Content about healthcare

INDIANAPOLIS — Drug makers Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly have started a campaign designed to educate healthcare professionals about the role a type of protein plays in maintaining blood-sugar balance.

BI and Lilly created the website sglt.com to inform users about the role of sodium glucose co-transporters. The program also includes a video, Glucose Perspectives, in the form of a sketch animation by the United Kingdom's Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce.

SILVER SPRING, Md. — The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday announced that it has approved an amended application submitted by Teva Women’s Health to market Plan B One-Step (active ingredient levonorgestrel) for use without a prescription by women 15 years and older. The approval will move Plan B from behind the pharmacy counter into the family planning set of the pharmacy. 

ALISO VIEJO, Calif. — A search feature that allows pharmacies to quickly determine why patients are calling so they can better serve their needs and a patient registration system that allows easier enrollment in medication-time reminders, disease management and smoking-cessation programs are among the new features of the latest version of PrescribeWellness' software system.

QUINCY, Mass. — Healthcare technology company CDW Healthcare and ConnectedLiving, an organization that provides technology for the elderly, have a deal to get senior living communities online, the two companies said Monday.

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — Johnson & Johnson chairman and CEO Alex Gorsky last week told shareholders that its consumer healthcare business would reclaim its prominence in the U.S. marketplace at the company's annual shareholder meeting. But OTC growth will be greatest outside of the United States.

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.

CHICAGO — Generic drug maker Hospira marked its fifth year marketing knock-off versions of biotech drugs in Europe Wednesday as it presented at the 2013 Biotechnology Industry Organization International Convention this week.

The drug maker said it delivered more than 5 million doses of biosimilar medicines to patients in Europe and Australia. The convention includes multiple sessions devoted to such topics as biosimilar regulatory approval, manufacturing and market formation, the company said.

BASKING RIDGE, N.J. — The Foundation for Health Smart Consumers has announced a major expansion of its smoking cessation initiative through the Inspire Program, which will launch at the annual Retail Clinician Education Congress held in May in Las Vegas. The initial phase of Inspire will continue through 2014.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — As the retail pharmacy industry continues to explore outcome-based solutions to help drive down the cost of overall health care, incoming National Association of Chain Drug Stores chairman Robert Narveson pointed to the oath a pharmacist takes for inspiration during his inaugural address here before attendees of the 2013 NACDS Annual Meeting.

This month Walgreens announced that it would begin to offer chronic care services at its Take Care Clinics. Its biggest competitor, MinuteClinic, made a similar announcement about a year ago. With full implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the people paying the bills are going to get a good look at what retail clinics can do to lower costs and improve outcomes.

The Food and Drug Administration over the past year has been exploring ways to further increase the value of the over-the-counter medicine space through the utilization of technology to support new Rx-to-OTC switches. In-store diagnostic tools that help improve compliance, contribute to a HIPPA-compliant health record and increase interception opportunities between pharmacists and patients, like those fielded by PharmaSmart, are the kind of in-store support tools that the FDA is reviewing.

WASHINGTON — Hundreds of community pharmacy executives, pharmacy students and other pharmacy advocates representing 41,000 chain pharmacies took to Capitol Hill from March 13 to 14 for the 5th Annual NACDS RxImpact Day and conducted more than 400 meetings with U.S. senators and representatives. In support of the event, DSN published the third edition of its special RxImpact supplement.