Content about Specialty pharmacy

FOSTER CITY, Calif. — The Food and Drug Administration declined to approve two drugs for HIV made by Gilead Sciences for which the company was seeking approval for use as part of treatment regimens.

ST. LOUIS — Medical products manufacturer Covidien's pharmaceutical division is expanding an initiative to collect unused and unwanted medications.

Mallinckrodt said it would expand communities' access to drug take-back collection boxes and promote safe disposal practices, installing lock boxes in three police stations around St. Louis. The company said it purchased the boxes under a collaboration with the National Association of Drug Diversion Investigators and also would provide a grant to help incinerate the medications that are collected.

WASHINGTON — More than 1.3 million emergency room visits in 2010 were related to abuse of prescription drugs, and the problem has become widespread enough that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention classifies it as an epidemic. In response, curbing abuse of prescription drugs has become a cornerstone of the Obama administration's drug policy.

PHOENIX — Avella Specialty Pharmacy provided more than $7.2 million in financial assistance to patients last year, the company said Thursday.

The Phoenix-based specialty pharmacy said its representatives work with patients to secure funding to cover specialty medication costs as specialty drugs can often be too expensive, even for patients with health insurance and monthly co-pays in the hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

BETHESDA, Md. — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new drug for constipation related to use of opioid painkillers made by Sucampo Pharmaceuticals and Takeda Pharmaceuticals, the drug makers said.

NEW YORK — A dramatic jump in the rates of misuse of prescription stimulants over the past four years is linked to lax attitudes on the part of parents, according to a new study, though misuse and abuse of prescription opioids has remained flat.

FLINT, Mich. — Diplomat Specialty Pharmacy has several new programs in the works to promote health and wellness among its employees, the company said.

Diplomat announced a new fitness center at its headquarters that will include stationary bikes, strength-training machines, ellipticals, medicine balls, an exercise video center and a Wii system.

WASHINGTON — Food and Drug Administration commissioner Margaret Hamburg faced strong criticism Tuesday in a hearing before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce to investigate the nationwide outbreak of fungal meningitis linked to a Massachusetts compounding pharmacy, but she conceded the agency could have done more.

SILVER SPRING, Md. — The Food and Drug Administration will not approve generic versions of Purdue Pharma's painkiller OxyContin based on earlier versions of the drug that did not include features to thwart abuse, the agency said Tuesday.

The FDA announced that it approved updated labeling for reformulated OxyContin (oxycodone) extended-release tablets indicating that it has physical and chemical properties designed to deter drug abusers from crushing or dissolving the pills in order to inject or snort them.

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — Johnson & Johnson's sales increased by 8.5% to $17.5 billion in first quarter 2013, the healthcare products company said Tuesday.

The increase included a domestic sales increase of 11.2%. Profits for the quarter were $3.5 billion.

SILVER SPRING, Md. — Two Dallas-based compounding pharmacies announced a recall of sterile drug products made at their facilities due to production conditions that could lead to contamination.

The Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday that ApotheCure had recalled all sterile drug products made at its pharmacy, while NuVision Pharmacy had recalled sterile freeze-dried or lyophilized drug products made at its facility. Both recalls were described as voluntary.

SILVER SPRING, Md. — An inspection of more than two-dozen compounding pharmacies by Food and Drug Administration officials has found widespread problems with sanitation and sterilization practices, FDA commissioner Margaret Hamburg wrote in a blog post on the agency's website Thursday.