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Editorial: Keeping up with Science and Technology!

This week, IJPC launched a new, complimentary, electronic, monthly newsletter, "Science and Technology for the Hospital Pharmacist." This is something we have wanted to do for a long time, and the timing seems right. The Editorial Board consists of pharmacists that practice, teach, and support science-based compounding.

As the name of the newsletter indicates, the newsletter will be scientific, and will include technical discussions related to all phases of compounding in all practice sites, in short, concise, easy-to-read newsletter format. Example discussions will be:

• Determining beyond-use-dates
• Evaluating published stability studies
• Disinfectants: How they work and which ones to use
• Osmolality and considerations in parenterals and oral liquids
• pH effect on solubility
• pH effect on stability
• Errors produced when compounding with commercial products
• Medication preparation for NG tubes
• Interpreting Certificates of Analysis
• Other topics as needed

After putting this new newsletter together and discussing it with a number of pharmacists, it seems that the information will be of benefit to ALL compounding pharmacists. This is especially true since many community pharmacies are now contracting with hospitals for compounding services, and the information will benefit all.

This newsletter can be used as a refresher for pharmacists and as a teaching tool for technicians and students. Print them off and save them in a 3-ring binder for future reference.

If you would like to sign up for this new free newsletter, go to the Newsletter Subscription Page on CompoundingToday.com.

Fake Antibiotics Aimed at Hispanics in Texas
Fake drugs with names that are similar to antibiotics prescribed for children are being sold in Texas pharmacies, and their use has caused several hospitalizations. The FDA says not to use products which are marketed as dietary supplements that also claim to be antimicrobial (antibiotic, antifungal, or antiviral) drugs.

The products are sold in syrup, ointment, capsule, and drinkable forms and have names like Amoxilina, Pentrexcilina, Ampitrexyl, Citricillin, Amoximiel, and Pentreximil. The situation came to light after a hospital in Austin, Texas reported treating several patients whose parents mistakenly believed they had been treating their children with an antibiotic. These products are promoted with claims to treat illnesses such as upper respiratory infections, sinusitis, pneumonia, bronchitis, and the common cold. However, these products do not appear to have any active drug ingredients and are not approved to treat medical conditions.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i9kToZmUfUtLaHpb7XAGPgPObmNw?docId=CNG.df1eb6fae932d5dcc99a27e528667e85.1f1

Records Reveal Practices of Accused FDA Insider
An FDA employee who is charged with insider trading refinanced his Gaithersburg, Maryland home 10 times within six years and took out $350,000 in credit lines against the property. Property records filed online in Maryland between 1998 and 2004 for former FDA chemist Cheng Yi Liang detail a series of mortgage refinances with eight different banks.

The SEC (in a complaint filed in late March) said Mr. Liang, 57, used an FDA database to trade in advance of at least 27 FDA announcements involving 19 publicly traded companies, making as much as $3.6 million between 2006 and 2011.

Mr. Liang used a home-equity line of credit to "funnel money into nominee brokerage accounts to engage in the insider trading scheme," according to related allegations filed the same day by the Department of Justice. Mr. Liang works in the division in charge of approving new drugs, the FDA's most visible and sensitive role.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703730804576322220103794598.html?mod=dist_smartbrief

Growth in U.S. Prescription Drug Abuse Tied to Internet
Rogue online pharmacies may be driving a rapid increase in the abuse of prescription drugs, including Percocet and Oxycontin, a new study shows. The pharmacies are typically located outside the U.S.. and they send out millions of e-mail solicitations a year.

According to investigators from Massachusetts General Hospital and the University of Southern California, "Our findings suggest that Internet growth may partly explain the increase in prescription drug abuse, since it is well known that these drugs are easily available online," said Dana Goldman, director of the Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics at the University of Southern California. Prescription drugs are fast replacing illegal substances in venues like college campuses, Goldman said. The FDA has issued warnings to more than 100 online pharmacies for violations. The impact of the FDA's measures is currently unknown.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/12/us-internet-drugabuse-idUSTRE74B6LP20110512

$772 Million Sets Aside by Pfizer for Prempro Drug Case Settlements
Pfizer has settled a third of the pending cases over its Prempro menopause drug, It set aside $772 million to resolve claims that the medicine causes breast cancer. The world's largest drugmaker, New York-based Pfizer, said that the reserve provides "the minimum expected costs to resolve all of the other outstanding" lawsuits over its hormone-replacement drugs. The company didn't say how many cases would be settled; however, more than 6 million women took Prempro and related menopause drugs to treat symptoms including hot flashes and mood swings before a 2002 study highlighted their links to cancer.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-13/pfizer-sets-aside-772-million-to-resolve-cancer-claims-on-menopause-drug.html

Workplace Drug Testing
Verstraete A, ed.
Pharmaceutical Press; April 2011
Paperback; 464 pages; $129.99

This very interesting and comprehensive book explains drug effects on human performance and the need for workplace drug testing. It provides detailed information on the regulatory and legal frameworks around the world, how to set policies and coverage of all aspects of drug analysis, and the associated interpretation of results. The book contains 15 chapters and discusses the evidence base for workplace drug testing, legal and regulatory aspects of workplace drug testing, policies for drugs and alcohol, urine sample collection, alternative matrices to urine, analytical techniques, specimen adulteration, interpretation of urine drug test results, guidelines for workplace drug testing, and some case studies. The last three chapters are specific for Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.

The chapter on specimen adulteration in trying to disrupt the tests was especially interesting. This book was written by internationally acknowledged experts and will be of value to anyone interested in setting up a system of workplace drug testing.

�that "Just because something isn't illegal doesn't mean it's right." Cowboy Ethics-What Wall Street Can Learn from the Code of the West (James P. Owen).

Gray Matters
There is black, there is white, and there are a lot of shades of gray in between. One seldom goes wrong with caution and deliberation in making decisions. That is one way we mature.