Pharmacy News and Research

RSS

Community pharmacy, also known as retail pharmacy, is the most common type of pharmacy that allows the public access to their medications and advice about their health. Traditionally known as a chemist, it is the healthcare facility that is responsible for the provision of pharmaceutical service to a specific community group or region.

Lycopene can kill prostate cancer cells

A nutrient in cooked tomatoes has been shown in laboratory studies to slow the growth of or even kill prostate cancer cells.

31 Jan 2012

Acadia selects HMS financial-management applications and modules

Acadia Healthcare Company, Inc. has chosen a suite of fully integrated financial-management applications from Healthcare Management Systems Inc. (HMS) to help maximize the operating efficiency of more than two dozen of its facilities nationwide.

31 Jan 2012

McKesson third quarter revenues increase 9% to $30.8 billion

McKesson Corporation today reported that revenues for the third quarter ended December 31, 2011 were up 9% to $30.8 billion compared to $28.2 billion a year ago. On the basis of U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, third-quarter earnings per diluted share was $1.20 compared to $0.60 a year ago.

30 Jan 2012

FTC terms Omnicare's proposed acquisition of PharMerica illegal

The Federal Trade Commission issued a complaint to block Omnicare, Inc.'s hostile acquisition of rival long-term care pharmacy provider PharMerica Corporation, alleging that the combination of the two largest U.S. long-term care pharmacies would harm competition and enable Omnicare to raise the price of drugs for Medicare Part D consumers and others.

30 Jan 2012

Proposed Express Scripts-Medco merger endangers over 2,400 jobs in New Jersey

New Jersey would lose over 2,400 jobs, local economies would suffer and patients may be denied their choice of pharmacy if the proposed mega-merger of two prescription drug middlemen goes through, the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) said today.

30 Jan 2012

Cote D'ivoire abandoning free health care scheme due to cost, mismanagement

IRIN reports that Cote d'Ivoire is abandoning its free health care for all scheme after a period of nine months, noting, "Theft, poor management and rising costs have made the service -- introduced by President Alassane Ouattara's government at the end of civil conflict to ease a dire public health situation -- unaffordable."

30 Jan 2012

New system safe, effective in delivering CsA to organ transplant patients

A new system for delivering a drug to organ transplant patients, which could avoid the risk of harmful side effects, is being developed by scientists at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow.

27 Jan 2012

Roundup: Problems outlined at Parkland hospital in Dallas; Mass. closing a mental hospital; Adult day care in Calif.

The Department of Mental Health plans to close Taunton State Hospital, one of the six state-run psychiatric hospitals in Massachusetts by the end of this year. The move is part of a plan to redistribute the placement of patients with chronic and severe mental illness as a large new state hospital opens in Worcester this summer.

27 Jan 2012

Shortages of anti-infective drugs can put patients at risk and alter clinical care

Shortages of key drugs used to fight infections represent a public health emergency and can put patients at risk, according to a review published in Clinical Infectious Diseases and available online.

20 Jan 2012

Health care solutions through social media and cell phones

Nova Southeastern University's College of Pharmacy recently launched America's first Center for Consumer Health Informatics Research to deliver health care solutions through social media and cell phones.

19 Jan 2012

Drug benefit managers unveil ads to explain what they do

The trade group for pharmaceutical benefit managers announced an advertising campaign about PBMs, while Congress and federal regulators weigh a $29 billion merger between Express Scripts and Medco.

19 Jan 2012

Bristol-Myers Squibb agrees purchase of Inhibitex for $2.5Bn

American pharmaceutical giant Bristol-Myers Squibb has agreed the purchase of US biotech company Inhibitex, in a $2.5Bn (£1.6bn) deal which includes the promising new anti-hepatitis C drug INX-189, first designed and prepared in Cardiff University.

19 Jan 2012

Counterfeit malaria drugs endanger millions of lives

According to researchers fake and poor quality anti-malarial drugs are threatening efforts to control the disease in Africa and could put millions of lives at risk. These counterfeit medicines could harm patients and promote drug resistance among malaria parasites, warns the study, funded by the Wellcome Trust.

18 Jan 2012

Multiple medicines use very common: New snapshot of over-50s' medicine habits

A study by NPS in collaboration with the University of Melbourne —published today in the Medical Journal of Australia — has provided new insights into how people use medicines on a daily basis and highlights that the use of multiple medicines in older Australians is common and more complex than previously thought.

15 Jan 2012

Walgreen-Express Scripts spat leads millions of consumers to new pharmacies

A Walgreen official maintained a defense of the split even as rival drug stores have ramped up their marketing efforts to attract Express Scripts customers.

13 Jan 2012

Researchers discover a way to sensitize glioblastoma to chemotherapy

Brain cancer cells are particularly resistant to chemotherapy - toxins enter the cells, but before the toxins can kill, cancer cells quickly pump them back outside. In fact, brain cancer cells are even better than healthy cells at cleaning themselves. This means that when hit with chemotherapy, healthy cells tend to die before brain cancer cells. Especially in the brain, killing healthy cells is bad.

13 Jan 2012

Study shows how new electronic medication management system reduces drug administration errors

Errors in administration of medication are a serious problem in long-term residential care. New research completed by the University of Warwick and the University of the West of England, Bristol (UWE) shows how a new electronic medication management system developed in the UK specifically for use in residential and nursing homes, has been shown to significantly reduce drug administration errors.

12 Jan 2012

Decorative fountain in hospital linked to 2010 Wisconsin outbreak of Legionnaires' disease

A 2010 outbreak of Legionnaires' disease in Wisconsin has been linked to a decorative fountain in a hospital lobby, according to a study published in the February issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America.

11 Jan 2012

New UC San Diego-Roche Extending Innovation Network program launched

The new UC San Diego-Roche Extending Innovation Network (EIN) program has been launched with selection of its first three research projects at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine.

11 Jan 2012

Walgreens-Express Scripts split has consumers checking their insurance cards

As the clock ticked down on the pending divorce of Walgreen Co. and one of its largest customers, rivals of the drugstore giant raced to woo millions of soon-to-be-displaced consumers whose medications wouldn't be covered by insurance at its stores come Jan. 1. CVS Caremark, Rite Aid and other small- to medium-size drugstores launched advertising campaigns and beefed up staff in anticipation of adding tens of millions of new prescriptions should Walgreen and Express Scripts Inc. fail to come to terms on a new contract starting in 2012.

10 Jan 2012