Grandma may need to up her game

Campbell’s Soup said it’s increasing its soup production in anticipation of the coronavirus’s spread.

“[W]e’re using a little bit the analogy of weather or natural disasters. Where do we see demand coming in a greater rate? And we’ve upped that level of production to be able to maximize our inventory to be prepared for whatever unfolds here.”

Region meetings are a-comin’!

Yep, it’s that time of year — time for GPhA’s 12 spring Region Presidents’ Briefings.

What are region meetings? They’re where pharmacy pros and students from each of the states 12 regions meet for an evening of good food at a local eatery*, networking, making friends, and an hour of CPE — all for a mere $10 thanks to our sponsors.

Check out the details and sign up for yours at GPhA.org/regions today!

* That’s hipster for “restaurant”

Hard-to-believe treatments

The spice is life, and the spice is … curcumin? Apparently if you deliver it via nanoparticles, it can treat both Alzheimer’s and genital herpes.

Cold sores vs brain tumors: An engineered herpes virus (combined with gamma secretase inhibitors) can apparently deliver a “one-two punch” that can eliminate brain tumors in mice.

Shout-out to Ira Katz!

The Little Five Points pharmacist became the first of the Georgia Pharmacy Foundation’s Champions for Opioid Safety. He received the designation by completing a series of educational programming aimed at reducing opioid-related overdoses, then demonstrating that he’s applied that knowledge to his pharmacy.

“The bottom line is that many people within greater Atlanta know that they can count on Little 5 Points Pharmacy for education about opioid safety as well as how to administer Narcan which we provide at no charge,” Katz said. He estimates he has dispensed more than 1,000 units of naloxone to the local community to help with the crisis.

Acid test for opioids

German scientists have made an interesting discovery about how and whether opioids work: The acidity of the area in pain makes a difference. By fine tuning the particular opioid molecule, they can strike a better balance between pain relief and the possibility of addiction.

“The more closely the pKa value of the binding molecule matches the acidity level of the inflamed or injured tissue, the more selective is the activation of the opioid receptors at the source of pain and the lower the risk of addiction or side effects.”

NCPA wants to help you expand

Have you thought about partnering with a physician to offer your expertise and expand your practice? You should!

Our friends at NCPA have a great program coming up. It’s called Enhanced Services Boot Camp and it’s one intensive day: April 16 in Concord, N.C.

Learn about reimbursement, smart documentation, strategies for expanding your services, tutorials incorporating care planning, “and much, much more!” Click here to learn and sign up!

You’ll always sound precocious

Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid. It’s not just a line from the hit song in “Mary Poppins 3: Dark Territory.” When combined with acidified nitrite (into a compound called AB569), it might be a new kind of antibiotic — one that can kill superbugs without harming human cells.

The top three priority pathogens include highly drug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacteriaceae. The AB569 compound has been shown to kill these bacteria, plus a wide variety of others, including the notoriously difficult to treat Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA.

All in the name

Want someone to stop vaping? Don’t say, “You can get sick.” Be specific: “You can get necrotizing pneumonia.”

You’ll find a way to make your natural tendencies pay

Gum inflammation is linked to diabetes. So why not have dentists — when they’re not busy sharpening those pointy things they use — screen patients for type 2 diabetes? British researchers did just that.

And what d’ya know: They “found that using risk assessment tools, questionnaires with patients, and blood testing at the dental surgery could improve health outcomes for people at risk of type 2 diabetes.”

I don’t get to use these headlines

For your front-of counter: “Bioré encourages self-love“.

Critical bills pass the Georgia House

Despite last-minute attempts by the opposition to derail them this morning, HB 918, HB 946, and HB 947 all passed the Georgia House — HB 947 and HB 918 unanimously, and HB 946 only one vote shy of unanimous!

Thank you to everyone who called, e-mailed, faxed, and otherwise reached out to your representatives. (And hey — when you have a chance, please follow up with your representatives and thank them for their votes.)

Reminder: GPhA Board nominations are open

The deadline for applications is 11:59 p.m. EST on March 13, 2020. Visit GPhA.org/2020board for all the details and an application.

Georgians panic (and a member shout-out)

Face masks — even the ones that won’t do much good — and hand sanitizer are selling out at Georgia pharmacies as residents freak out over the coronavirus: So reports the Gainesville Times, which interviewed GPhA member and pharmacy owner Scottie Barton.

Pro tip: If people have questions you can’t answer, sent them to the WHO site: who.int, which has a detailed and up-to-date section on CoviD-19, including answers, advice, and training info for health professionals.

The pipeline slows

India has stopped exporting 26 pharmaceutical ingredients to ensure the country has enough of them for its own drug needs.

Big news for Augusta

It’s the 16th fattest city in the country. (Don’t look too smug, Atlanta — you’re also in the top 100.)

The Divinyls are gonna be in trouble

Fight that muscle memory! During flu season — and with CoviD-19 on its way — you really need to keep your hands away from your face. Yes, it’s difficult enough that the Washington Post even has a column about it: “Stop touching my face? Why the easiest way to prevent coronavirus is so hard.”

A 2015 study found that we touch our face an average of two dozen times an hour, and 44 percent of that touching involves contact with eyes, nose or mouth.

No shock here

If you or someone you know uses a personal electroshock device to “reduce or stop self-injurious or aggressive behavior,” the FDA wants you to stop. It has banned the devices because it says they “present unreasonable and substantial risk of illness or injury.”

Old dog, new trick

Could phenelzine (ye olde antidepressant) fight prostate cancer? We wouldn’t ask unless someone thought so. In this case it’s researchers at the USC School of Pharmacy.

In this study, 11 of 20 participants had a measurable decline in their PSA levels after 12 weeks of twice-a-day treatment, with the greatest decline in PSA being a 74% drop.

Denne overskrift er på dansk

Want to stave off dementia? One way might be learning a second language. Researchers in Spain found that bilingual people showed less cognitive impairment overall than monolinguals.

[I]n the case of bilinguals, brain atrophy was greater than in the case of monolinguals. […] The researchers have followed the evolution of the [100] patients for seven months, in which they have been able to observe that the group of bilinguals has had a lower loss of brain volume and has better maintained their cognitive abilities.

Obligatory CoviD-19 updates

• No vaccine for 12-18 months at a minimum.
• Mortality rate is 3.4 percent — higher than originally reported. Seasonal flu’s mortality is less than 1 percent.
• Congress is almost sorta kinda ready to approve a funding package to pay for vaccines and treatment; Dems and Reps are trying to balance affordability and profitability.
• No cure, but China is testing various antivirals; the U.S. is testing remdesivir.
• Treatment for mild cases is rest, fluids, Tylenol; when it leads to pneumonia, ventilators and glucocorticoids are used.
• Testing still lags in the U.S., but the FDA now allows states to use non-CDC tests, so that is improving.

Of special note: China is now recommending the arthritis drug Actemra to treat serious coronavirus patients with lung damage.

The virus went down to Georgia

Yes, in case you missed it, CoviD-19 has been confirmed in Fulton County. Now’s a good time to brush up on “Surfaces? Sneezes? Sex? How the Coronavirus Can and Cannot Spread.”

And if you wonder how much to worry, Stat News has a breakdown: “Who is getting sick, and how sick?”

You know someone had to ask

“Can You Drink Hand Sanitizer or Get Drunk on It?” (Spoiler: Yes, you can drink it*. No, you really don’t want to.)

* As the saying goes, “All mushrooms are edible, but some are only edible once.”

Financial pressure is pushing pharmacists

The Stat News column is “Pharmacists, patients are stuck in the middle of a profit-before-all-else pharmacy racket.” The gist is this:

Intense financial pressure combined with the volume-based reimbursement that drive the constant push for more pills are compromising patient care and pharmacist well-being.

Sure, there are comments to be made about late-stage capitalism, the pendulum eventually swinging, and so on. But we’d like to hear from you. Tell us your concerns — or tell us how you think this is an exaggeration. You’re on the front lines, after all.

Click here to go to the GPhA page with more details, plus an anonymous form you can use. Or you can send an e-mail to membership@gpha.org. (We will never share your name.) Let us know!

Marijuana side effects

As legalization spreads, so too will more information emerge about the effects of marijuana. Here’s one case study that appears in what may be the most prominent peer-reviewed publication: the Journal of Cannabis Research.

This case report examines the first known case of cannabis-associated priapism in a patient where all other known causes of priapism have been excluded. While cannabis use has already been noted in educational sources and textbooks as a potential cause of priapism, an electronic literature review was only able to identify four distinct cases of cannabis use coinciding with priapism, none of which were convincingly able to prove cannabis was the sole cause.

From Lineland to Flatland

It feels like you just got finished upgrading to chip-card readers — now guess what: You’ll probably have to get new barcode scanners in the next couple of years, as 2-D barcodes replace the venerable UPC.

Delayed gratification

Kids (i.e., teens and young adults) are waiting longer before they start using drugs. Not a lot longer, but it’s definitely noticeable.

[T]he study showed that the average age at which young people first consumed alcohol or smoked cigarettes rose from 16 in 2004 to 17 in 2017. Those who reported using heroin or cocaine for the first time had an average age of just over 17 in 2004, which had risen to about 18 for heroin and close to 19 for cocaine by 2017.

The more you know

No, antioxidants don’t improve male fertility: NIH study.

Largest pharmacies: no surprises

Drug Channels has released its annual “Economic Report on U.S. Pharmacies and Pharmacy Benefit Managers,” including the list of the largest pharmacies in the country. Topping the list are the usual suspects: CVS Health, Walgreens, Cigna, UnitedHealth, Walmart, Kroger, and Rite Aid.

Of note:

• “Four of the largest pharmacies are central-fill mail and specialty pharmacies operated by the PBMs”
• “For 2019, we estimate that PBMs earned more than half of their gross profits from mail and specialty pharmacy dispensing activities.”

The Long Read: “Why the hubbub” edition

“Why public health officials sound more worried about the coronavirus than the seasonal flu”

The price of convenience

Using extended-release versions of drugs — as opposed to taking a pill two or three times a day — costs Medicaid and Medicare billions.

In 2017, Medicare Part D spent $2.2 billion and Medicaid spent $952 million on extended-release versions of those drugs. The researchers estimate that swapping twice-daily versions for all extended-release formulations that year would have saved Medicare and Medicaid a total of $2.6 billion.

Two big caveats: 1) There are some short-acting drugs like metformin that can cause stomach upset, and 2) The study doesn’t consider the added cost for treating patients who miss dosages because of the scheduling.

Drug importation: One week left to comment to the FDA

The Partnership for Safe Medicines, which represents drug manufacturers, U.S. pharmacies, and healthcare organizations, wants your help to stop the FDA’s plan to allow drugs to be imported from Canada. It’s working with APhA, the National Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations, and PhRMA, to help spread the word.

The FDA comment period ends in a week — on March 9. Now is the time to make your voice heard about imported medication.

• Click here for information from NASPA and APhA on drug importation and why Canadian drugs are unsafe. You’ll also find letter templates and instructions you can use to send a comment to the FDA.
• Even easier: The Partnership for Safe Medicines has a handy form for submitting your comment.
• Want more about the dangers of Canadian drugs? Check out the letter the organization sent to the FDA.

The man cold: It’s cultural

How sick you say you are isn’t just about your illness — it might also be about your culture. So say University of Texas researchers.

Specifically, study participants who (1) earned less than the U.S. median household income, (2) claimed to be stoics with a high tolerance for pain or (3) had symptoms of depression were more likely to express being sick. In men with stronger family bonds, feeling sick was also more likely to be reported.

But it’s not just fodder for jokes. It can also impact whether someone is more willing to go to work sick, or to allow the illness to get much worse before seeking medical attention.

But the packaging is prettier

We all know that something labeled “artisanal” — food, coffee, daily newsletters — must be better. But in a shocking twist, researchers at Children’s National Hospital found that pharmaceutical-grade CBD works better than artisanal CBD for treating seizures.

Another small step toward cannabis oil in Georgia

The Georgia Access to Medical Cannabis Commission has met again, this time in Austell.

The commission’s job is to award up to six licenses to grow marijuana and produce low-THC oil in the state. The major topic of the latest meeting: How to avoid lawsuits once those licenses are awarded.

Georgia’s 15,000+ medical cannabis oil patients are allowed to possess the low-THC oil, but there is no legal way for them to acquire it. A law signed last year by Governor Kemp established the commission to find a way to produce the oil in state.

Lego proteins

Why design proteins and other molecules in the lab when you can just do it on a computer? That’s what Dartmouth researchers wondered, so they created a new 3-D modeling technique for designing and testing new drug molecules.

What makes this different than other models is that, rather than try to work on the atomic level, the team found “a small number of structural patterns frequently recurred in proteins” — so they used those as their building blocks.

This basic discovery led the team to hypothesize that rather than modeling proteins as complex networks of interacting atoms, they can instead represent them much more simply as groupings of a limited set of structural building blocks.

Flu season begins to end

Georgia remains one of the states with high flu activity, but the number of reported cases has been going down.

CoviD-19 update

• Georgia Governor Brian Kemp announced an 18-member task force to prepare our response for when the virus comes.
• While U.S. officials bungled the initial coronavirus testing, now they may be getting their act together.

State and local health officials have been hamstrung in their ability to test widely for the coronavirus. Until very recently, the C.D.C. had insisted that only its test could be used, and only on patients who met specific criteria — those who had traveled to China within 14 days of developing symptoms or had contact with a known coronavirus case.

• But new testing recommendations were announced over the weekend that will allow more facilities in the U.S. to test for the virus. Currently only the CDC can check for the virus because the agency refused to use the same tests as the rest of the world.

• Feel like dipping a toe into prepping? You can stock up without going crazy. (Of note: A 30-day supply of prescription meds is a good idea.)

Correction: In yesterday’s Buzz, we erroneously referred to Pepsi’s color-free product as “Pepsi Clear.” It was in fact “Crystal Pepsi.” The joke still stands, but we regret the error.

Spring is coming

The 2020 spring allergy season is gonna be a doozy. “Brutal” is the word for the eastern part of the country.

AccuWeather meteorologists say Americans who live in the eastern United States may want to stock up on tissues. It’s going to be a long and severe season this spring as predicted above-normal rainfall and near-average temperatures mean much of the region will be ripe for tree, weed and grass pollen production.

Reminder: The GPhA Board is listening and wants to hear from you

A story in the New York Times, and a recent study by two GPhA members, found that pharmacist burnout and stress is putting patients at risk. The GPhA Board of Directors asked for your perspective, and wants to hear from you on this important issue.

Click here to read the details, and to use an anonymous form to tell us your perspective.

Migraines: 100mg of prevention

The FDA has approved Vyepti — the first migraine preventative drug. It’s an IV med that needs to be taken monthly, and human trials found it worked immediately and can last up to three months.

Hot diabetes treatments

Did you wake up this morning and think, “Gosh, I wonder what are the most prescribed meds for type 2 diabetes”?

Empagliflozin and dulaglutide. You’re welcome. Wonder why? Medscape’s got you covered.

Back the PAC — and be true to your school

Each year, APhA challenges student pharmacists to get involved in advocacy through the Back the PAC Campaign. APhA-ASP chapters are challenged to fundraise money for the APhA PAC. Mercer, PCOM, and UGA have been working hard to fundraise for this campaign.

At the APhA Annual Meeting, the school that fundraises the most overall will be awarded a $500 gift card for their APhA chapter, while schools in each division that fundraise the most for their division will be awarded a $100 gift card.

If you’re an APhA member interested in helping these schools reach their goals by contributing to the APhA PAC, you can click here to make a donation.

Be sure to credit a school with your donation so it gets credit and is added to their total for the Back the PAC Campaign!

How would you cure celiac disease?

If you said, “By using nanoparticles containing gliadin,” you might be on the right track. It’s actually gliadin — part of the gluten found in wheat — that celiac patients can’t tolerate.

Researchers at the University of Helsinki injected celiac mice with nanoparticles that contained gliadin, and found that their bodies didn’t reject it the way they would gluten from food.

These findings support the concept that it may be possible to “reprogram” the immune system in celiac patients, and to instruct T lymphocytes to tolerate gluten again.

The latest E.coli outbreak

Sprouts. Clover sprouts from Jimmy John’s.

CoviD-19: Bad news, good news

Bad news

The virus continues to spread, and often with infectious people not showing symptoms.

The CDC lost weeks it could have been tracking the virus because it wanted to make its own test, rather than use the WHO’s. And when the CDC’s test came out, it didn’t work properly.

U.S. officials are giving mixed and confusing messages about the severity of the virus and the likelihood of spread.

Sometimes they’re simply withholding information: The FDA reported the first drug shortage … but won’t say what the drug is.

Good news

The mortality rate of the virus is still low — and those numbers include deaths from before Chinese health officials were even sure what they were dealing with.

Protection is simple: handwashing and Purell.

Reported cases in China have dropped — and continue to do so.

The sleeping giant could wake: The U.S. might invoke the Defense Production Act “to rapidly expand domestic manufacturing of protective masks and clothing to combat the coronavirus in the United States.”

Perspective: The flu has infected as many as 45 million Americans and killed up to 46,000 this season — and does that every year.

Mercer and South at the Gold Dome

Check out these pics of student pharmacists from Mercer and South universities on their lobbying visit to the state capitol.

More than 200 students from the two schools got a behind-the-scenes look from GPhA’s advocacy team before setting out to meet with legislators about the critical bills coming up in this year’s session.

Member shout-out

Big kudos to GPhA member and pharmacy owner Ben Ross, whose story was featured in the latest UGA Today.

At Ben Ross’s pharmacies, management remains local, and he is dedicated to his adopted hometown. The roots he planted in Statesboro back in 2008 have grown pretty deep, and he understands the needs of the community.

“When you own an independent pharmacy, it’s so much more than a business,” he says. “Your customers are your family. You want to make sure they are taken care of.”

Georgia considers insulin price caps

Two similar bills have been introduced in the Georgia legislature that would cap the cost of insulin.

One is from Sen. Burt Jones (R-Jackson) would cap the price of a vial of insulin at $150 and require financial reports from drug makers. The other, introduced by Sen. Jen Jordan (D-Atlanta), would cap insulin prices at $100 per vial and wouldn’t have the reporting requirements.

Hep A spreads

Tired of news about the CoviD-19 outbreak? Here’s something else to think about: “Hepatitis A cases continue to spread in north Georgia.”

An eczema breakthrough

Good news for mice with eczema: Washington University researchers have found a way to use drugs to kick-start the immune system (specifically “natural killer” cells) to fight it.

Et tu, toner?

Worrying about talcum powder is bad enough — now it seems that printer toner might cause genetic changes and a risk to health.

[A] single day of toner-particle exposure was enough to disturb the activity of genes associated with metabolism, immune response and other essential biological processes in the rat models. Overall–taking into account all 21 days of exposure and testing–the researchers observed genomic changes linked to cardiovascular, neurological and metabolic disorders.

CoviD-19 news

First community case: The U.S. likely has its first case of community-spread coronavirus — i.e., in someone who didn’t travel overseas. CDC is working to confirm it.

Georgia health authorities say they’re prepared for when the virus comes here. The DPH explains what it’s doing … and what you can do.

There are issues. Georgia Health News reports, “State challenges in tackling COVID-19 include testing, funding“.

Containment worked for a while, but… now it’s time to think ahead.

Yes, it’s coming. Listen to health authorities, not politicians or Facebook: The CDC says it’s likely to spready throughout the country happen: “[I]t’s important to note that current global circumstances suggest it is likely that this virus will cause a pandemic.”

Silent but sickening: “Even asymptomatic people who are infected may be able to spread the virus.”

A vaccine for the virus will likely take a year or more to be available, although a small biotech company in Cambridge, Mass., Moderna Therapeutics, says it will begin testing its vaccine candidate in April.

A treatment for CoviD-19, remdesivir, is also being tested.

Pingpong positive for Parkinson’s patients

“People with Parkinson’s who participated in a pingpong exercise program once a week for six months showed improvement in their Parkinson’s symptoms, according to a preliminary study.”

Anyone remember “Pepsi Clear”?

Colgate has introduced “Colgate Zero” toothpaste, which it says has no artificial ingredients.

We look forward to the company merging that with its existing line to create “Colgate Absolute Zero.”

Interesting diabetes breakthrough

Washington University School of Medicine researchers have cured diabetes in mice — for at least nine months. They converted human stem cells into insulin-producing cells and injected them into the mice.

“These mice had very severe diabetes with blood sugar readings of more than 500 milligrams per deciliter of blood — levels that could be fatal for a person — and when we gave the mice the insulin-secreting cells, within two weeks their blood glucose levels had returned to normal and stayed that way for many months.”

Next step: Testing the treatment on other animals over longer periods of time.

Fine, we’ll do it ourselves

Concerned about the supply of drug components from China, Sanofi said it’s going to launch a new company, based in France, to manufacture and supply ingredients to drug makers. Much of this “new” company will include existing Sanofi-owned ingredient makers.

While inventing and developing new drugs is a lucrative, high-margin business, manufacturing the chemical components of those medicines can be a commodities market, where prices can swing and shortages can occur.

Drug shortages on the mind

Speaking of drug shortages, the FDA says it has identified 20 drugs in danger of shortage — their ingredients come only from China. It hasn’t released what those drugs are, but rest assured, citizen, the agency is working with manufacturers and everything is under control. (By the way, sources inside the FDA said the list is actually 150 drugs.)

Another opioid settlement

Generic-drug maker Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals has agreed (tentatively) to file for bankruptcy and pay $1.6 billion for its role in the opioid epidemic.

Some other companies in the Big Opioid Lawsuit — Purdue Pharma, Johnson & Johnson, and McKesson — have made settlement offers but those “have yet to be accepted by an overwhelming majority of plaintiffs.”

Forget what you know about bile

It doesn’t all come from the liver. Some important bile acids, it’s just been discovered, “are not produced by our enzymes; they’re made by microbes in our gut.” Yep, that gut microbiome at it again.

[Researchers] showed that microbes in the gut, members of the microbiome, produce unique bile acids by conjugating the cholesterol backbone with myriad other amino acids.

What’s in a name? (A lot)

When it comes to medication, if you give a drug a different name and say it’s for a different condition, you can charge 800% more for it.

Supprelin LA was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2007 for central precocious puberty and has a list price of $37,300. Vantas was approved by the FDA in 2004 for late-stage prostate cancer and has a list price of $4,400.

Both of these implants contain 50 milligrams of histrelin acetate, and both are made by the same company.

Juul news

Georgia is among 39 states that have announced they are jointly investigating the company. (That’s Attorney General Chris Carr’s release. The news story is here.)

The 39-state coalition is investigating JUUL’s marketing and sales practices, including targeting of youth, claims regarding nicotine content and statements regarding risks, safety and effectiveness as a smoking cessation device.

Juul is reportedly going to ask the FDA for approval of a “locked” vaping pen that would only allow people 21 or over to use it*.

The CDC just released the latest number of U.S. cases of EVALI — the lung disease caused by vaping: 2,807 hospitalized and 68 deaths, including six in Georgia. (Georgia, in fact, leads the nation in vaping-disease deaths.)

* Estimated time before a workaround is spread on Reddit: 32.4 seconds

Gut bacteria, lung damage

Could pulmonary arterial hypertension be caused by … gut bacteria? Maybe so. If you have PAH, there’s an 83 percent chance you’ll have a particular combination of bacteria in your gut. Given that PAH affects the lungs, this is a finding that’s gonna need a bit more research.

The Long Read: “Yet Another Microbiome” edition

The gut has a microbiome. The skin has a microbiome. And so, apparently, does the reproductive system. And from bedbugs to ants to birds to primates, that reproductive biome seems to have a significant effect on courtship, mating, and even protecting infants.

The results suggested that bacteria, reproduction, and mate selection may be working hand-in-hand. In humans, a similar relationship appears to play out, too — E. Coli bacteria, which can be harmful to human health, has been shown to damage sperm’s mobility and quality.

Diabetics refusing treatment

Apparently 40 percent (!) of people who’ve been diagnosed with type-2 diabetes simply refuse to take insulin when directed to by their physicians.

Why? The study authors aren’t sure, but it’s likely a combination of the cost, a perceived stigma of taking it, or an unfounded fear of making the condition worse.

Convention room block open!

You can now reserve your room at the Omni Grove Park in for the 2020 Georgia Pharmacy Convention!

Convention registration opens March 1, but we’ve opened the room block early. Grab yours now before it fills — and before room block reservations end!

• Click here to reserve your room via the Omni using the GPhA code.
• Click here for more info on the Omni Grove Park Inn.
• Click here for more on the 2020 Georgia Pharmacy Convention at GPhAconvention.com.

And don’t forget to submit your nominations for the 2020-21 GPhA Board of Directors!

Flu update in 37 words

Reported cases seem to be slowing down, meaning the season could have peaked. But the CDC is still concerned about the more dangerous A strain that seems to be spreading now.

Growing proteins

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania are growing a bone-healing protein … in lettuce plants. The big potential market: diabetes patients.

“The current drug for diabetic patients with a fracture requires repetitive injections and hospital visits and as a result patient compliance is low. Here we gave an oral drug once a day and saw healing to be greatly accelerated.”

The protein, in case you were wondering, is insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1).

Pain: Let it be

Yale researchers found that people who try mindfulness once, even briefly, feel less pain.

The effect of mindfulness was so pronounced, they found, that even when participants were subjected to high heat on their forearm, their brain responded as if it was experiencing normal temperature.

With tetanus vaccine, once is enough

It seems that having one complete series of the tetanus and diphtheria vaccines is all you need — booster shots as adults are unnecessary. Oregon Health & Science University apparently confirmed what the World Health Organization has been saying.

There are plenty of jokes to be made, but this is a pretty cool medical story

A woman in Britain had yeast in her bladder, causing her to literally urinate alcohol — it’s called “urinary auto-brewery syndrome” and is related to a similar condition involving yeast in the gut. The downside: It delayed her getting a liver transplant because doctors thought she was drinking.

A better way to track the spread of a disease

Don’t model it in isolation, because most diseases don’t spread alone. Instead, realize that chaos theory takes effect, and “microscopic changes in the transmission rate trigger macroscopic jumps in the expected epidemic size.”

A better model: Look at the way memes and slang spread — aka “contagious social behaviors.”

Like multiple friends reinforcing a social behavior, the presence of multiple diseases makes an infection more contagious than it would be on its own. Biological diseases can reinforce each other through symptoms, as in the case of a sneezing virus that helps to spread a second infection like pneumonia. Or, one disease can weaken the host’s immune system, making the population more susceptible to a second, third, or additional contagion.

The Long Read: “CoviD-19 Endgame” edition

What’s likely to happen in the long run with the Wuhan coronavirus? Two mostly likely outcomes:

• It continues to circulate like four existing coronaviruses, with a low mortality rate and little notice
• It becomes a seasonal disease, like the flu

The CDC just said that “the spread of coronavirus in the United States appears inevitable.”

SCOTUS schedules Arkansas PBM case

It’s official: The US Supreme Court oral arguments for Rutledge (Arkansas) vs PCMA (PBMs) will be heard before the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, April 27, at 11:00 a.m.

In case you missed our e-mails, Buzz messages, and fundraising and wonder why this case is so important, check out “The battle over state laws and ERISA” on GPhA.org.

(In short, the question before the court is whether the federal retirement-plan law, ERISA, preempts state laws regulating PBMs. The PBMs say it does, but many states, including Georgia, maintain that the states have the right to their own regulations as well.)

The decision will have huge, far-reaching implications across every pharmacy practice, so we are watching it intently.

Maybe they need a little reminding

Georgia has one of the country’s highest rates of STDs in seniors (and we mean senior citizens, not high school seniors). In fact, it’s ranked 6th highest among the 50 states plus D.C.

UGA’s Hannings running for APhA post

Georgian Ashley Hannings of Athens is running for the position of APhA immunizing pharmacists SIG coordinator — one of the APhA–APPM special interest groups up for election this year.

Dr. Hannings serves as the coordinator for the [UGA College of Pharmacy’s] immunization program, which includes APhA’s Pharmacy Based Immunization Delivery Certificate Program, two immunization patient simulations, and the mobile flu vaccine clinic program.

Read her full bio and details of the other positions up for election at pharmacist.com.

Saved you a click

Why are men more susceptible to CoviD-19 than women?

1. Women tend to have a stronger immune response to respiratory infections than men.
2. Men in China smoke more.

Pregnant? Macrolides bad, penicillin good

A British study found that macrolides taken in the first trimester of pregnancy significantly increased the risk of …

…major malformations such as heart and genital defects, as well as four neurodevelopmental disorders (cerebral palsy, epilepsy, ADHD, and autism spectrum disorder) in children.

Beyond just daylight

When it comes to circadian rhythms, we know that the timing and amount of light is important. But now University of Washington researchers have figured out that the color is important, too.

What color? Turns out the receptor involved “respond[s] strongly to long wavelength oranges and yellows and contrasting light – the colors at sunrise and sunset.”

This could be big news for people with seasonal affective disorder — instead of using ultra-bright “daylight” bulbs, the trick could be as simple as having the right shade.

Latest flu numbers

In the U.S. this season, per the CDC (as of February 15): 29 million illnesses, 280,000 hospitalizations, and 14,000 deaths.

Blame the farmers

When humans made the switch from hunting and gathering to farming, it meant that towns and cities could arise … and so could diseases, what with everyone so close to one another.

Now, looking at thousands of sets of ancient (6,500-year-old) human remains, researchers have proven that salmonella, at least, is a result of the switch to farming and animal domestication; that “enabled more constant and recurrent exposure to pathogens and thus the emergence of new diseases.”

Whatever doesn’t kill you…

A compound in rattlesnake venom, the neurotoxin crotoxin, has been shown to have both anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties.

Now, for the first time, researchers think they have a way to mitigate the danger of crotoxin while still administering it for pain: Mix it with silica.

Could Georgia tax vaping?

Maybe. A bill in the legislature would “levy a 7% excise tax on sales in Georgia of vaping products like e-cigarettes, refillable cartridges, vape pens, and electronic hookahs.” It’s got wide support from health advocates.

Amy at UGA

Shout-out to Amy Miller, GPhA board member and owner of Lula Pharmacy in Lula, who visited with UGA College of Pharmacy students during ASP’s Org Hour. She spoke about GPhA and on being an independent pharmacy owner.

Click to embiggenificate:

(l to r) Lee Snelling, UGA senior director of development & alumni relations; Blake Terrell, APhA-ASP; Amy Miller;, Laird Miller, executive director of CPESN Ga; Kristine Nguyen, APhA-ASP; Kim Hamby, UGA director of alumni affairs.

Even Americans with insurance skip meds over cost

Americans with Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and other neurological diseases often skip their medication because of the cost — even those with private insurance.

“Even changes as small as $50 a month can make a difference,” said coauthor Dr. Brian Callaghan, a staff physician at the Michigan Veterans Affairs Healthcare System. And as out-of-pocket costs increase, fewer and fewer people stick with their prescribed treatments, he added.

In fact, a $50 monthly out-of-pocket increase translated to a 12% lower rate of prescriptions being filled for Alzheimer’s drugs.

Flu fact

This year’s vaccine seems to be about 45% effective, according to the CDC. That’s about on par with other years.

Dad’s doobie does damage

Male rats who use marijuana are likely to have babies with “distinct abnormalities in areas of the brain that help govern learning, memory, reward, and mood.” That’s right — it seems that “changes in the father’s sperm impact how the offspring’s brains develop in the womb,” and marijuana exposure means some neurological pathways don’t form properly.

[T]he brain anomalies of the offspring closely resembled changes that evident in human babies exposed to known neurotoxins such as pesticides and tobacco smoke as fetuses.

Step on a crack, mom might need these two drugs

A combination of two drugs — a CXCR4 antagonist and a beta-3 adrenergic agonist — seems to help the body heal bone damage more quickly by causing the marrow to release more stem cells. It might even be useful for healing spinal fractures.

“[W]hen the damage is severe, there are limits to what the body can do of its own accord. We hope that by using these existing medications to mobilise stem cells […] we could potentially call up extra numbers of these stem cells, in order to boost our bodies own ability to mend itself and accelerate the repair process.”

Standard disclaimer: It’s an early-stage study. On rats.

AI finds a new antibiotic

Why do the grunt work of sifting through thousands of chemicals for a new drug molecule when you can have a computer do it for you? That’s what MIT researchers did.

Step one: Show the computer what molecules and drugs kill E. coli.

Step two: Give it a library of 6,000 compounds to sift through.

Step three: Publish the fact that you discovered an entirely new type of antibiotic.

Step four: Profit.

A better time release

German researchers have found a way to make long-term dosing of meds more accurate: a mixture of oil droplets and hydrogel. The problem it solves: Even time-release meds aren’t that precise, especially over the long term.

“We found that the droplets continuously release the drug while they get smaller and smaller. The consequence is that over the entire release period, the drug release rate remains constant.”

It was the olive oil all along

The Mediterranean diet might help you live longer, but it’s not the resveratrol in the red wine — it’s the olive oil. But (and it’s a biggie), you need to eat less and exercise more for the fats in the olive oil to work their magic.