January 9 Week in Review

Nicole Grassano: Hello and welcome to the Pharmacy Times News Network. I’m Nicole Grassano your host for our Pharmacy Week in Review.

The former International Academy of Compounding Pharmacists has now officially been renamed the Alliance for Pharmacy Compounding, Pharmacy Times reported. The organization’s new logo and website were debuted in December 2019, as the APC aims to represent the entire scope of pharmacy compounding. The APC is an advocate on a number of issues related to patient access to compounded medications, including: encouraging national academies and chapters to seek input from prescribers, and dispensers of compounded bioidentical hormone replacement therapy. The name change follows a relocation of the organization’s headquarters from Houston, Texas to Alexandria, Virginia, in July 2019.

The FDA has released a policy indicating prioritized enforcement against certain unauthorized flavored cartridge-based e-cigarettes products that appeal to children, including fruit and mint flavors, Contemporary Clinic reported. Under this policy, companies that do not cease the manufacture, distribution, and sale of unauthorized flavored cartridge-based e-cigarettes (other than tobacco or menthol) within 30 days risk enforcement actions by the federal agency. The FDA will prioritize enforcement on groups of products that do not have premarket authorization, including: flavored, cartridge-based electronic nicotine delivery systems and electronic nicotine delivery system products targeted to minors. In recent years, the FDA has issued warning letters, and civil money penalities to companies in violation of vaping- and e-cigarette-related policies.

Coloring and open-studio art therapy can benefit stressed caregivers of patients with cancer, Specialty Pharmacy Times reported. Families of patients with cancer oftentimes experience emotional trauma surrounding the diagnosis. Oncology professionals also experience their own set of negative events, such as avoidance of empathetic care, health problems, and burnout. A mixed-methods study included 2 arts-based approaches for caregivers: single sessions of coloring and open-studio art therapy. Before and after each session, participants were given surveys to self-report their positive and negative feelings, such as stress and anxiety. After both the art therapy and coloring sessions, participants expressed increases in pleasure, and enjoyment. Many expressed a desire to continue to make art in the future, noting that the break from their busy schedules to do art helped them to focus on something other than their caregiving.

Pharmacists may get more questions about Humira, if patients have seen a recent commercial for the prescription medication. In the spot, called “Body of Proof: Dog Walking,” the narrator explains that Humira targets and blocks the source of inflammation that contributes to joint pain and irreversible damage in patients with rheumatoid or psoriatic arthritis. According to the commercial, Humira is a prescription drug meant to treat rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis in affected patients when taken regularly as directed.

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Thanks for watching our Pharmacy Week in Review. I’m Nicole Grassano at the Pharmacy Times News Network.