Gottlieb resigns

FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb has resigned.

Important: Any pharmacies with tornado damage?

If you know of any independent pharmacies that were damaged by this past weekend’s tornadoes, please drop a note to Jeff Lurey at jlurey@gpha.org. Reps from our Academy of Independent Pharmacists are reaching out in the affected area, but can’t always get through.

PTCB is changing its certification requirements

The PTCB certification process is changing in 2020. It will be easier for courses to be recognized as meeting CE standards, more work experience will be counted, and the exams will be streamlined and updated. Check out the details at the PTCB site.

Accutane looks to be safe after all

File under “mythbusting”: A new study shows that there’s no relation between Accutane and depression.

That wasn’t the reaction they were expecting

Eli Lilly: “We’re offering an identical half-price version of our insulin for people who pay out of pocket!”

Lawmakers: ORLY? Sounds like “PR acrobatics*” to us. Let’s investigate the company.

Other quotes:

• “[This] raises the question how in the world can you justify the price for the non-generic.”
• “What we have learned through this announcement is that lowering the cost of this important drug is much more doable than previously thought.”

*Actual quote

Speaking of insulin

The FDA needs to speed up the approval process for generics, and lawmakers say that agencies recent guidance actually does the opposite and needs to change.

The [2018] guidance will bring new insulin products into market in 2020, but the current regulatory framework could delay the introduction of low-cost insulin products into the market in the short-term, when they are needed most, the senators wrote.

Don’t rinse

Using mouthwash can raise your blood pressure by killing a type of beneficial bacteria — a kind that converts dietary nitrate into nitric oxide, and thus helps regulate normal blood pressure.

Maybe not the beginning of the end…

…but perhaps the end of the beginning: Second patient cured of HIV. A stem-cell treatment for cancer apparently put his HIV into “sustained remission” 12 years to the day after the “London Patient” was the first person cured of the disease.

Once more, with feeling

Yet another massive study — 657,461 children — confirms that MMR vaccines don’t cause autism. But maybe we should wait to hear what random, untrained celebrities think before jumping to any conclusions.