SB 46 passes: We are stronger together

“We are greater together than we are alone.” —Walter Payton, Chicago Bears

With the passage of SB46, Georgia pharmacists once again proved this to be true. Thanks to your emails, texts, faxes, and phone calls, Georgia legislators listened — and with only minutes to spare, they passed SB46 before the session ended last night.

From what was a simple bill that should not have attracted a lot of attention or opposition, SB46 became an enormous fight with the bill’s passage in peril numerous times over the course of the last several weeks. Your efforts, along with that of GPhA lobbyists Greg Reybold and Cindy Shepherd — and the support of some incredible representatives and senators — made the difference!

Just a few of the legislators we extend our special thanks to include:

  • Senators Dean Burke, Bo Hatchett, Kay Kirkpatrick, Jeff Mullis, Ben Watson
  • House Speaker David Ralston and representatives Sharon Cooper, Matt Hatchett, Rick Jasperse, Trey Kelley, David Knight, Mark Newton, Bert Reeves, and Ron Stephens.
  • And special thank-yous to Governor Kemp and his healthcare team, the Department of Public Health and their government affairs team, and Lieutenant Governor Duncan and his team.

Please take a moment to reach out to your legislators to thank them for their support!

Number 3

Covid-19 was the third highest cause of death in the U.S. in 2020, behind heart disease and cancer. (And before you start talking about co-morbidities, remember that the “excess deaths” in 2020 makes it clear that Covid is the issue.)

The good news: Suicides were down for the first time in four years.

The spike at 65

A Stanford oncologist noticed an odd pattern: His patients were being diagnosed with lung cancer at a much higher rate at age 65 — higher than at 64 or 66. That seemed odd … until he found it was true for his colleague’s patients as well.

So they researched and “found a substantial rise nationwide in new cancer diagnoses at 65 — not only for lung cancer but also for breast, colon and prostate cancer.”

Why? For financial reasons: People were waiting to be eligible for Medicare before being tested.

And that’s bad, because patients over 65 are more likely to need surgery, and have a much higher five-year mortality rate. Because they had to wait.

Ignorance ain’t strength

A new quiz and poll found that the more ignorant people are about Covid-19, the more likely they are to skip getting vaccinated.

First people were tested about Covid — e.g., does the vaccine include a tracking microchip? Does it promote cancer? Does it sterilize people who get them? Then they were asked if they would get a shot.

The problem wasn’t that people believed that stuff, it was that they weren’t sure. Those are the folks — the ones who thought the vaccine might contain a microchip — who are hesitant to get it.

Spring Region Meeting: Now April 22

Adjust your calendars for the change. GPhA’s Spring Region Meeting will now be held Thursday, April 22 from 7:00–8:00 p.m. — via Zoom, due to COVID-19 concerns. Register now and get more info at GPhA.org/region-meeting.

Today’s boron news

Spanish researchers have developed a new hydrogel — this one armed with boron — that can be injected near damaged muscles to “[kick] off a chain reaction of events that aid muscle regeneration.”

Essentially, boron causes integrin proteins to be produced. Those proteins help new cells bind to the scaffolding that’s created by the hydrogel, and that starts a chain reaction, where lots of undifferentiated muscle cells connect to become “fresh muscle fibers.” Muscle tears, they say, could be healed in half the time.

The team believes this technology could have particular value in treating aging-related muscle atrophy, as well as inherited forms of muscular dystrophy.

Stress causes baldness

It’s like this: Stress releases cortisol, and cortisol increases the “resting phase” of hair follicles. More stress, less time making hair. So Harvard scientists did some mouse testing. It turned out to be pretty simple:

[T]he scientists found that when the stress hormones were removed from the equation, this resting phase became very short. This meant the mice were constantly entering a growth phase and regenerating hair follicles even when they grew old.

Next up: Can this be made into a cream?

Anti-trust lawsuit goes forward

The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy and several online-pharmacy organizations are being sued by PharmacyChecker.com. A federal judge ruled that yes, the suit can go forward.

The allegation: That NABP and the others “made coordinated efforts to suppress the plaintiff from engaging in business in the online pharmacy verification and drug price comparison industry.”

Particularly, the plaintiff claimed that NABP added the plaintiff’s website to a list called “Not Recommended Sites.”

Podcast of the Week: “15 Million N95s Without A Buyer”

U.S. mask makers have millions of NIOSH-approved N95 masks in stock. Hospitals need them. So why isn’t the market working? Hint: It’s not because they’re more expensive than Chinese versions. The reality is more interesting, as the Indicator explains.