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The FDA is easing its lockdown on compounded drugs to help ease COVID-19 drug shortages...After a series of high-profile failures in the early 2010s, the compounding pharmacy industry took its share of body blows from an FDA looking to impose its will...The FDA will temporarily allow hospitals to source hard-to-find drugs from compounding pharmacies to treat certain patients hospitalized with severe COVID-19...The regulation, meant to last as long as hospitals continue to encounter shortages of key drugs, applies to compounding pharmacies that aren't already sanctioned by the FDA as "outsourcing facilities." To qualify, the copycat drugs must be listed on the FDA's shortages list, and hospitals must have exhausted all other options to access a commercial version of the drug...READ MORE

University Medical Center…began prescribing hydroxychloroquine to high-risk emergency room patients who test positive for COVID-19 but do not require immediate hospitalization…In doing so, UMC became the first Las Vegas-area hospital to dispense it on an outpatient basis, taking a cutting-edge position nationally in the use of the controversial experimental drug… Dr. Thomas Zyniewicz, an emergency medicine physician at UMC, said the drug, which is frequently used to treat malaria and autoimmune diseases, has shown promising results in thwarting the progression of COVID-19… Dr. Thomas Zyniewicz, an emergency medicine physician at UMC, said the drug, which is frequently used to treat malaria and autoimmune diseases, has shown promising results in thwarting the progression of COVID-19…READ MORE

This week, the top managed care news includes a report on how CDC lacks data to tell the full story on disparities in the COVID-19 pandemic, Medicare Advantage gets a pay bump amid COVID-19 rule changes, and the nation’s top infectious disease expert speaks with the editor-in-chief of JAMA.

CVS Health Corp said that it will launch two new drive-through COVID-19 testing sites in Georgia and Rhode Island...using new, faster tests than had previously been available, with up to four more locations to follow...The company said both drive-through testing sites will use testing equipment made by Abbott Laboratories that can deliver results within minutes. It expects to be able to perform around 1,000 tests per day at each site...“We want to get some experience under our belt with these sites and understand exactly sort of what the volume looks like. And we’ll also be improving the logistics associated with each of the sites over time,” CVS Chief Medical Officer Troy Brennan said...READ MORE

Rite Aid continues to expand COVID-19 testing sites with eleven new locations opening Wednesday, April 22, in Delaware, Idaho, Michigan, New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia through its partnership with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services...Now spanning eight states and 24 store locations, all of Rite Aid’s self-testing sites will be open from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. seven days a week and expect to be able to conduct approximately 200 tests each day through online appointments. In total, Rite Aid will have the capacity to conduct nearly 5,000 tests daily across all locations...READ MORE

The National Community Pharmacists Association announced the results from their latest survey, which found that nearly 90% of neighborhood pharmacies have experienced drug shortages since March 1, 2020, according to a press release...Among the most common drug shortages reported by neighborhood pharmacists were albuterol inhalers, hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin, as well as others that have seen spikes in demand since the outbreak began...READ MORE

A coalition of national and local pharmacy organizations is praising the Department of Health and Human Services’ decision to allow licensed pharmacists to order and administer COVID-19 tests during the new coronavirus disease pandemic...“The accessibility and distribution of retail and independent community-based pharmacies make pharmacists the first point of contact with a healthcare professional for many Americans,” said HHS Assistant Secretary for Health Brett P. Giroir, MD...“This will further expand testing for Americans, particularly our healthcare workers and first responders who are working around the clock to provide care, compassion and safety to others.”...READ MORE

Nearly 90% of community pharmacies will apply for small business federal aid under the CARES Act to help them get through the coronavirus storm, according to a new survey...by the National Community Pharmacists Association...“Pharmacies are ‘essential businesses’ staying open during the COVID-19 pandemic to keep serving their communities, but many are on the brink at the very time they are needed most,” said NCPA CEO B. Douglas Hoey. “In the 18 months before this crisis, the number of pharmacies had shrunk by over 2,000, mostly due to low reimbursement from pharmacy benefit managers...As the pandemic strains neighborhood pharmacies, nearly half of pharmacy owners rank the overall financial health of their business as somewhat poor or very poor, according to the survey...READ MORE

...in the letter, Abramowitz explained that, although ASHP is grateful for the action the Administration has taken to provide hospitals with necessary personal protective equipment and ventilators, they “will be rendered useless without an adequate supply of the medications…that must administered concomitantly with mechanical ventilation in critically ill patients…to ensure the successful use of this life-saving supportive care.”...Medications used in conjunction with ventilator include opioids, sedatives, and paralytics...This week, the Drug Enforcement Administration announced it will take additional steps to allow for the increased production of controlled substances used in COVID-19 care...READ MORE

The decades-old drug that President Donald Trump has persistently promoted as a potential weapon against COVID-19 has within a matter of weeks become a standard of care in areas of the United States hit hard by the pandemic — though doctors prescribing it have no idea whether it works...Doctors and pharmacists from more than half a dozen large healthcare systems in New York, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Ohio, Washington and California told Reuters they are routinely using hydroxychloroquine on patients hospitalized with COVID-19. At the same time, several said they have seen no evidence that the drug, used for years to treat malaria and autoimmune disorders, has any effect on the virus...READ MORE