June 14 Pharmacy Week in Review: Annual OTC Guide Launches with New Pharmacist Recommendations, Study Finds No Benefit of Pretreatment with PDE5i drugs for Patients Receiving LVADs

This weekly video program provides our readers with an in-depth review of the latest news, product approvals, FDA rulings, and more. Our Week in Review is a can't miss for the busy pharmacy professional.

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

U.S. News & World Report, the global authority in rankings and consumer advice, along with Pharmacy Times, has released the 2019 Top Recommended OTC Health Products this week.

Now in its 23rd year, the OTC Guide provides recommendations from thousands of pharmacists for nearly 800 OTC brands across 135 product categories, giving pharmacists and patients a trusted resource to promote wellness, prevent and treat acute ailments and illnesses, and manage more complex conditions to improve patient outcomes.

The No. 1 pharmacist-recommend brands include Advil for headache relief, DayQuil Cold & Flu, Delsym as a cough suppressant, Solarcaine for sunburn relief, and TUMS antacids.

For more information, visit Facebook or Twitter using #OTCGuide, or go to otcguide.net to access the rankings and search pharmacist recommendations by category, product, or symptom.

Pretreatment with off-label selective vasodilator drugs prior to the implantation of left-ventricle assist devices may increase the chance of right-sided heart failure, Contemporary Clinic reported.

In the largest study to date, scientists analyzed more than 11,000 individuals who received an LVAD in the United States between 2012 to 2017 and found that 24% of those studied experienced right-sided heart failure. Investigators also found no benefit of pretreatment with PDE5i drugs for patients receiving LVADs. In the group that received the pre-treatment, 29% developed right-sided heart failure.

The investigators think that their findings should give pause to providers considering this therapy, and they caution against routine use of these drug therapies prior to LVAD surgery.

Microbiome disruption can cause breast cancer to spread more quickly to other parts of the body, Specialty Pharmacy Times reported.

In this study, mice whose microbiomes were disrupted through chronic antibiotic treatment experienced an increase in inflammation systemically and within the mammary tissue, which primed cancer to spread. According to the authors, early metastasis in breast cancer is often affected by level of immune cells called macrophages within the tissue and increased amounts of collagen in the tissue and tumor. These can increase through microbiome disruption.

Therefore, the findings suggest that gut disruption and the subsequent changes that occur as a result may be early predictors of invasive or metastatic breast cancer.

Pharmacists may get more questions about Entresto, if patients have seen a recent commercial for the prescription medication. In the spot, called “The Beat Goes On: Jill” the narrator says Entresto was proven superior at helping patients stay alive and out of the hospital. According to the commercial, Entresto helps improve the heart’s ability to improve blood circulation and reduce the risk of heart failure.

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