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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.

CRANN partnership with Merck Millipore on research

CRANN, the Science Foundation Ireland funded nanoscience research institute, based at Trinity College Dublin, has today announced a new commercial partnership worth over €130,000 with Merck Millipore, a biotech and pharmaceutical company based in Cork. As part of the research programmes, CRANN will assist Merck Millipore to further develop the nanostructures of their products’ artificial membranes, that are widely used for medical and diagnostic devices, and to deliver new products with improved membrane performances. Artificial membranes are used in a wide array of products such as lab filtration devices, antibody screening kits and blood typing products.

21 Sep 2011

Kansas Medicaid 'imperiled,' says Lt. Governor; audit finds La. Medicaid providers received improper payments

Meanwhile, Texas pharmacists are lining up against the state's push to put more people in Medicaid managed care and payment arrangements for Connecticut's Medicaid medical homes programs are drawing debate.

21 Sep 2011

Beta-blocker drugs may improve survival time for melanoma patients

Beta-blocker drugs, commonly used to treat high blood pressure, may also play a major role in slowing the progression of certain serious cancers, based on a new study.

21 Sep 2011

Powerful new antibiotic treatment for MRSA and C. difficile bugs

MGB Biopharma, a biopharmaceutical company which has licensed technology from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland, is developing a powerful new antibiotic treatment for resistant infections including the deadly MRSA and Clostridium difficile (C. diff.) bugs.

20 Sep 2011

FDA approves Amphastar's ANDA for Enoxaparin Sodium Injection

Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc., has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of its Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) for Enoxaparin Sodium Injection in the 100mg/mL and 150mg/mL strengths.

20 Sep 2011

Drug overdose deaths surpass road traffic accident deaths in U.S.

According to newly released figures, drug-related deaths now outnumber traffic fatalities in the U.S., with the rise driven by an increase in prescription narcotic overdoses.

19 Sep 2011

IHA introduces 'Value Based Pay for Performance' to assure physician accountability

Reflecting the importance of measuring and rewarding both quality and cost-efficiency, the Integrated Healthcare Association (IHA), now in its 10th year of physician organization measurement and reporting, is taking another leap forward in its efforts to assure physician accountability with the introduction of "Value Based Pay for Performance."

17 Sep 2011

DestinationRx is now DRX

DestinationRx, Inc., a leading provider of healthcare comparison tools, technology and data, today announced a strategic decision to rename the company DRX. The change in branding is a response to the company's significant growth in the healthcare industry—from its origins in prescription drug pricing and purchasing technology to its expansion into broader drug and health plan comparison technology and data services.

17 Sep 2011

Unlikely coalition launches effort to aid enrollment of people without insurance

Enroll America, which is a group of health care organizations and companies, is making a health coverage push to boost the new health law.

16 Sep 2011

Practice Research Award winner describes research to support pharmacist prescribing services

"Doctors who have worked with, and patients receiving care provided by, pharmacist prescribers are highly supportive and value their prescribing roles but research indicates that the service is not being optimised due to a lack of strategic direction and policies to support its place in patient care" said Professor Derek Stewart in his keynote lecture as the winner of the Pharmacy Practice Research Trust (PPRT) 2011 Practice Research Award at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's Conference in London.

16 Sep 2011

Roundup: Major Mass. health system, insurer near reimbursement deal; HHS funds Planned Parenthood in N.H.; 10 Iowa towns to get healthy

Partners HealthCare System Inc. is close to reaching an agreement with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts that could provide relief to tens of thousands of insurance customers by slowing the rate of their premium increases, potentially by nearly a quarter of a billion dollars.

15 Sep 2011

Walgreens, MDA team up to offer free seasonal flu shots

Nobody likes to get stuck with a needle. But influenza - the flu - is particularly hazardous for those with neuromuscular disease, which is why the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) and Walgreens have teamed up once again to offer free seasonal flu shots now underway for people who have muscular dystrophy and related diseases.

14 Sep 2011

Researchers describe new function of HCN channels in the heart

The heartbeat is the result of rhythmic contractions of the heart muscle, which are in turn regulated by electrical signals called action potentials. Action potentials result from the controlled flow of ions into heart muscle cells (depolarization) through channels in their membranes, and are followed by a compensating reverse ion current (repolarization), which restores the original state. If the duration of the repolarization phase is not just right, the risk of ventricular arrhythmia and sudden cardiac death increases significantly.

12 Sep 2011

Roundup: Scott's plan stalls to outsource Fla. prison health care; Calif. Blue Shield begins issuing credits after profit cap

Florida's plan to outsource health care in the third-largest U.S. prison system to save $30 million has stalled, hindering efforts by Governor Rick Scott and lawmakers to hire private operators for state services. Requests for proposals on the prison work were withdrawn last month less than a week after they were issued.

9 Sep 2011

Pharmacologists study first drug-resistant strain of pneumonia to enter Texas

A team of researchers from the University of Houston (UH) and St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital (SLEH) are working to develop improved screening methods to detect a potentially lethal, drug-resistant superbug that has made its way to Texas.

9 Sep 2011

AstraZeneca Canada introduces new NEXIUM Patient Support program

Canadian pharmaceutical company, AstraZeneca Canada Inc., has introduced a new NEXIUM® Patient Support program designed to give physicians and pharmacists the ability to take cost out of the equation in the patient's choice between NEXIUM® tablets and a generic esomeprazole product.

9 Sep 2011

FTC seeks more details on drug company deal

Pharmacy benefits management company Express Scripts announced in July it was acquiring a similar firm, Medco.

8 Sep 2011

First-ever comprehensive study of species origins of nature-derived drugs

In a first-ever comprehensive study of the species origins of nature-derived drugs, it is shown that drug-producing species are concentrated and clustered in a limited number of families, refuting the conventional view that as every nature species produces biologically active molecules, one can find drugs from almost any major block of species groups if one looks for them hard enough.

8 Sep 2011

UC Merced, UCSF to examine effectiveness of state and local antismoking programs

Researchers with the University of California, San Francisco, and UC Merced will examine the effectiveness of state and local antismoking programs across the United States in an effort to make sure health authorities are able to use their increasingly limited resources to support and defend the most effective approaches.

8 Sep 2011

Robert Gordon University scientists to develop new treatment for cystinosis

A team of researchers at Robert Gordon University has secured a six figure sum from Sparks, a leading children’s medical research charity, to develop a revolutionary treatment for a rare genetic disorder.

6 Sep 2011