Welcome, UGA class of 2023

UGA held its white coat ceremony for the incoming class of 136 student pharmacists. Check out their happy, stress-free, haven’t-got-a-student-loan-bill-yet faces (click to enlargenate):

A nice bit of news

Ebola is no longer incurable.

The two antibody-based treatments, REGN-EB3 and mAb-114, work by blocking a critical protein in the Ebola virus. Patients receive them once, intravenously, and “ideally, as soon as possible” after infection. […] They saved about 90 percent of patients with low levels of infection, according to preliminary data released from the trial.

Compounding: The times they are a-changin’

New rules for compounding are taking effect on December 1 (less than five months from now!), and you and your practice need to be sure you’re prepared. Don’t be caught out of compliance!

GPhA is offering a full-day workshop that will get you up to speed. We’ve got great instructors lined up, and it’s only $149 for members.

It’s Saturday, September 14, 2019, from 7:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. at GPhA’s HQ classroom in Sandy Springs.

DEETS

• A full day compounding workshop
• Saturday, September 14, from 7:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. in Sandy Springs
• Covers the new USP <795>, <797>, and <800> regs
• Features two of the best instructors in the country
• 8 hours of CE for pharmacists and techs
• Lunch included, easy parking

Visit GPhA.org/changin for more and to register today!

“It’s time for it to crash and burn”

Laws, tariffs, export controls — Canada is not happy at all with the Trump Administration’s plan to allow Americans to buy drugs from the Land of Maple Syrup, and they’re getting ready to start implementing them. Occasional groups of diabetics looking for inexpensive insulin is one thing, but on a larger scale? No thanks, eh.

You are coming as Americans to poach our drug supply, and I don’t have any polite words for that. Our drugs are not for you, period.” —Amir Attaran, law and medicine professor at the University of Ottawa

They point out that, rather than piggyback on Canadian price controls, the U.S. can, you know, enact its own. Or — an interesting possibility — wait for the threat of Canuck imports to convince drugmakers to lower their prices here.

Novartis is not having a good week

After having been caught manipulating study data to get its Zolgensma therapy approved, the company is facing a Senate misconduct probe, is shuffling its pharma management, and of course is still facing an FDA investigation. Oh, and it lost a major court case against Amgen.

Cervical cancer: cause and effect

Texas stopped mandating the HPV vaccine, and now its cervical cancer rate is higher than that of some third-world countries. Meanwhile, Australia had the opposite policy … and looks like it might eliminate cervical cancer in the next decade.

Death by 1,000 drops

The amount of unused — and disposed — eyedrops after cataract surgery is high enough that there’s a significant environmental and financial impact.

We’re talking an average of 83 liters per month (more than 21 gallons) at every site that performs these surgeries.

The long read: buprenorphine

“It’s The Go-To Drug To Treat Opioid Addiction. Why Won’t More Pharmacies Stock It?“