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…code-named ‘T-Rex’...Safeway Inc. spent about $350 million to build clinics in more than 800 of its supermarkets to offer blood tests by startup Theranos Inc…But the tests never began, the clinics are now used largely for flu shots and travel-related vaccines, and the two companies have been negotiating to officially dissolve their partnership…Safeway executives said Theranos missed deadlines for the blood-testing rollout…article reported that the proprietary lab instrument developed by Theranos as the anchor of its growth strategy handled just a small fraction of the tests sold to consumers at the end of 2014…also…some of the startup’s former employees were leery about the machine’s accuracy.

Once a pharmacy has attracted a solid base of patients, the next step is keeping them coming…pharmacies can maintain a loyal community of patients…patients are on autopilot, so their habits may lead them to the same pharmacy every time. However, other patients may have medications filled at multiple pharmacies, and some of them may be looking for a home base…Here are 5 tips to keep patients loyal to your pharmacy:

1. Let patients know what you do, and tell your story
2. Implement an adherence program
3. Investigate your pharmacy’s challenges
4. Know your market
5. Find your niche

Starting today, all pharmacies in Greece will close for 24 hours due to a strike…The impact of closed pharmacies—including disruption to patients’ access to medications—may not be widely covered, as Greek journalists are preparing to cancel news broadcasts and online content today, as well…Public services, museums, and schools will also close, public transportation will be affected, and hospitals will function with emergency staff…Small regional airports will cancel flights, and ferries will stay in port.

What happens to physician-patient confidentiality when any government agency can obtain a patient’s prescription records without a warrant? A case before a state supreme court threatens to keep these indiscriminant lines of investigation wide open…Lewis v. Superior Court of Los Angeles County, a case before the Supreme Court of the State of California, calls into question whether or not the California Medical Board infringed upon patients’ constitutional right to privacy when it obtained prescription data without a showing of good cause. The board did so through the California Department of Justice database, which allows broad and indiscriminate disclosures to state, local and federal agencies—including law enforcement—and fails to adequately protect patient privacy.

Avoiding pre-market verification is downright easy…Theranos isn’t alone in avoiding regulation using an easily exploited loophole — in fact, it’s just one among many…Pathway Genomics, Admera Health, and Strand Life Sciences are diagnostics companies that offer cancer tests that impact people’s health care decisions. None of these companies have published data about their tests in peer-reviewed journals. Nor were any of these companies required to show regulators that their tests worked before they started marketing them to patients and physicians. That’s because each of these companies has been making use of what's known as the "laboratory developed test" loophole — which makes avoiding pre-market verification downright easy...Under the LDT loophole, any company that develops and conducts a diagnostic test in their own lab…can avoid submitting that test to the FDA before using it on patients. This get-out-of-regulation-free card exists because research hospitals often modify commercial tests. In the case of these hospitals, the academic researchers tend to publish their results anyway…The FDA knows this — even they’ve been calling LDTs a loophole — and the agency wants to change the way these tests are regulated…until that loophole closes, we’ll keep seeing companies using the LDTs as a dodge, because it’s a simpler and cheaper way to get to market. The real expense, of course, is patients’ health.

Elias Cachine, PharmD, BCPS (AQ-10), discusses the factors that can potentially contribute to antimicrobial overuse in geriatric patients.

Carlos Aquino, founder and president of PharmaDiversion LLC, talks about his experience working undercover for the Philadelphia Drug Enforcement Administration task force.

Media scrutiny of high drug costs…spending on drugs represents 10% of overall health care costs. Together, hospital and physician expenditures account for 6 times the spending on drugs. Despite a recent uptick in the rate of drug cost growth, over the past 10 years the pace of hospital and physician expenditures has exceeded prescription drugs…these facts do not make for eye-catching headlines. By contrast, the recent surge in the price of drugs targeting hepatitis C, HIV, and various cancer and orphan diseases, is salient and the focal point of media attention…Here, we unravel several mysteries surrounding drug pricing and alignment of price and value.

• Why is pricing in the U.S. different?
• How are drugs priced in the US?
• What about R&D and its relation to price?
• Then what?
• But, does price = value?
• What are the alternatives?
• Summary

…Americans overdose and die after taking opioid painkillers...people abuse or misuse the drugs…addictions and deaths mount…authorities are struggling to cope…State lawmakers are introducing bills to restrict prescribing…Food and Drug Administration is pushing pharmaceutical companies to develop more tamper-resistant products…the most sweeping initiative comes from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which has prepared preliminary prescribing guidelines for primary care physicians…call on doctors to prescribe opioids only after other therapies have failed…there is considerable opposition to the guidelines…critics…say the CDC guideline process was flawed and, as a result, some patients will be denied much-needed pain relief.

A local pharmacy owner says the Affordable Care Act is putting him out of business. After nearly 20 years in operation, Mike's Pharmacy in Carson City will close its doors for good on Wednesday, November 11, 2015…Mike's Pharmacy opened in Carson City in 1997 and has been a community institution ever since…"It is very hard to lose this business because of circumstances I had no control of," said Mike Hautekeet, owner of Mike’s Pharmacy…He says the trouble started with the implementation of Obamacare. It wasn't the employer obligation; his employees already had insurance. Instead Hautekeet says Obamacare changed the way pharmacies are reimbursed by insurance companies…"If my cost is too high, and they reimburse me not enough, a lot of times we lose money to fill the prescription," said Hautekeet.