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Drugmakers warned...that if Britain leaves the European Union without a deal next month Britons could miss out on an EU-wide system to fight counterfeit drugs that will go live on Saturday after years of British involvement in building it...Drugmakers, wholesalers and pharmacies across Europe have worked for more than four years on a system based on a shared database and tamper-proof packages with barcodes that will go live on Saturday, to fulfill the European Union’s Falsified Medicines Directive...“It would be an absolute travesty if NHS patients aren’t part of a system specifically designed to protect them. But that’s exactly what could happen in a ‘no deal’ Brexit,” Rick Greville, Director of Supply Chain at the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, said in a statement by the lobby group...The European Medicines Verification System will allow dispensing pharmacists to scan drug packages and link up to a database to give patients assurance on the product’s authenticity.

The judge presiding over all the federal cases had hoped to settle them by now. But the behemoth litigation is only becoming more bloated, contentious and difficult to resolve...Judge Dan Aaron Polster will preside over three consolidated lawsuits as a bellwether, or test case, in one of the most complicated legal battles in U.S. history...

Uncontested:The devastation from prescription opioids has been deadly and inordinately expensive

Contested: Who should foot the bill?

...litigation has ballooned to 1,548 federal court cases, brought on behalf of cities and counties, 77 tribes, hospitals, union benefit funds, infants with neonatal abstinence syndrome and others — in total, millions of people. With a potential payday amounting to tens of billions of dollars...

- Stunning evidence from D.E.A. records
- Going to trial is a win for plaintiffs
- The companies demand personal medical records
- Meanwhile, the plaintiffs pursue their own paper chase
- Drugstores could be held responsible for black-market fentanyl
- Why drug companies could have an upper hand
- But don't count out the plaintiffs
- But wait! There’s more!

The internet, while not officially recognized as an addictive substance, similarly hijacks the brain's reward system by triggering the release of pleasure-inducing chemicals and is accessible from an early age..."The brain really doesn't care what it is, whether I pour it down my throat or put it in my nose or see it with my eyes or do it with my hands,"..."A lot of the same neurochemicals in the brain are occurring."...Even so, recovering from internet addiction is different from other addictions because it is not about "getting sober,"...The internet has become inevitable and essential in schools, at home and in the workplace...It's always there...IS IT A REAL DISORDER?...Medical experts have begun taking internet addiction more seriously.

Nicole Grassano, PTNN, Pharmacy Week in Review, this weekly video program provides our readers with an in-depth review of the latest news, product approvals, FDA rulings and more.

Canadian pharmaceutical industry lobby groups, in an effort to head off a planned crackdown on prescription drug prices, offered to give up C$8.6 billion ($6.6 billion) in revenue over 10 years, freeze prices or reduce the cost of treating rare diseases...Those industry offers did not impress federal officials, coming last year as Canada prepared to expand the powers of a little-known federal watchdog called the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board to reduce the cost of prescription drugs...The government proposals would change the countries Canada compares its prices to, dropping the United States where they are highest, and set a formula to assess cost-effectiveness of medicines...the new rules were scheduled to come into effect last month but have been delayed as the government reviews feedback, which has some wondering if they will ever be implemented...Unlike other countries with universal healthcare, Canada’s government-funded healthcare system does not cover prescription drugs. Most Canadians rely on an expensive patchwork of public and private insurance plans for that. Among industrialized nations, only the United States and Switzerland spend more on prescriptions per capita...

This is another way CVS and Walgreens are adding health services to their stores to keep people coming in, with more and more dollars being spent online...SmileDirectClub has opened six locations inside CVS stores to fit people’s teeth for invisible aligners...Walgreens has opened an Aspen Dental office in one of its Florida stores in December...You can already get checked and treated for strep throat at many drugstores. You can now get your teeth cleaned and straightened at some...People are shopping more online. That’s a problem for drugstores, so Walgreens and CVS are getting creative...It all boils down to trying to diversify what they’re offering in the front of the store...

Addiction is more common than people realize. There are approximately 22 million people in the United States over the age of 12 with an addiction, according to The National Survey on Drug Use and Health...Almost 80 percent of individuals who struggle from a substance abuse disorder in 2014 also struggled with an alcohol use disorder. And a shocking report recently published by the National Safety Council says that Americans are more likely to die of an opioid overdose than in an automobile crash...“Drug misuse and abuse are major health problems,” said Dr. David Nutt, a British psychiatrist who set out to find which are the most addictive and dangerous drugs. His purpose was to pave the pathway for more effective ways to develop drug policies...In a study published in the Lancet, Nutt and his colleagues rated the addictiveness and harmfulness of popular drugs, based on how pleasurable a substance was, how much psychological dependence it induced, and how physically dependent it made its users.

- Heroin
- Cocaine
- Nicotine
- Barbiturates
- Alcohol

Nicole Grassano, PTNN, Pharmacy Week in Review, this weekly video program provides our readers with an in-depth review of the latest news, product approvals, FDA rulings and more.

Walgreens Boots Alliance shareholders have instructed the company to explain how it’s monitoring and managing risks related to the opioid crisis, according to preliminary results announced...at Walgreens’ annual shareholders meeting...The measure requires Walgreens to prepare a report by June 30 detailing any changes the company has made to its corporate governance since 2012 in response to the opioid crisis. Investors want more specifics, including how Walgreens’ board oversees opioid-related programs and whether executive bonuses consider any opioid-related objectives like promoting ethical conduct...Walgreens’ board opposed the proposal, saying it already discloses how it’s handling the issue...Drugmakers, distributors and pharmacies have all come under scrutiny for their role in the crisis...Lax prescribing and monitoring of prescription painkillers is widely seen as fueling opioid addiction. Now these companies face lawsuits from thousands of state and local governments.

A seven-year venture between tech giant Microsoft Corp and the US pharmacy retail chain Walgreens Boots Alliance is expected to bring competition to the healthcare sector on the back of lower costs...In a deal signed recently – which will see Walgreens use Azure, Microsoft’s cloud-computing platform – the companies signalled their common ambition to take on Amazon.com Inc, another tech giant disrupting the healthcare space...Walgreens will roll out 12 new “digital health corners” for its US stores this year, which have been designed to promote the sale of health-related devices and to help patients manage chronic diseases...The deal will help Walgreens accumulate personalised data about patients’ health, which it said will allow pharmacists to give customised nutrition and wellness solutions using digital devices and apps as well as in-store expert advice...