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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.

FDA issues approval for Gileads's Cayston for respiratory symptoms in cystic fibrosis

Gilead Sciences, Inc. today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted marketing approval for Cayston® (aztreonam for inhalation solution) as a treatment to improve respiratory symptoms in cystic fibrosis patients with Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Cayston’s safety and efficacy have not been established in pediatric patients below the age of 7, patients with forced expiratory volume in one second of less than 25 percent or greater than 75 percent predicted, or patients colonized with Burkholderia cepacia.

23 Feb 2010

Somerset Hospital collaborates with Mckesson to automate pharmacy with PROmanager-Rx system

Somerset Hospital in Pennsylvania has joined with McKesson to automate its pharmacy using the new PROmanager-Rx™ system. The system will enable the 150-bed hospital to fully automate dispensing of tablets, capsules, and other oral solid medications that come directly from drug manufacturers in unit-dose, bar-coded form. Somerset, already a user of McKesson’s Paragon® community hospital information system, expects PROmanager-Rx to automate dispensing for approximately 80 percent of its daily scheduled patient doses.

23 Feb 2010

Study shows CEL-2000 vaccine blocks RA progression in mice

CEL-SCI Corporation and their scientific collaborators announced today that the Company's CEL-2000 vaccine demonstrated that it is able to block the progression of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in a mouse model.

23 Feb 2010

PharMEDium Services participates in APSF Summit held in Phoenix, AZ

PharMEDium Services, LLC, announced their participation in the Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation (APSF) Summit held January 26th in Phoenix, AZ.

22 Feb 2010

Missing prescription drugs: Cardinal Health Pharmacy Services to pay $1M penalty

U.S. Attorney Thomas Scott Woodward announced today that Cardinal Health Pharmacy Services, LLC, a company engaged in providing hospital pharmacy management services, has agreed to pay a civil penalty in the amount of $1 million for failing to account for large amounts of missing prescription drugs.

20 Feb 2010

Express Scripts turning prescription discount business into nonprofit

Anticipating "more people will need access to discount prescriptions no matter what ultimately happens in Washington" with health reform, Express Scripts' Rx Outreach program will become a nonprofit, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.

19 Feb 2010

SSHS selects Eclipsys’ Sunrise Enterprise suite of solutions for integrating EHR across multiple care venues

Eclipsys Corporation®, The Outcomes Company®, today announced that Sound Shore Health System (SSHS) will undergo an accelerated activation of Eclipsys’ Sunrise Enterprise™ integrated suite of solutions at both its Sound Shore Medical Center of Westchester (New Rochelle, NY) and Mount Vernon Hospital (Mount Vernon, NY) facilities.

19 Feb 2010

State policy developments: Wisconsin's new 'public option,' Iowa's medical marijuana vote, and more

New Hampshire Public Radio: A bill in the state legislature would create an annual public report that details the causes of rising health spending by analyzing now-private information that doctors, hospitals and other health organizations would have to provide to the state's Department of Insurance. The move is partly in response to conflicting narratives: The state's health spending continues to rise, yet hospitals and doctors say they are struggling (Grant, 2/17).

19 Feb 2010

Cancer patients frequently face barriers to accessing oral drugs: Study

A comprehensive study of oral oncolytic (anti-cancer) drug treatments revealed that while their use is increasingly common, cancer patients frequently face barriers to accessing oral drugs compared to those delivered intravenously in oncology practice settings.

19 Feb 2010

UCSF, Genentech partner to discover and develop drug candidates for neurodegenerative diseases

The University of California, San Francisco has signed a partnership agreement with Genentech, Inc., a wholly owned member of the Roche Group, to discover and develop drug candidates for neurodegenerative diseases.

19 Feb 2010

U.S. Patent and Trademark office issues Patent on Positron’s Tech-Assist

Positron Corporation a molecular imaging solutions company focused on Nuclear Cardiology, announced today that the U.S. Patent and Trademark office has allowed for issuance a Patent on Positron’s Tech-Assist™. The Tech-Assist™, invented under the direction of John A. Zehner, a nuclear pharmacist, dramatically reduces exposure to the worker while injecting radiopharmaceuticals into patients when performing Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging studies.

19 Feb 2010

Humana schedules layoffs as insurers struggle to cut costs

Dow Jones Newswires/Wall Street Journal reports that Humana, one of the nation's largest health insurers, "said it will shed nearly 1,400 jobs, or 5% of its work force, this year" because of declines in enrollment. The company will cut a total of 2,500 jobs, but plans to hire 1,100 new employees to help with such issues as controlling medical costs and managing pharmacy benefits.

18 Feb 2010

URAC to conduct workshop highlighting multiple aspects of medication adherence

URAC, the nation's leading health care accreditation and education organization, will conduct a workshop on "Medication Adherence and Medication Possession Ratio as a Critical Metric" at the 15th Annual Pharmacy Benefit Management Institute (PBMI) Conference in Phoenix, Ariz.

18 Feb 2010

Keystone Health increases access to healthcare with ARRA grants: Secretary of Health commends

Secretary of Health Everette James commended Keystone Health for increasing access to healthcare with grants from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act during a groundbreaking ceremony today at the facility's main campus in Chambersburg.

18 Feb 2010

US health plans adopt unified approach to assist consumers in appropriate medication use

Dozens of US health plans nationwide have adopted a unified approach to assist seniors and other consumers to appropriately use medications. The move follows increased emphasis from the federal government for Medicare plans to offer more robust Medication Therapy Management (“MTM”) programs in 2010.

18 Feb 2010

Medication therapy management programs for Aetna Medicare members

Aetna today announced that members who enroll in its 2010 Medicare plans will have access to enhanced services called medication therapy management (MTM) aimed at helping them safely and effectively take medications prescribed by their physician. MTM, which will be delivered by Mirixa Corporation, brings together pharmacists, patients, physicians and other health care professionals to help patients with their medications.

18 Feb 2010

Pharmaceutical Institute launches Employers and Retail Pharmacy e-courses

Pharmaceutical Institute, a leading provider of specialized training solutions for the pharmaceutical and biotech industry, today announced the launch of two new e-courses, titled Employers and Retail Pharmacy.

18 Feb 2010

Utah tries to improve state health insurance exhange; Mich. plans for doctor shortage

The Salt Lake Tribune: "State health reform got a boost Tuesday with House passage of a fix-it bill to improve the Utah Health Exchange, an online tool for purchasing health insurance. Pitched as a free-market approach to lowering costs for small businesses, the exchange has had limited success. Only 400 people are receiving health insurance in its experimental first stage. And some of its 66 plans are up to 130 percent more expensive than what some companies were already paying. That's because insurers are calculating premiums differently 'inside' and 'outside' the exchange, said House Speaker Dave Clark" (Stewart, 2/16).

17 Feb 2010

Physicians of New York Walk In Medical Group open new center in New York City

The physicians of New York Walk In Medical Group, PC, are opening the doors today at the fifth "DR Walk-In Medical Center" in a Duane Reade Pharmacy in New York City. The "Doctor on Premises" center will open at 10:00 a.m. at the new Duane Reade at 17th Street and Eighth Avenue in the Chelsea section of Manhattan.

17 Feb 2010

Walgreen acquires Duane Reade for total enterprise value of $1.075 billion

Walgreen Co. and New York-based drugstore chain Duane Reade Holdings, Inc. today announced a definitive agreement under which Walgreens will acquire Duane Reade from affiliates of Oak Hill Capital Partners in a cash transaction for a total enterprise value of $1.075 billion, which includes the assumption of debt.

17 Feb 2010

Pharmacy News and Research

Further Reading

FDA issues approval for Gileads's Cayston for respiratory symptoms in cystic fibrosis

Somerset Hospital collaborates with Mckesson to automate pharmacy with PROmanager-Rx system

Study shows CEL-2000 vaccine blocks RA progression in mice

PharMEDium Services participates in APSF Summit held in Phoenix, AZ

Missing prescription drugs: Cardinal Health Pharmacy Services to pay $1M penalty

Express Scripts turning prescription discount business into nonprofit

SSHS selects Eclipsys’ Sunrise Enterprise suite of solutions for integrating EHR across multiple care venues

State policy developments: Wisconsin's new 'public option,' Iowa's medical marijuana vote, and more

Cancer patients frequently face barriers to accessing oral drugs: Study

UCSF, Genentech partner to discover and develop drug candidates for neurodegenerative diseases

U.S. Patent and Trademark office issues Patent on Positron’s Tech-Assist

Humana schedules layoffs as insurers struggle to cut costs

URAC to conduct workshop highlighting multiple aspects of medication adherence

Keystone Health increases access to healthcare with ARRA grants: Secretary of Health commends

US health plans adopt unified approach to assist consumers in appropriate medication use

Medication therapy management programs for Aetna Medicare members

Pharmaceutical Institute launches Employers and Retail Pharmacy e-courses

Utah tries to improve state health insurance exhange; Mich. plans for doctor shortage

Physicians of New York Walk In Medical Group open new center in New York City

Walgreen acquires Duane Reade for total enterprise value of $1.075 billion

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Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

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