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After 80 years, animal testing will no longer be required for a drug to get FDA approval. That’s not to say that animal testing will stop, just that it won’t be required — the technology has improved enough that…

…the agency should rely more heavily on computer modeling, “organ chips,” and other nonanimal methods that have been developed over the past 10 to 15 years.

One of the arguments against the requirement is that animals aren’t humans (sorry, Fido, but you are a very good boy). As one bioengineer put it, “Animal models are wrong more often than they are right.”

Step up and be a leader

Are you ready to help shape the future of pharmacy in Georgia?

GPhA is now accepting applications for the 2023-2024 GPhA Board of Directors. Serving on the board is the opportunity to make a lasting contribution to the industry.

We have three open positions: two at-large board members at large, and one member from the Academy of Clinical and Health-System Pharmacists (ACHP).

Be the one to step forward — be the one to make a difference!

The deadline for applications is 11:59 p.m. EST on Tuesday, March 7, 2023.

Nitty gritty

The position: For more info on the roles and responsibilities of GPhA board members, check out Article IV of the GPhA Bylaws.

The election: An online election will begin May 24, 2023 and will close at midnight on June 15, 2023 (the first day of the Georgia Pharmacy Convention).

The results: GPhA will announce election results on June 16, 2023, at the Georgia Pharmacy Conventions second general session; new directors will be installed the next day.

Questions? Contact Lia Andros, governance manager, at landros@gpha.org.

Buddy Carter to hold special order on Tricare/Express Scripts contract

Today, Thursday, January 12, Congressman Buddy Carter will hold a special order — a session of Congress where he and other representatives will speak on the record about the Tricare/Express Scripts issue.

Not sure what that issue is? Back in November, Carter and 48 other members of Congress invited Defense Health Agency Director Ronald Place to a listening session regarding how the Tricare/Express Scripts contract would hurt military patients and the independent pharmacies that serve them. The DHA declined to attend.

So tune in to watch what Carter et al. have to say at 4:00 pm on C-SPAN! (And if you have a connection to other U.S. representatives, make a quick call and ask ’em to join in!)

TDAP vaccine before birth

The FDA has approved Tdap vaccines for pregnant women to prevent pertussis in infants. The single injection is approved for women in their third trimester. That is all.

Predicting chemo success

The paper’s title: “Early response evaluation by single cell signaling profiling in acute myeloid leukemia.”

What it means: Norwegian researchers found a way to “predict cancer patients’ survival within hours after chemotherapy.” How? It’s all about a single protein:

“Our results show that the protein ERK1/2 increases within the first 24 hours of chemotherapy in patients who have a poor response to therapy.”

If confirmed, it’s both scary and — knowing immediately that another kind of treatment is necessary — potentially very helpful.

Another Obamacare record

For 2023, a record 15.8 million Americans — including almost 850,000 Georgians — have signed up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act’s marketplace — that’s up 13 percent from this time last year, per HHS figures. (There are still a few more days of open enrollment.)

And of those 16 million, more than 3 million are new enrollees.

Cough syrup for Parkinson’s

A phase 2 trial has found that ambroxol — yep, the over-the-counter mucus breaker-upper — might actually be a treatment for Parkinson’s.

British researchers found that …

[A]mbroxol was able effectively reach the brain and increase levels of a protein known as GCase (glucocerebrosidase). Gcase allows cells to remove waste proteins, including alpha-synuclein (a protein that builds up in Parkinson’s and is thought to be important in its cause), more effectively.

It’s not a full treatment, of course, but it could slow the disease’s progression. Up next, and soon: The all-important phase 3 trial that’s designed to last two years.

The Long Read: Know Your Sewage edition

Wastewater surveillance is cheap, easy, and a lot quicker than waiting on hospital data or even Google search analysis. And it’s totally anonymous — the ultimate aggregated data. So why aren’t we doing more of it? For starters:

“People want to see the results of the data before they’re comfortable using or investing in them, but in order to get the data, you need to invest in [getting the data].”

Read on, Macduff.