Universal flu vax getting closer

It’s been a long time coming, but human trials on a potential universal flu vaccine are about to get underway. It’s just a phase 1 (‘does it work?’) trial, but the fact that there’s a vaccine candidate — mRNA, of course — is worth at least a smile and thoughtful nod.

20 hours of CPE, plus a nifty certificate

It’s your last chance before the Georgia Pharmacy Convention to get the world’s best update on immunization skills! What you get:

• 20 hours of CE (!)
• the latest immunization skills taught by experts you know
• a stand-out line on your CV
• a certificate to impress your patients (and your boss)

…all from GPhA, Sunday, May 21. It’s APhA’s Pharmacy-Based Immunization Delivery: A Certificate Program for Pharmacists.

It’s popular for a reason! You’ll walk — nay, strut out of the class with comprehensive knowledge, skills, and resources to provide patients with the best immunization services, period.

That 20 hours of CE includes the live seminar, hands-on training and assessment, and online self study. The seminar and training is Sunday, May 21, 2023 from 8:00 am – 5:00 pm in the Georgia Pharmacy Association Classroom, Sandy Springs (map).

Don’t miss out and end up with a sub-par résumé!

UGA finds possible retinopathy treatment

Treatments tested for diabetic retinopathy often have a problem: To keep the body from adding too many new blood vessels to the retina (neovascularization), they shut down the process completely by shutting down a molecule called Akt. But the retina needs some new blood vessels to continue to function.

Enter UGA College of Pharmacy researchers, who think they’ve identified a ‘Goldilocks’ drug to treat retinopathy.

[A] perfect balance is struck between decreasing inflammation and the neovascularization processes without completing shutting down Akt activity and the vascular network required for normal retinal function.

The drug: triciribine, a select Akt inhibitor that’s being studied as a potential cancer fighter. The select Akt inhibitor is the key here; it can reduce the formation of new blood vessels without shutting it down completely. But you know the drill: More research is needed.

Marijuana and arteries

I know what you’re thinking: There couldn’t possibly be a downside to marijuana. Just because it hasn’t been studied and there’s no regulation of ingredients or THC levels doesn’t mean it can’t treat just about any issue on the planet. (← That is sarcasm.)

After decades of no research, we’re just now beginning to learn Mary Jane’s upsides and downsides. The latest downside: “Marijuana Users Have Triple the Odds for Leg Artery Disease” according to a study out of Hackensack University Medical Center. It’s based on the health data of 30 million (!) patients, 620,000 of whom were marijuana users.

They don’t know exactly why — “It’s possible marijuana use changes how blood clots or affects peripheral vascular tone,” but there was definitely a correlation that needs looking into.

Menthol on your mind

Here’s a weird one: When mice with Alzheimer’s were given menthol to smell, their cognitive ability improved. Thus, suggest the Spanish researchers who discovered this, it brings up “the potential of odors and immune modulators as therapeutic agents.”

[T]hey observed that when smelling this aroma, the level of interleukin-1-beta (IL-1β), a critical protein mediating the inflammatory response, was reduced. Furthermore, by inhibiting this protein with a drug approved for the treatment of some autoimmune diseases, they were also able to improve cognitive ability in these diseased mice.

Even more surprising, not only did a bit of menthol exposure prevent cognitive decline in the mice with Alzheimer’s it “also improved the cognitive ability of healthy young mice.”

A reminder about kids and cough syrup

A pair of Aussie pharmacists want to remind the world that cough syrup for the under-six crowd is probably a bad idea. And parents who do want to give it to the little ones should only do so “in consultation with a doctor, pharmacist or nurse practitioner.”

Overuse may result from parents misreading the label, intentionally using more in the hope it will work better, inadvertent extra doses and the use of inaccurate measuring devices such as household spoons.

They do have one interesting recommendation:

Simple syrups containing no medication can also be effective: up to 85% of the effectiveness of cough medicines has been put down to the “placebo effect”. This could be due to syrups coating the throat and dampening that irritating tickling sensation.

The battle against jargon continues

Can antioxidants found in fermented beverages impact tissue transcriptomics and modulate the heart’s response to an oxidative stress challenge induced by myocardial ischemia?

In other words: Can drinking beer help after heart damage?

The answer: Yes, maybe. Apparently fermented beverages — in low to moderate amounts — affect the expression of genes involved in both immune and inflammation responses, and appear to “ impact the heart’s response to oxidative damage” in a positive way.

Why couldn’t they just say that?

Short Take

An FDA advisory committee has recommended approval of ARS Pharmaceuticals’ Neffy epinephrine nasal spray, “a spray that would give users a 2-milligram dose to treat allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis, as an alternative to an injection with a needle.” The FDA will take this into account and decide in the next few months whether to approve the drug.