Region meetings are here!

That’s right: It’s time for our 2019 spring region meetings! Get together in your neighborhood for a great dinner and an update on the what’s happening in the legislature. Go to GPhA.org/regions to find yours and sign up today!

It includes…

• A critical run-down of the changes to laws and regulations that are going to impact your pharmacy practice … and your patients.
• One hour of CE credit
• A chance to meet and connect with other pharmacy pros in your area
• A great meal for only $10!

Go to GPhA.org/regions to find yours and sign up today!

Cannabis oil issue hits close to home

GPhA Past President Robert Bowles is featured with his wife on the front page of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Bowles, who suffers from Lewy body dementia, is one of the more than 8,400 Georgians with a Low THC Oil Registry Card.

As we’ve pointed out many times (and the AJC does now), that means he’s legally allowed to possess and use low-THC oil, but not allowed to purchase it in Georgia or bring it in from out of state.

[C]ard-carrying Georgians grappling with illnesses risk arrest by tapping into an underground medical marijuana supply network, cultivating marijuana in their backyard or buying it off the street.

Ritalin users are less likely to be psychotic

That headline makes about as much sense as NBC’s (see below). The actual news is that methylphenidate users are less likely than Adderall users to suffer from psychosis, according to a study that looked at real-world insurance claim data. But even with amphetamine the absolute risk was still very, very low … but that doesn’t make good scare headlines.

What, you thought high drug prices were to pay for innovation?

Facing a falling stock price (down 15 percent over the last year), Gilead Sciences has raised the prices of its six biggest antiviral drugs — Atripla, Biktarvy, Descovy, Genvoya, Odefsey, and Truvada — by 4.9 percent.

Yes, healthcare apps share user data

It’s not like anyone actually reads the privacy policy, and a new investigation (published in the BMJ) found that “79% of sampled apps shared user data” to “developers and parent companies (first parties) and service providers (third parties).”

Wrote the authors, “Sharing of user data is routine, yet far from transparent.”

Suboxone Film price could drop 70 percent with new generic

South India–based Dr. Reddy’s got approval to sell a generic version of Suboxone Film — possibly the most effective treatment for opioid use disorder.

That victory will bring generic versions of the therapy to the U.S. nearly four years sooner than expected, helping cut into the bill for a drug that can cost about $500 a month at a recommended dose.

In fact, the maker of the brand-name version “has raised the price of the most popular 8-milligram dose four times since 2016, a 22 percent increase.” Inflation over that period was about six percent.

We never miss an article about phages

They’re a potential fix for antibiotic resistance. They actually work. They’re a perfect combination of old (researched for more than a century) and new (finally getting the recognition they deserve). And they look bleepin’ cool. Here’s the latest, from Orthopedics Today.

(This is a photo, not an artist’s rendering!)

Things you can do with caterpillar fungus

We’ve covered anti-virals from frog mucus. Antibiotics from dragon’s blood. Antiinflammatories from scorpion stings. Now add to the list using caterpillar fungus to treat osteoarthritis.

The fungus — called Cordyceps militaris — colonizes the caterpillars of Haepialus moths, as well as other insects.

University of Nottingham researchers have focused, specifically, on the potential benefits of cordycepin, a compound derived from this fungus, which, they say, has a unique anti-inflammatory effect that makes it an important candidate in the treatment of osteoarthritis.

Alzheimer’s-pneumonia risk

Anti-epileptic drugs, including carbamazepine, phenytoin, pregabalin, and valproic acid, increase the risk of pneumonia in patients with Alzheimer’s. (In contrast, those drugs don’t pose a pneumonia risk in younger folks.)

Facepalm

Kentucky governor says he exposed his nine kids to chickenpox rather that get them vaccinated.