Prescription Drug News and Research

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Pharmacy services still in demand despite recession

Despite the onset of an economic recession during 2008, pharmacy services were still in demand due to their value in the health care delivery system. The average community pharmacy saw its total sales increase by 7.6% to $3.9 million.

20 Oct 2009

Two high blood pressure medicines effective in treating stable ischemic heart disease

Two medications commonly used to treat high blood pressure appear to be effective in treating a common type of heart disease known as stable ischemic heart disease, according to a new comparative effectiveness review funded by HHS' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

20 Oct 2009

RA patients who adhere to their prescription drug regimen have better outcome: Study

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients who regularly adhere to their prescription drug regimen have fewer emergency room and doctor visits and incur lower medical costs, according to research presented today by Medco Health Solutions, Inc. at the American College of Rheumatology's Annual Meeting in Philadelphia.

20 Oct 2009

Four Pharma companies underpay Medicaid rebate obligations, pay $124M to resolve allegations

Mylan Pharmaceuticals, UDL Laboratories, AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals and Ortho McNeil Pharmaceutical have entered into settlement agreements for a total of $124 million to resolve claims that they violated the False Claims Act by failing to pay appropriate rebates to state Medicaid programs for drugs paid for by those programs, the Justice Department announced today.

20 Oct 2009

The CBO's educated guesses make or break reform bills

The senior Congressional Budget Office analyst whose job is calculating the costs of overhaul the health system -- an overworked, "amiable father of three" named Phil Ellis -- "is the first to admit that his painstaking numbers are almost certainly wrong," the Washington Post reports. His estimates "essentially condemned two" bills by pricing them at over a trillion, while boosting another by estimating much lower costs, illustrating the huge political stakes generated by Ellis' guesswork.

20 Oct 2009

Walgreens, aVinci Media launch initiative for breast cancer awareness, raises more than $50,000

Walgreens and aVinci® Media have launched a very successful national initiative to raise vital funds and awareness for breast cancer research and support. On Oct. 7, Walgreens offered aVinci's My Personal Movie slideshow DVDs, which normally retail for $19.99, for only $1.

19 Oct 2009

eHealth launches new website to help consumers learn about Medicare health plan options

Today, eHealth, Inc., parent company of eHealthInsurance, the leading online source of health insurance for individuals, families, and small businesses, announced the launch of a new online service to help consumers learn about, and get access to, quality Medicare health plan options.

19 Oct 2009

Pfizer announces it has combined operations with Wyeth following the closing of the acquisition

Pfizer Inc today announced that it has combined operations with Wyeth following the closing of the acquisition yesterday. Pfizer is now a more diversified health care company, with product offerings in human, animal, and consumer health, including vaccines, biologics, small molecules and nutrition across the developed and emerging markets.

19 Oct 2009

AARP struggles to educate seniors about health care

The Hill reports: "Despite expending vast resources, the AARP has not been able to unite its own membership, Nancy LeaMond, the executive vice president of the organization's social impact group, told reporters on Wednesday. AARP's membership is roughly divided between Democrats, Republicans and independents, LeaMond told reporters."

19 Oct 2009

Cost saving benefit faces eventual elimination without relief

Despite Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) support of President Obama's pledge not to raise taxes on the middle class, the House of Representatives is now considering -- outside of the normal legislative process -- adopting provisions approved yesterday by the Senate Finance Committee that would drastically restrict the use of flexible spending accounts (FSAs) in order to help pay for health care reform.

15 Oct 2009

Research to investigate and improve patient adherence to prescription drug therapies

CVS Caremark is sponsoring research to investigate patient adherence to prescription drug therapies and identify ways to increase adherence. Working with researchers from Harvard and Brigham and Women's Hospital, the company expects knowledge gained from the research will help health professionals better understand patient behavior and lead to developing programs that health care providers and pharmacies can use to improve medication adherence and ultimately help improve patient care and medical outcomes by avoiding costly hospital treatment.

15 Oct 2009

Pervasive Integration provides cost-effective data integration solution to healthcare companies

Pervasive Software Inc., a global value leader in embeddable data management and agile data integration software, is providing the flexible, cost-effective data integration required for challenging, increasingly regulated healthcare IT environments.

15 Oct 2009

Postive vote from FDA Advisory Committee for Fampridine-SR 10

Acorda Therapeutics, Inc. today announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Peripheral and Central Nervous System Drugs (PCNSD) Advisory Committee voted 12 to 1 that clinical data on Fampridine-SR 10 mg twice daily demonstrated substantial evidence of effectiveness as a treatment to improve walking in people with multiple sclerosis (MS) and voted 10 to 2 (1 abstention) that it is clinically meaningful and can be safe for use.

15 Oct 2009

FDA recommends approval for UI Pharmaceuticals to manufacture an aseptically filled sterile drug product

In September 2009, the Kansas City District Office of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) submitted a recommendation of approval to the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research for The University of Iowa Pharmaceuticals (UIP) to manufacture and test an aseptically filled, sterile prescription drug product for a commercial client. The drug product contains a new chemical entity and is a sterile solution that is aseptically filled into vials.

14 Oct 2009

Seniors and people with disabilities to choose new healthcare coverage

More than 600,000 seniors and people with disabilities will be required to choose new healthcare coverage during the upcoming Medicare annual enrollment because their current plan is being eliminated. However, millions more could benefit by changing to a plan that better fits their needs, according to Allsup, a nationwide provider of Social Security disability representation and Medicare services.

14 Oct 2009

Catalyst Health Solutions enters into an amended agreement with Wachovia Bank to extend its credit facility

Catalyst Health Solutions, Inc., a pharmacy benefit management (PBM) company, announced today that it has entered into an amended agreement with Wachovia Bank, N.A., a Wells Fargo Company, to extend and increase its secured revolving credit facility. The new credit facility will mature on October 9, 2012 and has been increased from $50 million to $100 million.

14 Oct 2009

Financial advisers help wealthy Americans navigate Medicare

Wealthy Americans are increasingly seeking help on how to navigate the Medicare system from financial advisers.

14 Oct 2009

Prescription drug ads drive up U.S. health costs

NPR reports on how prescription drug advertising drives up consumer demand, which drives up medical costs. The story, done in partnership with the public radio program, This American Life, is the third in a three-part series about why American health care costs are so high. "Prescription drug spending is the third most expensive cost in the U.S. health care system.

13 Oct 2009

Sanofi-aventis collaborates with Merrimack Pharmaceuticals for rights to human monoclonal antibody MM-121

Dyax Corp. announced today new developments involving drug candidates identified using the Company’s proprietary phage display technology as a result of two deals recently announced by sanofi-aventis.

13 Oct 2009

Health care reform should include transparency requirements for PBMs: Consumer groups

More than 30 groups representing consumer, labor and Medicare beneficiaries have joined a growing coalition urging Congress to support transparency requirements for pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) in the health care reform proposals being considered by Congress.

13 Oct 2009

Prescription Drug News and Research

Pharmacy services still in demand despite recession

Two high blood pressure medicines effective in treating stable ischemic heart disease

RA patients who adhere to their prescription drug regimen have better outcome: Study

Four Pharma companies underpay Medicaid rebate obligations, pay $124M to resolve allegations

The CBO's educated guesses make or break reform bills

Walgreens, aVinci Media launch initiative for breast cancer awareness, raises more than $50,000

eHealth launches new website to help consumers learn about Medicare health plan options

Pfizer announces it has combined operations with Wyeth following the closing of the acquisition

AARP struggles to educate seniors about health care

Cost saving benefit faces eventual elimination without relief

Research to investigate and improve patient adherence to prescription drug therapies

Pervasive Integration provides cost-effective data integration solution to healthcare companies

Postive vote from FDA Advisory Committee for Fampridine-SR 10

FDA recommends approval for UI Pharmaceuticals to manufacture an aseptically filled sterile drug product

Seniors and people with disabilities to choose new healthcare coverage

Catalyst Health Solutions enters into an amended agreement with Wachovia Bank to extend its credit facility

Financial advisers help wealthy Americans navigate Medicare

Prescription drug ads drive up U.S. health costs

Sanofi-aventis collaborates with Merrimack Pharmaceuticals for rights to human monoclonal antibody MM-121

Health care reform should include transparency requirements for PBMs: Consumer groups

Industry Focus eBook - Cell & Gene Therapy (1st Edition) eBook

Bringing real-time analytics to downstream bioprocess monitoring

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

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