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Valeant Pharmaceuticals' much-ballyhooed agreement with Walgreens includes an unusual inventory provision that helps explain why the pharmacy chain might have been eager to strike a deal...Valeant is buying back its drugs from Walgreens and selling them on consignment to the pharmacy, a provision that triggers an upfront financial hit. Walgreens won't physically return the drugs, just the title to them...It's just one out-of-the-ordinary feature of an out-of-the-ordinary pharmacy deal. Valeant announced last week that it had teamed up with Walgreens to distribute its drugs, discounting key skin and eye brands by 10% and another slate of meds by an average of 50%. Walgreens is taking the Valeant drugs on consignment and collects fees for filling prescriptions…The Walgreens partnership replaces Valeant's relationship with Philidor, a specialty pharmacy that was closely tied to the drugmaker until questions arose about its operations...The drugmaker is expecting a sales hit from the pharmacy shift, partly because of the mechanics of the Walgreens deal and partly because of lower demand for its drugs in the wake of the Philidor allegations.

Public programs such as Medicaid are a necessity – not only for low-income families but for all the public, which benefits from a healthier population...These programs need access to affordable prescription drugs to treat those suffering from diseases like hepatitis and HIV. Unfortunately, their services are threatened by recent price increases from pharmaceutical companies like Turing and Gilead...I worry that such prices for prescription drugs are driving up spending for critical public programs like Medicaid, Medicare, and Tricare at unsustainable rates. We need to be able to cure life-threatening diseases for the low-income, seniors and veterans. But at these prices, it’s simply not feasible. Clearly something needs to change...

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Drug companies have taken too great a share of the benefits of new drug treatments but are moving to different models involving sharing more with health systems and insurers..."We need to transition into a system in which pharmaceutical manufacturers share the benefits of new drugs"..."At the moment, we still keep too much of that benefit for ourselves."..."I'm not saying pricing in the United States is not an issue ... Something will change. But I don't think the government will bring that change, I think it will come from the private sector,"...

State officials have been cracking down on Florida’s "pill mills" over the past five year to prevent pain clinics from dispensing large quantities of prescription opioids to residents without following proper protocol–and their efforts seem to be paying off...a new study revealed that approximately 1,029 fewer people in Florida lost their lives to prescription opioid-related overdoses over a 34-month period than would have had the Sunshine State not targeted pill mills beginning in 2010...State officials passed new laws in 2010 and 2011 to curb opioid abuse, misuse and overdose in the state by establishing greater oversight over pain clinics. "These laws prohibited ​on-site dispensing of most prescription narcotics, prohibited advertising and increased criminal penalties for doctors and clinic owners involved drug diversion,"..."In addition, state and local law enforcement collaborated with the DEA to enforce these new laws, arresting pill mill owners, physicians and other staff, and seizing assets."...The study’s authors believe Floridians are less likely to become addicted to heroin because people are less likely to abuse prescription opioids, mainly due to the fact that they aren’t readily available in the state.

Prices for brand-name drugs are typically higher in the U.S. than other developed countries. The drug industry has argued it's misleading to focus on U.S. list prices that exclude discounts struck behind closed doors with insurers...A Bloomberg News analysis finds that even after these discounts, prices are higher in the U.S. than abroad. Seven of eight top-selling drugs examined still cost more in the U.S. than most other countries..."We can no longer sustain a system where 300 million Americans subsidize drug development for the entire world," said Steve Miller, chief medical officer for Express Scripts Holding Co...The drug industry sees it differently..."The entire health-care system in the United States is more expensive than other countries," said Robert Zirkelbach, a spokesman for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America trade group. "The difference in prices here in the U.S. compared to other countries is often vastly overstated," because comparisons don’t include all the discounts drugmakers give to various payers...In the U.S., list prices are just a little bit crazy, and even with discounts...

Alongside the growing prevalence of chronic pain and prescription opioid use, drug-related overdose continues to claim the lives of 17,000 Americans each year...Deaths from unintentional opioid overdose have increased 56% since 2010. In 2013, 83% of the opioid overdoses were unintentional...In 2010, there were approximately 136,000 emergency room visits related to opioid-induced respiratory depression and overdose. Needless to say, opioid overdoses are...drastically increasing health care costs...When naloxone is administered by first responders outside an institutional setting, it can improve outcomes for emergency opioid reversal prior to a patient reaching the emergency department. There are currently 2 FDA-approved naloxone formulations for take-home use: the auto-injector...and the new intranasal formulation...

• Who Should Receive Take-Home Naloxone?
• The Risk Index for Overdose or Serious Opioid-Induced Respiratory Depression (RIOSORD)
• Risk Factors Associated with OSORD (opioid-induced respiratory depression)
• How Can I Use RIOSORD in a Community Pharmacy?
• Risk Mitigation and Patient Education
• Conclusion

With the availability of naloxone for take-home use, no one should lament over the loss of a loved one because a life-saving medication was not easily accessible...We can’t agree that naloxone availability will end opioid overdose deaths, but it certainly is our professional responsibility to ensure that we’ve taken every step to reduce risks...Pharmacists, physicians, and student clinicians have an excellent opportunity to mitigate opioid overdose risks by employing the validated RIOSORD tool. RIOSORD can aid opioid prescribers in identifying at risk patients, and it can also help encourage a candid dialogue among pharmacists, patients, and caregivers to reduce patient harm.

Since 1990, the United Health Foundation’s "America’s Health Rankings" have tracked the status of our nation’s health and the overall health of each state. These rankings have become established as the nation’s annual checkup and provide an opportunity to see how Nevada stacks up on health measures versus other states...Nevada’s overall health ranking is currently 38th, an increase from last year’s ranking of 39th. This year’s report not only indicates an improved overall ranking for Nevada over the past five years – up from 48th in 2010 – it points to notable areas of improvement…population health challenges in Nevada, including chronic primary care physician workforce shortages (47th), a high percentage of the population who remain uninsured (47th), high rates of drug deaths (47th) and violent crime (48th), and a low high school graduation rate (48th)...These deficits are compounded by the stunning lack of investment by Nevada lawmakers for basic public health services. This year’s rankings report indicates that state general fund support for core public health activities – disease surveillance, infectious and chronic disease prevention, and public health preparedness – is a miserly $33 per person in Nevada (50th)...This year’s rankings provide Nevada health leaders and policymakers with an opportunity to renew our commitment to confront formidable health challenges in our state in the coming year. To put matters mildly, plenty of work remains for us in 2016.

As World Health Organization figures show China rising to the top of the list of countries with the most cancer cases, its people are facing increasing problems in trying to find ways to pay for their treatments. Healthcare costs are soaring in the nation despite the government's efforts to force drug prices lower...China spends $115 billion on pharmaceuticals annually, but stubbornly high prices mean some are having to make life-and-death decisions...China's cancer crisis takes an estimated 2.2 million lives each year...and the trials and tribulations of its people are exacerbated by the lack of insurance...cancer patients pay anywhere from 80% to 120% of U.S. prices for foreign medicines and also pay up to 77% of all private healthcare costs...China claims that it covers 95% of the healthcare coverage for its citizens, but costly foreign drugs for cancer treatments are often not covered. The country is undergoing a massive reorganization of its healthcare system that is expected to cost upward of $460 billion and is trying to cut drug costs and improve insurance coverage...China's efforts to slash spending on drugs is having a perverse effect on its public hospitals which rely on drug sales to add to their operating revenues.

• Atezolizumab/Nab-Paclitaxel Highly Effective in Breast Cancer
• Pembrolizumab Effective in ER-Positive Breast Cancer
• Neratinib 3-Year ExteNET Data Similar to Primary Analysis
• Buparlisib Modestly Effective in Breast Cancer
• Avelumab Effective in PD-L1-Positive Breast Cancer
• Adding Denosumab Improves DFS in Breast Cancer
• FDA Approves Alectinib for ALK-Positive NSCLC
• FDA Approves Cooling Cap to Prevent Hair Loss
• Priority Review Granted to Palbociclib Plus Fulvestrant
• FDA Approves Bendamustine Hydrochloride for CLL, NHL
• Priority Review to Crizotinib for ROS1 NSCLC
• FDA Approves Uridine Triacetate for Chemo Overdose