More Zantac recalls

This one affects Rite Aid, Walgreens, and Walmart. The Canadian drugmaker that makes the generic ranitidine sold by those stores has been ordered to recall it. And now France has joined other European countries and is ordering all brand-name and generic Zantac recalled.

In the U.S., the FDA is still investigating.

Free penicillin-allergy CE (from UGA and friends)

Do you have patients with penicillin allergies — or who think they might?

Check this out: UGA CoP professor Chris Bland and colleagues around the Southeast have developed a free, online CE program for pharmacists and techs: “Clarifying penicillin allergies: allergy interviews, skin testing, and de-labeling.”

It’s ACPE-accredited, it’s online, it’s free, and it will get you an hour of CE (“upon successful completion,” of course). What’s not to love?

You want more? OK, fine: The program was also “granted exempt approval by Samford’s IRB to assess knowledge and perceptions related to penicillin allergies.” (Is that important? It sounds important.)

Click here for a PDF with the details, then click here to enroll.

Back to patches and gum

The other day we mentioned that Massachusetts was banning all vaping products for four months. You know what else t did? Issued a standing order for pharmacies to provide free or low-cost nicotine patches or gum to addicts.

Under the order, pharmacies are authorized to create prescriptions to make nicotine-replacement therapy coverable by insurance, even if the customer doesn’t have a prescription from a doctor.

FDA, CBD?

Could the FDA get around to looking at CBD oil, if not actually regulating it? Maybe.

FDA acting chief information officer Amy Abernethy recently announced on Twitter that: “[FDA] is expediting its work to address the many questions about cannabidiol (CBD). This is an important national issue with public health impact, & an important topic for American hemp farmers and many other shareholders.”

Hawks tix for medical pros

While normal people realize this is football season, if you’re in the mood for basketball for some reason, the Atlanta Hawks have “Medical Professionals Night with the Hawks” — Friday, December 13th at 7:30 p.m. Tickets range from $25 to $155, and include a T-shirt (while supplies last) and $10 worth of food and beverage credit.

Health costs hit employers

Just in case you thought rising healthcare costs don’t have much impact on people with employer-sponsored coverage … think again. Healthcare premiums for employers rose about five percent this year — that’s money that doesn’t go to salaries (or is passed on to customers). Georgia Health News reports.

On average, workers this year are contributing $6,015 toward the cost of family coverage, with employers paying the rest of the $20,576 cost, the survey found. Since 2009, average family premiums have increased 54% and workers’ contribution have increased 71% — several times more quickly than wages (26%) and inflation (20%).

Today’s aspirin advice

Oh, sheesh, “Daily aspirin or not?” is becoming like “Are eggs good or bad?” or “Margarine or butter?” Wait a day and the advice changes.

• Until recently, a low-dose aspirin (81mg) was recommended for a lot of people as a way to (possibly) prevent cardiovascular events.
• Then came a study that said 81mg wasn’t enough if you weighed more than about 154 lbs.
• Then came several studies saying that, unless you didn’t already have cardiovascular disease, the bleeding risk from aspirin outweighed the potential benefit of its magical* properties.
• And now we have this: Actually, daily aspirin might be good for people with CVD risk (e.g., if they have hypertension or diabetes, of they’re smokers) as long as they don’t have a high risk of bleeding.

See you tomorrow!

* Look, it can’t just be the anti-inflammatory effect — there are plenty of other NSAIDs. So we’re going with “magic.”

Sky still blue

Another day, another report that U.S. drug prices are the highest in the world. Seriously, why do people keep doing these studies? We know! We know!