As a continuation of the key conclusions from the NASEM HRT Report, the three sections of key conclusions include:

      Safety and Effectiveness
      Therapeutic Need
      Patient Preference

We have covered the first topic "Safety and Effectiveness" in two previous issues of the newsletter; this week, we will present the conclusions and brief comments covering "Therapeutic Need."

Therapeutic Need

• Evidence-based clinical guidance recommends use of FDA approved drug products for treatment of menopause and male hypogonadism. Some, but not all, guidelines reviewed acknowledge the potential for limited use of cBHT in specific medical circumstances, for example, patients with allergies to specific components of FDA-approved hormone therapy, or patients that require a dosage form not currently available as an FDA-approved drug product. (Chapter 8)

[COMMENT: There are many "specific medical circumstances" where cBHT is needed that are not limited to allergies to FDA product components. One needs to also consider what is needed to enhance compliance, including various dosage forms, patient-specific doses and dose variations, different routes of administration, different product components to achieve the patients desired response, compliance and better patient outcomes, etc. This is what compounding does for cBHT patients to meet their specific needs and to enhance compliance and outcomes that is NOT met by FDA-approved products. Many, if not most, patients have already tried FDA-approved products without their desired response and that is when they change to cBHT; therefore, these patients have a significant therapeutic need and must not be ignored!]

•The current volume and scope of cBHT use contrasts with evidence-based clinical guidance issued by professional medical societies and organizations that recommend limited to no use of cBHT preparations for menopausal symptoms. (Chapter 8)

[COMMENT: It is difficult to place much faith in the recommendations of "professional medical societies and organizations" when they depend upon the big PHARMA companies for much of their support, etc. and have a vested interest in big PHARMA. In fact, this NASEM cBHT report "recommendations" are very plain about not using any source of information, etc. from sources with a vested interest such as compounding-related companies...but they don't mind taking information from those that financially contribute to them and support them. Also, the selection of the proper therapy for a specific patient should belong to the physician, not to "professional medical societies and organizations"!]

(Continued)

News

Trump Administration Takes Action to Allow Pharmacists and Pharmacy Interns to Order and Administer COVID-19 Vaccines
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today authorized pharmacists and pharmacy interns to order and administer COVID-19 vaccines that have been approved or licensed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to all individuals age 3 or older. Pharmacy interns must do so while acting under the supervision of qualified pharmacist. There are other conditions for both pharmacists and pharmacy interns, and the full text of the announcement can be found at:

https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2020/09/09/trump-administration-takes-action-to-expand-access-to-covid-19-vaccines.html

Did You Know (ON TRUTH)...

...that in 1907 William James said the following?

"The ultimate test of what a truth means is the conduct which it dictates or inspires."

Thought of the Week

With the lack of truth in the media today, it seems that standards for journalism are almost nonexistent. It is difficult to say when truthfulness was lost in schools of journalism, but it is now to the point that one cannot really believe much of what they see or hear, so the media has limited usefulness today.

Remember playing the game of "gossip" where you formed a circle and one person said something to the next person to repeat and by the time it made its way around the circle, the message was different. Well, today there is no circle, and the person making the beginning statement may not be telling the truth to start with.

In fact, an interesting exercise is to do a computer search on "how to lie" and see what comes up...you may be surprised. It seems this may be a part of a course in some schools or colleges. It is a sad thing when the truth is gone because you can't believe anything you hear or see any longer. Without truth, ignorance becomes rampant.

Some interesting quotations related to truth include the following:

All truth passes through three stages.
    First it is ridiculed.
    Second, it is violently opposed.
    Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.
(Arthur Schopenhauer)

When you want to help people, you tell them the truth. When you want to help yourself, you tell them what they want to hear.
(Thomas Sowell)

Ours may become the first civilization destroyed, not by the power of our enemies, but by the ignorance of our teachers and the dangerous nonsense they are teaching our children. In an age of artificial intelligence, they are creating artificial stupidity.
(Thomas Sowell)

Join the CNL!

IJPC would like to invite all compounding pharmacists and technicians to join the Compounders' Network List (CNL) - an e-mail-based resource for sharing compounding information with your peers.

Go to the following website for more information and to join.

https://ijpc.com/cnl

Looking Back

Try a tube,
The cream that's in it
Is making friends,
A man a minute!
     Burma-Shave