Content about Flu pandemic

ROCKVILLE, Md. The Food and Drug Administration’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee on Monday recommended that protection against the 2009 H1N1 virus, which was first identified last April, be included in the 2010-2011 seasonal influenza vaccine starting this fall.

NEW YORK If there’s a huckster swindling supplements as the latest cure-all, turns out it’s not a supplement they’re swindling after all. If not an illicit pharmaceutical outright, it’s at the very least a mismarketed snake oil, and this band of supplement associations is helping to stamp those hucksters out.

NEW YORK For this season at least, retailers and suppliers of cough-cold products should have plenty of revenue to bank come March 2010. And that’s a stark contrast to more recent seasons — seasons that saw revenues decline both in part because illness rates were down and the fact that retailers were stocking less cough-cold supplies at their warehouses as a result.

NEW YORK This story was picked up yesterday by our Drug Store News team for the Weekly Drug Fix as a prime example of the convenience that an established drug store footprint, combined with a burgeoning retail-based convenient clinic care model, can deliver to the American public.

NEW YORK Fearless prediction No. 1: You can bet a case of hand sanitizer that if and when this survey is conducted in late October, as opposed to late July, there’ll be a whole lot more people not only aware of the importance of hand-washing and sanitizers, but they’ll likely be rubbing their hands raw with the amount of hand washing that’ll be going on.

NEW YORK The report by Kalorama Information indicating that one of the biggest areas of growth has been vaccines, and that the market is expected to double by 2013, is big news for the industry, as pharmacies and retail-based clinics are bound to reap the benefits.

This is especially true given the current trajectory health reform is on in this country, and the fact that clinics and pharmacies are emerging and expanding their services to help fill the “medical home” void.