payers as soon as the PillPack deal closes (cnbc.com)
Amazon has entered the pharmacy business with its acquisition of PillPack, a small mail pharmacy. Consider this move to be the end of the beginning for the pharmacy industry's evolution...The stock prices of pharmacies and pharmacy benefit managers predictably plunged...This is a small first step that will let Amazon begin growing a pharmacy dispensing business...We are still a long, long way from a fundamental restructuring of the complex U.S. drug channel. The incumbents still have opportunities to defend their position, capture value from internet technologies, and streamline distribution...
OBSERVATIONS- Amazon has made a small, partly defensive move into pharmacy dispensing.
- Amazon now has a turnkey platform for disrupting the cash-pay prescription business.
- Amazon can reinvent consumer perceptions of non-store pharmacy dispensing.
- PBMs face the prospect of disruption to their long-favored network strategies.
- Amazon still lacks a specialty pharmacy solution—and may not want one.
- The deal is good news for vertical integration.
- The Future of Pharmacy Chains (drugtopics.com)
It’s no secret that healthcare is in a state of rapid shifts—it has been for a long time, and it shows no sign of slowing in its evolution—and pharmacy is no exception. From independents to big box to large chains to hospitals, every pharmacist is going to feel (and is already feeling) significant changes...Perhaps the greatest shift in recent years, however, has come from chains. Changes in chains affect not only the pharmacists working in those chains, but show how pharmacy as a whole is evolving...READ MORE
- Cost, safety main reasons for personal prescription imports from Canada (chaindrugreview.com)
The Campaign for Personal Prescription Importation...released survey results highlighting the reasons Americans continue to purchase their personal prescriptions from licensed and legitimate online pharmacies in Canada, safely, at considerable cost savings, and often at the recommendation of a healthcare provider...The majority of respondents – 94% – cited cost as the main reason they order their medications from licensed, legitimate online pharmacies, which is an increase from last year’s survey in which 79% of respondents cited cost as the main reason. In addition, 97% of survey respondents would recommend ordering prescription medications from an online pharmacy in Canada to their friends and family members...
- Canadian pharmacy fined $34 million for illegal imports (ktvn.com)
An online pharmacy that bills itself as Canada's largest was fined $34 million...for importing counterfeit cancer drugs and other unapproved pharmaceuticals into the United States...U.S. prosecutors say Canada Drugs' business model is based entirely on illegally importing unapproved and misbranded drugs not just from Canada, but from all over the world. The company has made at least $78 million through illegal imports, including two that were counterfeit versions of the cancer drugs Avastin and Altuzan that had no active ingredient, prosecutors said...judge...approved federal prosecutors' recommended sentences that include $29 million forfeited, $5 million in fines and five years' probation for Canada Drugs...also sentenced Thorkelson (founder, Kris Thorkelson) to six months' house arrest, five years' probation and a $250,000 fine...