November 29 Pharmacy Week in Review

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.

November is COPD Awareness Month and every year, members of the community come together to focus on increasing awareness of the respiratory condition, Pharmacy Times reported.

Tom Corbridge, MD, a pulmonologist and intensivist at Northwestern University, has studied COPD patients for years. He highly recommended patients to get checked as early as possible for COPD, no matter how old they are and especially if they are or were previously smokers.

Many patients often do not realize the importance of discussing lung exacerbations, also known as sudden flare-ups or “lung attacks” with a physician.

Dr. Corbridge recommended that healthcare providers ask deep questions about a patient’s symptoms, such as whether or not they are able to walk down the street. He also listed COPD.com as a resource for additional information.

CVS Health has announced the expansion of its MinuteClinic Video Visits to include Colorado, Illinois, and New Jersey. The 24-hour telehealth option is available 7 days a week to people with minor illnesses, minor injuries, and skin conditions, Contemporary Clinic reported.

Since the service was first announced in August 2017, the Video Visits are have become available in 40 states. Thousands of video visits have been conducted, and more than a third of them occurred outside of traditional clinic hours.

When requesting a video appointment, patients are asked to complete a health questionnaire before being matched with a board-certified health care provider licensed in their state. The provider can also submit the prescription to the patient’s preferred pharmacy.

A MinuteClinic Video Visit costs $59, and is payable by credit, debit, FSA, and HSA cards. Insurance coverage will be added in coming months.

The addition of durvalumab, tremelimumab to chemotherapy improved progression-free survival in patients with previously-untreated stage 4 non-small cell lung cancer, Specialty Pharmacy Times reported.

The study evaluated the combination therapies versus chemotherapy alone in the first-line treatment of patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer. The study population included patients with either non-squamous or squamous disease and a full range of PD-1 expression levels.

Patients treated with durvalumab plus chemotherapy had a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in the final PFS analysis versus chemotherapy alone. The triple combination was statisically significant and clinically meaningful in PFS improvement.

The addition of these therapies may present an important treatment approach in this challenging setting, especially taking into consideration its favorable safety profile.

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