The release of the draft National Primary Health Care Strategy has been welcomed by the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia as step in the right direction towards establishing a national multidisciplinary healthcare system in Australia.

Acting President of the PSA. Grant Kardachi, said the draft report had taken into account recommendations from a submission by the PSA which include that pharmacists be integrated into the primary healthcare team.

“PSA recommended that pharmacists, who are the most accessible health professionals, be included as core members of the primary healthcare team,” Mr Kardachi said. The draft report states

Changed service delivery and funding arrangements support best use of the available workforce, including for nurses, allied health, and pharmacists and responding to local needs. Primary health care services provide a range of preventive services to their local communities.

All health providers, where they can, use evidence to promote healthy behaviours. Service delivery is supported by data and information systems, including recall and reminders, and risk assessment tools. These services are coordinated across providers in a local community to eliminate duplication and overlap, and make best use of available workforce and provider networks, including nurses, allied health and pharmacists.

“PSA welcomes the recognition of the role pharmacists can play, and indeed already to play, the healthcare system in Australia,” Mr Kardachi said. “In the final report we hope to see other PSA recommendations acted upon, including the implementation of the Pharmacy Self Care program in all community pharmacies as a national health promotion and health advice program.

“The Pharmacy Self Care program is the most effective preventive healthcare program in Australia today and its extension will greatly assist in meeting the objectives of the Governments primary healthcare strategy. It should be used as the main vehicle in the delivery of appropriately credentialed programs by pharmacists targeting high priority areas such as weight management and smoking cessation.” Mr Kardrachi said the PSA welcomed the opportunity to work with the Government to

A federal grand jury yesterday indicted Pamela Arrey, age 48, of Glenelg, Maryland, for health care fraud and aggravated identity theft, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein.

According to the 13 count indictment, Arrey owned and operated two pharmacies trading as the Medicine Shoppe, on Liberty Road and Reisterstown Road in Baltimore. From January 2003 to July 2008, Arrey allegedly claimed reimbursement from health care benefit programs for purported “refills” of prescriptions which patients had never requested and for which no prescription drugs were ever dispensed to customers. The indictment seeks forfeiture of property obtained by Arrey as a result of the scheme, including $350,000 and residential property located in Glenelg, Maryland.

The indictment also alleges that Arrey used the identity of patients to carry out the health care fraud scheme. Arrey faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for each of the 12 counts of health care fraud and a mandatory minimum of two years in prison consecutive to any other sentence for aggravated identity theft. No court appearance has been scheduled.

An indictment is not a finding of guilt. An individual charged by indictment is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at some later criminal proceedings. United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein thanked the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General and the Food and Drug Administration Office of Criminal Investigations for their investigative work. Mr. Rosenstein commended Assistant United States Attorneys Sandra Wilkinson and Tonya Kelly Kowitz, who are prosecuting the

John A. Gans, PharmD, Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer for the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) has been selected as a recipient of the Food and Drug Administrations (FDA) Commissioners Special Citation Award. The award will be bestowed upon Dr. Gans today during a ceremony at Martins Crosswinds, Greenbelt, Maryland.

The award is being presented to Dr. Gans in recognition of 20 years of outstanding leadership in ensuring issues of importance to pharmacists and the APhA are considered in FDA regulatory decisionmaking.

In congratulating Gans, Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, Acting Commissioner of Food and Drugs, Principal Deputy Commissioner said, “You have been chosen for this award because you have provided invaluable assistance to the FDA. To be selected for special recognition should be most satisfying since accomplishments such as yours impact the well being of the public.”

Dr. Gans has been APhAs Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer since 1989, focusing on positioning pharmacists as valued members of the healthcare team who can improve medication use and advance patient care. Prior to joining APhA Gans served on the faculty and was Dean of the School of Pharmacy at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science (now known as the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia), where he earned his pharmacy degree in l966 and his doctorate in pharmacy in 1969.

Dr. Gans began his career in 1966 as a community pharmacist in Broomall, Pennsylvania. During 196768, Dr. Gans held a residency at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Following his residency, he became Assistant Director of Pharmacy at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and held that position from 196870. He was a pioneer in the area of parenteral nutrition and clinical pharmacy. From 1974 to 1985, he served as the Managing Director of Pharmaservices, a consultant firm to nursing homes.

Dr. Gans has served as the Founding Chairman of the Delaware Valley Regional Poison Control Program, which established a 24hour regional poison control center in 1985. In 198081, he served as President of the Pennsylvania Society of Hospital Pharmacists and, in 198687, as President of the American Society of Hospital Pharmacists.

Dr. Gans will step down in July as EVP and CEO of APhA after nearly 20 years of service to the organization.

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Cegedim Dendrite announced the launch of COUNTERxFEIT DETECT, a new offering that will assist pharmaceutical companies in identifying counterfeit product and determining where it entered their United States supply chains. Cegedim Dendrite is the leading provider of compliance technology solutions and services in the pharmaceutical industry.

Counterfeit medicines represent a significant public health and safety issue for consumers. It also poses serious business and financial risks for manufacturers, including possible liability issues, lost revenue, erosion of brand confidence and negative public perception.

COUNTERxFEIT DETECT is designed for pharmaceutical companies that need to identify and determine the source of counterfeit, contaminated or adulterated product. Cegedim Dendrite facilitates this by coordinating the purchase of noncontrolled, finished drug products from contract manufacturers or distributors, using an independent pharmaceutical buyer. The product is shipped to a testing facility or the pharmaceutical companys analytical lab, where the product is analyzed.

“Drug counterfeiting is a concern in the pharmaceutical industry with estimates indicating that upward of 8% of pharmaceutical medicines worldwide may be counterfeit,” explained Bill Buzzeo, Cegedim Dendrite Vice President and General Manager, Compliance Solutions and OneKey. “As part of their anticounterfeiting programs, pharmaceutical companies should acquire finished drug products within the supply chain for analysis and testing to ensure their quality. We seamlessly facilitate that process, and as far as we know, were the only company that offers this type of program.”

Cegedim Dendrites independent purchasing of finished drug product takes the burden off the pharmaceutical companys internal resources. COUNTERxFEIT DETECT is fully secure and includes appropriate audit trail documentation that provides insight into the full acquisition chain associated with the independent pharmacys purchase. “If an independent party is making the purchase,” said Buzzeo, “the pharmaceutical company can better show that they had a random sample for testing and that the process was not tainted by anyone internally with false motive.”

Cegedim Dendrite has been providing comprehensive compliance solutions to a broad range of pharmacy clients for 20 years. The company employs former state and federal regulators whose firsthand experience with compliance, fraud and abuse issues enable them to develop realworld prevention programs.

About Cegedim Dendrite

Cegedim Dendrite is the life sciences industrys leading provider of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solutions. Pharmaceutical by design, the companys innovative business solutions and global reach incorporate a thorough understanding of local, regional and worldwide trends. Cegedim Dendrite enables more than 200,000 users in many of the worlds top companies to stay ahead of market challenges. Cegedim Dendrite also provides sales, marketing and regulatory compliance solutions in more than 80 countries.

Cegedim Dendrite is part of the Francebased Cegedim S.A. Group.

To learn more, please visit cegedimdendrite.com.

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The announcement of the establishment of a new Indigenous Health, Rural and Regional Health and Regional Services Delivery portfolio has been welcomed by the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia.

President of the PSA, Warwick Plunkett, said the establishment of the new portfolio was recognition of the unique and challenging issues faced by indigenous health consumers as well as those living in nonurban areas of Australia.

“Often people living in rural, regional and remote areas of Australia face enormous difficulties when it comes to their healthcare needs,” Mr Plunkett said. “In addition, indigenous health has its own unique challenges which the establishment of this portfolio will go a long way towards addressing.

“The PSA, as the organisation that represents the professional interests of pharmacists across the nation, is well aware of these difficulties and has long advocated policies and programs to help address them.

“The establishment the Indigenous Health, Rural and Regional Health and Regional Services Delivery portfolio gives the Government and healthcare professionals in Australia a vehicle from which to work to improve the health needs and outcomes of indigenous Australians and those living in nonurban areas.”

Mr Plunkett said the appointment of Mr Warren Snowdon as Minister for Indigenous Health, Rural and Regional Health and Regional Services Delivery underscored the importance of the portfolio.

“Mr Snowdon is a widely experienced politician and as a member for a rural area has firsthand knowledge and experience of some of the issues and difficulties faced by consumers in these areas,” Mr Plunkett said.

“On behalf of the PSA, I congratulate Mr Snowdon on his appointment and look forward to working closely with him and his new department to help achieve the outcomes that people in these areas so demonstrably need.”

Four hundred community pharmacist small business owners from across the country will rally in Washington, D.C. at the Hyatt Regency for a threeday legislative conference focusing on issues facing their small businesses that could limit patients access to their services such as severe cuts in Medicaid pharmacy reimbursement; a lack of negotiating leverage; the lack of transparency with pharmacy benefit managers; and bureaucratic and financial hurdles to the selling of durable medical equipment. Attendees will hear from Congressional and Obama Administration officials, and hold a large rally near the Capitol with a bipartisan group of Congressional members. The agenda follows

Monday, MAY 11

100 p.m. Opening Remarks
Bruce Roberts, NCPA Executive Vice President & CEO
215 p.m. Obama Administration Official
Craig Miner, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)

Tuesday, MAY 12

845 a.m. Opening Remarks
Holly Whitcomb Henry, NCPA President

900 a.m. Congressional Speakers
Senator Johnny Isakson (RGA)
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (DMD)

1040 a.m. Congressional Speakers
Senator Sherrod Brown (DOH)
Congressman Nathan Deal (RGA)
House Judiciary Chair John Conyers (DMI)
Senator Pat Roberts (RKS)
House Energy & Commerce Health Subcommittee Chair Frank Pallone (DNJ)
House Energy & Commerce Committee Chair Henry Waxman (DCA) Keynote Speaker (scheduled time is 1220 pm)

130 p.m. Obama Administration Officials
Ilisa Bernstein, Food & Drug Administration (FDA)
Mark Caverly, Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA)
Jimmy Mitchell, Human Resources & Services Administration (HRSA)

Wednesday, MAY 13

930 a.m. Pharmacy Rally On Capitol Hill At Cannon House Office Terrace Scheduled to speak are Reps. Marion Berry (DAR), Bruce Braley (DIA), Chris Carney (DPA), Lloyd Doggett (DTX), Steve Driehaus (DOH), Bob Etheridge (DNC), Walter Jones (RNC), Mary Jo Kilroy (DOH), Jerry Moran (RKS) and Mike Ross (DAR).

The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday examined how “consumers are receiving a flood of safety hot poop about the drugs they take so lots that it risks scaring some folk.” According to the Journal, a recent “series of prescription medication scares” has prompted the media, consumer advocacy parcels and FDA to release more orientation regarding the safety of prescription medications. However, the proliferation of such dossier “might overwhelm patients and raise undue alarm,” according to some medical professionals. The Journal warns that patients “may forget about the benefits of a medication if they concentrate only on risk,” and “the fitness consequences associated with stopping a medication … may be far worse than the possibility of a side effect.”

According to a Pfizer survey conducted in March of 300 medical professionals, 89% of respondents said they were at least somewhat concerned that patients would stop taking medications if potentially negative safety score was released too early. In adjoining, a 2008 study by the Kaiser siblings Foundation, Harvard School of Public state and USA Today endow that 27% of U.S. residents feel “very confident” in the safety of prescription drugs sold in the U.S. and a little more than half feel that drug companies do sufficing to try and monitor drug safety. However, drug industry officials say the skepticism regarding drug safety might only be temporary, the Journal reports.

Drug industry experts say that one undeveloped problem is that copious patients take “safe” to mean virtually no risk, Timothy Lesar, director of Clinical Pharmacy Services at Albany Medical Center and a member of FDAs drug safety advisory committee, said. He said, “There are no guarantees and there are always risks,” adding, “If were going to take risk, we pine to fudge in sync persuaded there are benefits here.”

Efforts at Clarity
Pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer, Wyeth and Johnson & Johnson are “ramping up efforts to be more open about drug safety,” and FDA forward with is “taking steps to progress alerting consumers about drugsafety issues while striving not to cause unnecessary trial,” the Journal reports. According to FDA drug safety ceremonious Paul Seligman, FDA intends to chicken minister its early notification letters about drugsafety concerns to Listing the numerator of adverse events that have occurred compared with the integer of inhabitants taking the drug and post such concerns on WebMD.

Seligman said that the effects of providing more safety dossier are not yet clear, adding that FDA plans to study consumers reactions and use of safety propaganda. He said, “Were always aware and thirst to strive to cause unchanging that that (safety) pipeline is provided in a way that outweighs any unintended consequences” (Wang, Wall Street Journal, 12/9).

Reprinted with kind permission from kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily shape administration Report, search the archives, or presage up for subscription delivery at kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily complexion guideline Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free benefit of The Henry J. Kaiser clan Foundation.

&tracing; 2008 Advisory Board outfit and Kaiser parentage Foundation. All rights restrained.

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo (D) on Friday filed a lawsuit against CVS Caremark by allegations that the circle since 2006 has sold expired outputs at 60% of stores statewide, Bloomberg/Providence Journal reports. In a statement, Cuomo said that CVS has violated the state Executive Law and General employment Law and other historical and federal laws through the sale of expired concoctions. The lawsuit seeks to require CVS to hire an independent monitor for monthly reviews, display signs to inform customers about refunds for expired inventions and any parallel prime risks, and pay a smart of $500 for each violation of the state law.

According to the lawsuit, the “widespread nature of these violations indicates that CVS has not taken seriously its legal obligations or its responsibilities to its consumers visàvis the sale of expired creations.” Cuomo in the statement said, “In todays difficult economic times, consumers should not be spending their hardearned money on expired creations that may be harmful to themselves or their children.”

Michael DeAngelis, a spokesperson for CVS, said the corps has worked with Cuomo on the issue and expressed disappointment about his decision to docket the lawsuit. In a statement, DeAngelis said, “We have a straight out productremoval course,” adding, “closed the last several months we retrained our employees to ensure compliance” (Freifeld, Bloomberg/Providence Journal, 12/5).

Reprinted with kind permission from kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily form method Report, search the archives, or caution up for letter delivery at kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily wellbeing program Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free advantage of The Henry J. Kaiser brethren Foundation.

&mirror; 2008 Advisory Board concourse and Kaiser ancestors Foundation. All rights ceremonious.

A metaanalysis of randomized controlled trials into the effects of antipsychotic drugs has constitute critical differences within icy drugs, which are blurred by classification of first or stand generation. Authors of an editorial and an accompanying Comment, published on the web first and in an upcoming edition of The Lancet, cry for the classification to be abandoned.

Dr Stefan Leucht, Clinic and Polyclinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Technische Universität München, Germany, and Dr John Davis, University of Illinois Chicago, USA and colleagues compare nine secondarygeneration antipsychotic drugs with firstgeneration drugs for overall efficacy (main outcome), positive, negative, and depressive symptoms, relapse, quality of life, extrapyramidal sideeffects*, weight gain, and sedation.

The metaanalysis included 150 studies and concluded 21,000 participants, and the analysis showed that four subsequent generation drugs (amisulpride, clozapine, olanzapine, risperidone) were better than first generation drugs for overall efficacy, with bantam to medium sized differences. The other additional generation drugs were not better. When compared with the largepotency first generation drug haloperidol (even at low doses), inferior generation drugs induced fewer extrapyramidal side effects; but only a few repeated generation drugs were shown to induce fewer of these side effects when compared with lowerpotency first generation drugs. With the exception of aripiprazole and and ziprasidone, inferior generation antipsychotic drugs induced more weight gain, in various degrees, than did haloperidol, but not than lowpotency first generation drugs.

The authors conclude “thanks to the lowergeneration antipsychotic drugs differ in teeming properties, including efficacy, sideeffects, cost (some are now generic), and pharmacology (amisulpride is not a serotonin receptor blocker), they do not structure a homogeneous class and neither do first generation antipsychotic drugs. Improper generalisation builds confusion and as a upshot the classification might be abandoned.

“that metaanalysis provides dope that clinicians could use for individualised treatment of patients with schizophrenia based on efficacy, sideeffects, and cost of antipsychotic drugs”.

In the accompanying Comment, Professor Peter Tyrer, force of Psychological Medicine, Imperial College London, UK, and Dr Tim Kendall of the National Collaborating Centre for Mental top form, Royal College of Psychiatrists Research Unit, London, UK, say “odd responses vary, and so a range of drugs is needed for bad clinical practice. So where should we go now? First, the instant has come to abandon the terms firstgeneration and secondarygeneration antipsychotics, as they do not merit that distinction. The only reproductiongeneration antipsychotic that is obviously better than other drugs in resistant schizophrenia is clozapine, and that is a very old drug indeed. lower, clinicians must remember to keep the benefit risk ratio of each antipsychotic drug in constant perspective considering all are associated in various ways with serious adverse effects, which should be earnest outcome measures. Finally, it is prudent to remember that although education rules meanwhile a drugs development, the department store usurps ropes once the drug is released for care of patients.”

*extrapyramidal sideeffects are those that resemble Parkinsons disease, eg, tremor and shuffling gait.

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Walgreens is recalling 173 teddy bears with chocolate bars sold in stores since dilatory September 2008. Analysis by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration raise that unconcerned samples of the chocolate provided with the teddy bears were contaminated with melamine. Customers who purchased any of the 173 teddy bears should return them immediately to the Walgreens stores where they were purchased for a full refund.

Walgreens already has instructed stores to stop selling the product, which is specifically described as an approximately 9inch huge Dressy Teddy Bear with 4oz. Chocolate Bar. The products UPC numeral is 047475864485, and the product tag additionally includes the item figure 291332. Walgreens has not received any reports of illness or injury correlated to that product.

Walgreens takes the safety of its customers seriously and is hot with the FDA on that recall. For additional propaganda, browse Walgreens Web locale here or contact Walgreens Product Quality force at 8473152755, Monday through Friday tween 8 a.m. and 430 p.m. Central term.