Content about Health & Wellness

SEATTLE — The American Pharmacists Association has teamed up with the Cardinal Health Foundation to fight against prescription drug abuse through several initiatives.

With funding support from the Cardinal Health Foundation, APhA members will take an active role in preventing the abuse and misuse of prescription medications, including the following initiatives:

SILVER SPRING, Md. — Usually, when the Food and Drug Administration approves a commercial version of a drug, it prohibits compounding pharmacies from producing it, but it’s making an exception in the case of a drug used to prevent premature births.

NEW YORK — Patients diagnosed with high blood-glucose levels that cannot control the condition over time likely will develop such eye-related complications as retinopathy 10 years later, according to a report in the February issue of Archives of Ophthalmology.

NEW YORK — The Kardashian matriarch Kris Jenner has signed on to be part of Poise’s “Great Women in History” series, launched last year, to highlight the fact that many great women throughout history have had to contend with light bladder leakage, Poise manufacturer Kimberly-Clark announced Thursday.

CAMP HILL, Pa. — Thousands of Rite Aid customers across the United States can get free, full-body skin cancer screenings this spring.

The Skin Cancer Foundation’s Road to Healthy Skin Tour will visit more than 60 Rite Aid stores in 19 states, sponsored by the retail pharmacy chain and Aveeno. The tour has screened more than 10,000 people since 2008, according to Rite Aid, catching 3,700 potential skin cancers and precancers, including about 200 suspected cases of the deadly skin cancer melanoma.

NEW YORK — Patients that have been handling their diabetes for a long time are less likely to experience complications, according to a new study conducted by Joslin Diabetes Center researchers.

Among 351 participants in the "Joslin 50-Year Medalist Study," researchers found that among veteran Type 1 diabetics — who have been living with the condition for 50 years or more — 43% were free from advanced diabetic eye complications, while 87% were free from kidney disease, 39% were free from nerve disease and 52% were free from cardiovascular disease.

IRVINGTON, N.Y. — Prestige Brands on Wednesday announced the launch of a new one-dose-per-day allergy medicine: PediaCare 24-Hour Allergy.

"We listened to what the moms were looking for: a safe and effective allergy product for their children, ages 2 years and up, that works, has only one dose per day and tastes good," stated Sherry Polevoy, PediaCare senior brand manager. "Parents don't have to worry about redosing during the day, it's dye-free and it's a flavor that kids love: grape."

NEW YORK — The "battle of the bulge" can be won by adding sleep and relaxation to diet and exercise, according to a new study.

Published in the International Journal of Obesity, a study conducted by Kaiser Permanente researchers found that among 472 obese participants with body mass indexes of 30 to 50, weight loss significantly correlated with decreased stress levels.

WASHINGTON — The American Pharmacists Association wants to ensure that pharmacists continue to play a significant role in health care, and made the pharmacist’s ever-expanding role the main focus of its annual meeting in Seattle, which ended Monday.

MENLO PARK, Calif. — Raising Medicare’s eligibility age from 65 to 67 years in 2014 would generate an estimated $7.6 billion in net savings to the federal government, but also would result in an estimated net increase of $5.6 billion in out-of-pocket costs for 65- and 66-year-olds, as well as $4.5 billion in employer retiree healthcare costs, according to a new Kaiser Family Foundation projection of the potential change suggested by several deficit-reduction plans.

LONDON — Any manufacturer that has the necessary resources and still is hesitating about whether to tap into biosimilars might want to go ahead and do it, if projections by British market analysis firm Datamonitor come true.

The firm released a report Monday showing that the global biosimilars market, whose value stood at $243 million in 2010, will increase to $3.7 billion by 2015.

NEW YORK — For many patients, the inability to pay for drugs is enough of a problem, but what if the drugs they need aren’t available at all?

According to a new report by the Premier Healthcare Alliance, more than 240 drugs were hard to find or entirely unavailable, while more than 400 generic versions of branded drugs were backordered for more than five days. Premier said shortages had more than tripled since 2005, with the frequency and effects rising to critical levels and affecting all segments of health care.