July 27 Pharmacy Week in Review: Drug Approved for Endometriosis Pain, Diabetes Increases Cancer Risk

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

Officials with the FDA have approved elagolix (Orilissa), a product specifically developed for women with moderate to severe endometriosis pain, according to a report on pharmacytimes.com.

Developed by Abbvie, in cooperation with Nuerocrine Biosciences, the product is expected to be available in retail pharmacies by early August. The drug’s FDA approval is supported by data from 2 replicate studies in the largest endometriosis phase III study program conducted to date, which evaluated nearly 1,700 women with moderate to severe endometriosis pain. Clinical trial data demonstrated Orilissa significantly reduced the 3 most common types of endometriosis pain: daily menstrual pelvic pain, non-menstrual pelvic pain, and pain with sex.

Diabetes significantly raises the risk of developing cancer, especially in women. According to a new global review published in Diabetologia, and reported on specialtypharmacytimes.com.

In 2015, 415 million adults were reported to have diabetes, and 12% of global health expenditure was spent on diabetes, the researchers wrote. With the global diabetes prevalence growing at a rapid rate, it’s role in the risk of cancer development adds to the concerns about the diseases associated health impacts.

For the review, the researchers analyzed data from 47 studies published up to December of 2016, of 121 cohorts, including 20 million individuals and 1 million events. Overall, the researchers determined that women with diabetes had a 6% greater risk compared to men with diabetes, for all-site cancer incidents

Patients master skills associated with good medication adherence over time, and repeated patient-provider interviews are critical to emphasize continued medication adherence, according to a report published on contemporaryclinic.com.

Researchers from the University of Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland noted in in a report that no published literature has analyzed the actual content of motivational interviews associated with antiretroviral adherence and set out to fill that knowledge gap.

The study confirmed known themes of antiretroviral adherence, and the researchers identified some emerging themes: interprofessional communication, the patient-health care practitioner communication style, and comorbidity.

Pharmacists may get more questions on antimicrobial resistance after a report issued earlier this month from the World Health Organization (WHO) discussing this topic. In the video published on the WHO Youtube page, the WHO Director-General discusses the global action plan on antimicrobial resistance (AMR). He said several countries are making significant steps in tackling AMR, but gaps remain and require action.

The report charts progress in 154 countries and reveals wide discrepancies. Some, including many European countries, have been working on policies in human and animal sectors for more than 4 decades, others have only recently started to take action to contain this growing threat.

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