The move to get doctors to file prescriptions electronically is gathering steam and may get a further boost from new Medicare rules that give doctors money to go electronic — and take it away if they don't.
Blue Cross file via The News & Observer, AP
Advocates say e-prescriptions will replace doctors' scrawl with
typed information and flag potentially dangerous interactions
with patients' existing medications.
PhRMA Revises Its Marketing Code. What Can Pharmaceutical Companies Do to Comply with the New Pharma Marketing Codes?
NEWTOWN, Pa., Jul 11, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Last update: 12:43 p.m. EDT July 11, 2008
Pharmaceutical companies will no longer offer pens, mousepads, or other nonconforming gifts adorned with company logos or product names to promote their drugs, according to new guidelines just adopted by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) Board of Directors.
Texas AG Goes After Generic Manufacturers
FiercePharma by Tracy Staton July 10, 2008
It's not just branded drugmakers who are being targeted for Medicaid fraud. The Texas Attorney General is going after four generics makers for allegedly stating falsely inflated prices for their medications...
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott's Press Release:
Attorney General Abbott Files New Action Against Four Drug Companies For Inflating Drug Prices
Drug-pricing Scheme Exploited Medicaid Program, Enriched Participants
FDA Issues Warning On Cipro, Levaquin, Floxin, Similar Antibotics
Associated Press Tuesday, July 08, 2008 WASHINGTON
Federal drug safety officials have imposed the government's most urgent warning on Cipro and similar antibiotics, citing risks that they can cause tendon ruptures, a serious injury that leaves some patients incapacitated. The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday ordered makers of flouroquinolone drugs — a potent class of antibiotics — to add a 'black box' warning to their products, which include Cipro, Levaquin, Floxin and other medications. Patients should immediately stop taking the medications if they develop any tendon pain, swelling or inflammation.
Needle-Free Migraine Drug Formulation Clears Clinical TrialsFDAnews Drug Daily Bulletin July 8, 2008 | Vol 5 No 132
Results from two clinical trials show that Zogenix’s needle-free DosePro formulation of the migraine drug sumatriptan reaches peak levels in patients’ blood in minutes. The first of two studies evaluated DosePro’s pharmacokinetics, bioequivalence and safety compared with a needle-based autoinjector, GlaxoSmithKline’s Imitrex STATdose. DosePro delivers the drug directly through the skin into the subcutaneous space without a needle. In the second study, patients at home used the product as their primary means of treating migraine headache, and 98 percent were able to correctly use the technology on their first try, even while undergoing an acute migraine attack. A quick peak of plasma concentration is important for migraine drugs because it correlates with speed and completeness of response to migraine symptoms, Zogenix said.
That Ticking Sound Is Just Another Dumb Promotion
Pharmalot by Ed Silverman // July 8th, 2008 // 7:55 am
File this under not too bright.
The ticking noise that brought a bomb squad to a Carmel Valley, California, medical building yesterday turned out to be a small battery in a greeting card that said ‘Your Time Is Up’ on the cover.
And just who sent the greeting card? A pharmaceutical company promoting its products, a San Diego fire spokesman tells The San Diego Union-Tribune.
A receptionist at Children’s Medical Group office in a three-story building heard ticking coming from a mailbox in the hallway about 4 p.m. So she called 911 and security officers evacuated the building. The local bomb squad and a US Postal Service inspector were then called in. The greeting card was removed and opened, and the battery inside was found to have been damaged, the paper writes.
In the end, the fire department spokesman said the card was addressed to a doctor who no longer worked there. And, the paper adds, the Postal Inspector is supposed to contact the pharmaceutical company, which went unnamed, about its promotional efforts.
So do you think this was just another example of poor judgment or a warning to a doc for not writing more scrips?
AAP Guidelines May Help Extend the Patent Life of LipitorPharma Marketing Blog Monday, July 07, 2008
Pfizer is searching for a way to maintain the LIPITOR franchise and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) may have just supplied the solution: A new indication for the treatment of high cholesterol in children over 8 years old! In new guidelines, AAP states: "For children who are more than eight years old and who have high LDL concentrations, cholesterol-reducing medications should be considered" (see AAP press release).
FiercePharma by Christe Bruderlin-Nelson July 2, 2008
Alabama Asks For $800 million From GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis
FiercePharma by Tracy Staton July 1, 2008
Alabama stuck an $800 million suggested price on its Medicaid fraud case against GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis. In closing arguments yesterday, the state asked jurors for that multimillion-dollar award as repayment for the drugmakers' alleged overcharging for Medicaid drugs--and to send a message to other pharma firms. "We won't tolerate a reimbursement shell game," the lead prosecutor said. According to the state, GSK and Novartis charged the Medicaid program more for meds than they did other customers from 1991 to 2005. Medicaid is supposed to get the drugmakers' lowest offered price...
Kmart Beefs Up No Frills Generic Program
Internet Drug News.com Pharmaceutical News Harvest July 1, 2008
Kmart Pharmacy Expands Generic Prescription Drug Savings Program … bigger formulary than any other retailer … lowered the cost of a three-month supply of many common maintenance medications to just $10 … more than 500 commonly prescribed medications...
(List Of K-Mart 90-day formulary drugs)
Pharmacy Giants Create Electronic Prescribing Behemoth
Wall Street Journal Health Blog posted by Jacob Goldstein July 1, 2008
The nation’s two big e-prescribing companies have merged to create a single network that includes most of the big prescription-drug middle men we can think of. RxHub, a JV by the big pharmacy-benefit managers CVS, ExpressScripts and Medco, merged in a cashless transaction with SureScripts, which was operated by a group of retailers including Wal-Mart and Walgreen. The combined entity will go by the overly long name of SureScripts-RxHub, LLC (note to execs: if you can’t decide who gets to keep the name after a merger, flip a coin). Health wonks like e-prescribing: Electronic systems are better than people at catching errors, for one thing, and you can’t lose an e-prescription in the bottom of your purse. But it hasn’t really taken off. Combining what had been the two largest networks into one may help by giving physicians a more centralized way to get information on existing prescriptions and route new electronic prescriptions to the pharmacy of a patient’s choice.
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