Here we go again?

A new virus — Langya henipavirus (LayV) — has infected dozens of people in China. (“Dozens” = 35.)

The question: Is this a legitimate concern, or are we on viral hair-triggers because of, you know, other viruses? The answer, per the GPhA Buzz Crystal Ball™, is … it’s probably nothing to worry about unless you’re a cable news producer looking to fill time.

• At the moment, human-to-human transmission seems rare.
• It doesn’t kill people, just makes them sick with “fever, fatigue, cough, loss of appetite and muscle aches,” or what they call “febrile illness.”
• It started in 2018 (!) but Chinese authorities didn’t mention it till recently.

Do you want to worry? Fine, here: “[Other] henipaviruses, like Nipah and Hendra, are known to cause severe illness in humans and animals, with death occurring in 40 to 70% of cases” according to the CDC.

Walgreens loses in SF trial

A federal judge has ruled that Walgreens contributed to the opioid crisis in San Francisco by dispensing ”hundreds of thousands of red flag opioid prescriptions without performing adequate due diligence.”

The sort-of twist is that the ruling is that it’s the company’s fault, not the employees’:

“The evidence showed that Walgreens did not provide its pharmacists with sufficient time, staffing, or resources to perform due diligence on these prescriptions.”

Walgreens said it plans to appeal, and that it didn’t actually make or market the pills — it just didn’t keep track of how many it was dispensing.

Imagine you’re a tyrant

Your enemies are in prison, your friends are all French ambassadors. Now it’s time to think: What new pharmacy-related laws should Georgia have?

GPhA needs your ideas as our advocacy team prepares for the 2023 legislative session.

Our best legislative priorities come from members. You folks are on the front lines, after all, but you have to tell us. And GPhA gets it done with an unmatched record of results:

• 2015 – MAC pricing; vaccine protocol expansion
• 2016 – PDMP strengthened
• 2017 – Pharmacy Patient Protection Act; Medicaid audit protections
• 2018 – Expanding point-of-care testing authority
• 2019 – First-in-the-nation PBM anti-steering provisions
• 2020 – PBM code update; first-in-the-nation PBM surcharge; patient protections; Medicaid carve-out study commissioned
• 2021 – Major vaccine protocol expansion; tech expansion

Most of these ideas came from members who told someone on the advocacy team, “There oughta be a law.”

If there’s a law or policy issue you want to see changed — something that will improve patient care or the practice of pharmacy — tell us about it!

It’s super easy — barely an inconvenience: E-mail your idea to VP of Public Policy Melissa Reybold at mreybold@gpha.org. Yes, it’s that simple. “Dear Ms. Reybold, there’s one law I think Georgia really needs….” Give as much info as you can without boring her.

All right, we’ll make it a little harder: You have to do it by 5:00 pm this coming Saturday, August 13.

The next next antibiotic

The latest drug that will upend the antibiotic landscape is … fabimycin. Never heard of it? That’s because it’s a new compound developed at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Chemists there took an antibiotic that worked against gram-positive bacteria, did a little science to it, and created one they say works against those nasty gram-negative bacteria. And really well, too, fighting off 300 drug-resistant bacteria.

“[Fabimycin] proved potent against more than 300 drug-resistant clinical isolates, while remaining relatively inactive toward certain gram-positive pathogens and some typically harmless bacteria that live in or on the human body.”

Will we ever hear of it again? After more research, perhaps.

Saliva test for PTSD

Saliva of veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder contains a specific microbiotic signature. That is, it might be possible to test someone for PTSD by looking for a particular combination of bacteria in their saliva.

Fun side facts: The Israeli researchers who discovered this also noted that 1) “the saliva bacteria of those exposed to air pollution showed a correlation to the picture with PTSD,” and 2) more education seemed to provide a “protective influence.”

Captain Obvious says “Gesundheit”

“New Study: 36% of YouTube Videos Contain Misleading Hay Fever Information”

(The real shocker: “43% of videos on allergic rhinitis contained useful information.”)

Bad blood, long symptoms

People with higher levels of cholesterol and fatty acids in their blood are more likely to suffer longer from diseases, and that includes being more likely to have long Covid.

British researchers found that, Covid or not-Covid, if someone’s symptoms took longer to disappear, they were like to have the same pattern of harmful fats in their blood.

“The blood markers in asymptomatic people had a healthier pattern that we know is associated with a lower risk of heart attacks and diabetes. The people with long-lasting symptoms showed higher levels of ‘bad cholesterol’ and unhealthy fatty acids.”