To place a classified advertisement please contact: Lauren Bernick lbernick@ijpc.com or 405-513-4236

Editorial: Pharmacy Students Compounding Sterile Preparations in Experiential Practice Sites

A recent article [AJHP 69 (June 15, 2012): 1073] reports on a survey of various hospitals and the factors influencing the decision to allow advanced pharmacy practice education students to compound parenteral admixtures during their rotation experiences.

Of the 166 surveys sent out, a total of 89 responses (53.6%) were obtained and one participant opted out. Of the responses, 80.9% came from Illinois facilities and 15.7% from Missouri practice sites and 3 from other states. The majority had an average daily census of at least 100 patients and was classified as community nonteaching hospitals; all had a cleanroom, a compounding aseptic isolator, or both.

Of the facilities that participated in the survey, 21% indicated that they did not permit the students to prepare sterile admixtures; however, all but two of those facilities permitted students to observe the practice. Reasons given included the extensive training requirements of the hospitals (63%), liability concerns (56%), and the cost and time associated with media-fill (38%) and glove fingertip (31%) testing.

Of the 70 facilities that allowed the students to prepare sterile admixtures, 89% provided training, 32% required students to pass a media-fill test before preparation, and 26% required students to pass a glove fingertip test. Also, 37% required students to successfully pass a written competency assessment.

An ACPE and ASHP task force identified as an entry-level competency: "demonstrate aseptic technique and describe processes and facilities needed to provide sterile compounded parenteral solutions, including the basic requirements of USP 797."

This is an issue that needs to be addressed to ensure patient safety and adequate training experiences for pharmacy students. Generally, experiential opportunities should provide students with the opportunity to apply what has been learned. However, there appears to be significant variation in what the students are required to learn; patient safety is the primary concern.


Loyd V. Allen, Jr., PhD, RPh
Editor-in-Chief

Betamethasone Oral Solution Discontinued
According to the FDA, Schering Corporation has decided to discontinue its betamethasone 0.6-mg/5-mL oral solution (Celestone).
http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/DrugShortages/ucm050794.htm#betamethasone

Numerous Product Recalls May be Numbing Consumers
Many are growing increasingly concerned that a surge in the number of products being recalled is resulting in "fatigue" by the public-increasing the chance that consumers could ignore or miss a recall that could ultimately endanger their health. Last year, consumers were deluged with 2,363 recalls, or about 6.5 recalls each day, covering consumer products, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and food, according to data from the FDA, Department of Agriculture, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The recalls rose nearly 14 percent from 2,081 in 2010 and compare with about 1,460 in 2007.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/manufacturing/story/2012-06-08/product-recall-surge-consumer-fatigue/55466398/1

Change in China's Drug-law May Allow Generics Much Faster
China has overhauled parts of its intellectual property laws to allow its manufacturers to make generics even while a brand name is still under patent protection in an initiative likely to unnerve foreign pharmaceutical companies. This move, comes within months of a similar move by India to effectively end the monopoly on an expensive cancer drug made by Bayer AG by issuing its first so-called "compulsory license."

The amended Chinese patent law allows Beijing to issue compulsory licenses to eligible companies to produce generic versions of patented drugs during state emergencies, or unusual circumstances, or in the interests of the public. Also, for "reasons of public health," eligible manufacturers" also can ask to export these medicines to other countries, including members of the World Trade Organization.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/health/China+drug+revamp+rattles+
Pharma/6754855/story.html#ixzz1xn5KaXOT

Lens or Lentil-Shaped Lipid Vesicles May Target Drugs to Stenotic Vessels
A lipid-based nanoparticle that can deliver cardiovascular drugs specifically to diseased constricted arteries and spare normal arteries from unwanted drug therapy has been developed. Intravenous injections of vasodilators results in the dilation of both stenotic and normal blood vessels, which can lead to significant side-effects. The new lenticular (lentil-shaped) liposomes effectively target only diseased stenotic vessels because the increased shear stress forces within the narrowed lumens is enough to cause transient break points in the particles that let the drugs out, whereas in healthy vessels, the liposomes continue their journey.
http://www.genengnews.com/gen-news-highlights/scientists-develop-lentil-shaped-lipid-vesicles-that-target-drugs-to-stenotic-vessels/81246882/

Propofol Claimed to Cause Pain When Administered as Execution Drug
The Missouri Supreme Court is deciding on execution dates for 19 condemned killers while attorneys for death row inmates are raising concerns about the state's new one-drug lethal injection method. The Court has advised attorneys for six of those inmates that they have until June 29 to show why an execution date should not be set.

Modern executions around the U.S. have mostly used a nearly identical three-drug method until recently when one drug, sodium thiopental, became no longer available because the manufacturer will not sell it for use in executions. States have scrambled to find substitutes and Missouri announced in May the switch to a single execution drug, propofol. The attorney for one inmate wrote in a filing to the Supreme Court that propofol has been known to cause extreme pain in some patients, even in normal doses.

All six inmates facing potential execution dates were convicted of first-degree murder. Missouri is one of three states with a single-drug execution protocol (The others are Arizona and Ohio, but they are using a different drug.). South Dakota, Idaho, and Washington all have options for single- or multiple-drug executions, and California and Kentucky are exploring a switch to a one-drug method.
http://www.stltoday.com/news/state-and-regional/missouri/defense-lawyers-concerned-about-mo-execution-drug/article_0c125431-81f1-58ce-b811-3fabba7c013e.html

FDA Approves the SoloHealth Station
SoloHealth has received approval from the FDA for its next-generation SoloHealth Station. This is an interactive, comprehensive health and wellness screening kiosk for consumers. The SoloHealth Station accommodates health screenings for vision, blood pressure, weight, and body mass index, a symptom checker as well as an overall health assessment free of charge.
http://www.pharmacynewsflash.com/opha/Story.nsp?story_id=173497329

Managing Symptoms in the Pharmacy
2nd ed.
Nathan A
June 2012; $36.99; 240 pages; Paperback

One of the FASTtrack series, this book provides great lecture notes for pharmacy students and an excellent review for pharmacists. The book is divided into (1) Cardiovascular, (2) Central Nervous System, (3) Eye and Ear, (4) Foot Conditions, (5) Gastrointestinal, (6) Infestations, (7) Musculoskeletal, (8) Respiratory, (9) Skin, and (10) Women's Conditions sections with chapters within each section. The easy-to-read format contains concise bulleted information, key points, tips, multiple-choice questions and worked examples, case studies, and simple diagrams to make it very useful.

This entire series provides smaller, readable, and "great for reviewing" books for pharmacists, pharmacy students, and pharmacy technicians.

Become a fan of the IJPC Facebook page and share ideas, photos, and keep up to date with the latest compounding information - http://www.facebook.com/IJPCompounding

...that Father's Day is a celebration honoring fathers and celebrating fatherhood, paternal bonds, and the influence of fathers in society. Many countries celebrate it on the third Sunday of June, but it is also celebrated widely on other days. Father's Day complements Mother's Day, a celebration that honors mothers and motherhood.

It was inaugurated in the early twentieth century to complement Mother's Day, being founded in 1910 by Sonora Smart Dodd. Its first celebration was in Spokane, Washington on June 19, 1910. Her father, a Civil War veteran, was a single parent who reared his six children. After hearing a sermon about Jarvis' Mother's Day in 1909, she told her pastor that fathers should have a similar holiday honoring them. By the mid-1980s the Father's Council wrote that "(...) [Father's Day] has become a 'Second Christmas' for all the men's gift-oriented industries."

Celebrate Father's Day and also include Grandfather's and Great Grandfather's in the celebration.

Proper distance
To him was bunk,
They pulled him out
Of some guy's trunk!
      Burma Shave

Congratulations to the following three pharmacy students for their winning essays for the 2012 Student Writing Competition, "Compounding: the Past, Present and Future of Pharmacy."

• Stephanie Baer, Butler University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Indianapolis, Indiana
• Isaiah Liebel, St. John Fisher College, Rochester, New York
• Alaina Rotelli, Butler University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Indianapolis, Indiana

These students will be honored as their names are announced to the 300 pharmacists and pharmacy technicians attending the upcoming Compounders on Capitol Hill, being held June 23-26, 2012 in Washington, DC.