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AstraZeneca Plc opened a new $224-million factory in Russia…The move is intended to reinforce the group’s long-term commitment to the country which is one of the drugmaker’s key emerging markets…it…opened a new manufacturing and packaging plant in the Kaluga region southwest of Moscow…largest foreign investment in the construction of a new pharmaceutical facility in the country…the plant to reach full capacity in 2017 and to produce about 40 million packs and 850 million tablets of some 30 medicines every year, which represents more than 60 percent of the medicines the company sells in Russia...

We can’t just say we need more and more people engaged, we need to have particular targets'…There's little question that patient engagement is one of the most promising trends in healthcare today…the potential – in terms of cost-savings, personalized patient care and healthier populations …The reality…is that the industry has a long way to go before reaching the Holy Grail of patients harnessing technologies to own their own healthcare and more effectively interact with caregivers and clinicians… five things that need to happen for patient engagement to move from the abstract to the concrete:

• It's time to end information asymmetry
• Less engagement, not more
• Understand what really matters
• Design matters but senses are the real opportunity
• The natural next step: hard science

Ronna B. Hauser, PharmD, vice president of pharmacy affairs for the National Community Pharmacists Association,  discusses what pharmacists need to know about the memorandum of understanding regarding the interstate shipment of compounds.

James Schiffer, RPh, associate at Allegaert Berger & Vogel LLC, discusses some of the DEA's requirements for handling controlled substances.

…most influential source for U.S. oncology treatment guidelines…unveiled ratings aimed at helping doctors and patients assess the costs versus benefits of current therapies for two types of blood cancer…National Comprehensive Cancer Network…its new "Evidence Blocks" for multiple myeloma and chronic myelogenous leukemia are the first in a series that by the end of next year will encompass all oncology therapies, other than surgery or radiation… These are crafted to provide a little bit more information about cost, effectiveness, safety - all those things that the NCCN guidelines in the past haven't provided...The blocks give each therapy a score of between one and five in five categories: efficacy, safety, quality and consistency of evidence and affordability.

Despite the best intentions of medical professionals, patients often don't feel as if their voices are being heard in the care process… that providers can do more to improve care results and the consumer experience…five ideas for providers to bridge that disconnect:

1. Engage patients as equal partners in the care process
2. Focus on listening
3. Tell patients to seek a diagnosis, not a test
4. Bring care to patients
5. Take better advantage of available data

Students in Alaska will no longer have to leave their home state to pursue a pharmacy degree...University of Alaska Anchorage and Idaho State University are partnering on a joint pharmacy program that will launch next fall with 10 to 15 students…One of the goals of the program is to encourage more students to stay in Alaska for work after graduation…"The premise is that we get pharmacists—clinical pharmacists—who are reared in the state, who are from here, and who will be networked into the pharmacy community here, so they stay here,"...

ICD-10 claims "are flowing successfully," to the tune of approximately $25 billion thus far…"Now the industry must be ready to tackle the next set of challenges: timely and correct reimbursement,"…tracking…days until final bill, an important metric that will signal just how disruptive the code change is to the industry… days until final bill has averages 14.8 days since the Oct. 1, but most of those claims were coded in ICD-9. There are still a few weeks until the wave of ICD-10 claims begin to be paid…troubles with ICD-10 could be felt soon… we continue to anticipate a groundswell of issues in getting claims out the door and an increase in denials and rejections...

...first FDA-approved drug (Addyi,flibanserin) for female sexual dysfunction is available in the United States today (Oct. 17), marking a much-anticipated milestone for women who struggle with sexual desire. Sprout, the pharmaceutical company behind the drug, has spent $50m to develop the treatment. But female sexual desire is biologically complex, and this drug won’t work like similar products for men. Here are the key details:

• Who is it for?
• How does it work?
• What are the effects?
• What are the risks?
• How much will it cost?

Health systems’ interest in gaining entry to the specialty-pharmacy market should not be a surprise, considering that specialty drug sales are growing at rates reported to be approximately 19% per year… the 340B pricing program could offer substantial incentives to certain qualifying health systems when they retain specialty-pharmacy prescriptions… Add in the trend of health systems’ entry into risk-sharing contracts, the formation of accountable care organizations, and the consolidation and merging of specialist physician practices… Health systems bring a number of advantages to the specialty marketplace… full integration and availability of clinical information to multidisciplinary health care providers allows for a level of care coordination that is unlikely to be matched by unaffiliated pharmacies.