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Editorial: Those Difficult Professors...Friend or Fiend?

The Playful Brain is an interesting book dealing with the art and science of brain enhancement and helping to minimize dementia. It states there are four learning principles, including:

1. The time required to memorize a list of nonsense syllables increases as the number of syllables increases.
2. Memorization of meaningful words takes only about one-tenth of the effort required to learn comparable nonsense material.
3. Multiple learning trials distributed over time are more effective for memorizing than extended one-session efforts.
4. Continued practice after learning enhances retention.

It also states that "Testing is the critical factor for promoting long-term recall. Although educators often consider testing a neutral process that merely assesses the contents of memory, practicing retrieval during tests produces more learning than study alone once an item has been recalled. Even after items can be recalled from memory, eliminating those items from repeated retrieval practice greatly reduces long-term retention."

While some professors/teachers may consider testing as a "neutral process" to measure how much has been learned, "testing actually results in greater learning"! In other words, those difficult professors that utilize "pop tests" and "comprehensive tests" are actually doing you a favor to enhance long-term memory. According to the authors, one cannot simply learn something, never test your ability to retrieve it again, and then expect to retain that information over the long term.


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

No Major Safety Concerns with Compounded Versions of Makena
No safety issues were found in the multi-month study by the FDA of compounded 17-P preparations. This study was at the request of the manufacturer of Makena to attempt to prove that the compounded versions of 17-P were not the same as the much more expensive manufactured versions. The FDA press release on compounding is available at:
http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm308546.htm
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/765882

Multi-use of Syringes = A Dangerous Practice
The reuse of syringes to withdraw medication from a container that was used for other patients has resulted in 130,000 patients being notified they were at risk of infection with viruses or bacteria over the last decade, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Furthermore, a survey of healthcare providers who prepared and/or administered parenteral medications revealed that nearly 1% have reused a syringe directly from one patient to another. This dangerous practice may stem from the misconception that changing only the needle is sufficient to prevent disease transmission, the study said.
http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/content/TEC-280875/Dangerous-Injection-Practices-Still-a-Threat

FDA Causes Cancer Drug Shortages
One of the most serious problems in American health care today is a catastrophic shortage of supply for dozens of important generic drugs, especially oncology drugs. Because of the shortages, many cancer patients today are unable to gain access to basic, life-extending drugs. The House Oversight Committee has released an in-depth report, alleging that a significant cause of this shortage is an out-of-control regulatory smackdown, initiated by FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg.

The report details the dramatic drop in the production of generic injectable drugs since Hamburg was confirmed as FDA chief in May 2009. Upon taking office, Hamburg promised an aggressive effort to enforce the FDA's stringent manufacturing standards. In 2010, Hamburg's officials issued 673 warning letters to drugmakers and other companies: a 42 percent increase from 2009. In 2011, the agency issued 1,720 warning letters: a further increase of 156 percent.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/aroy/2012/06/15/how-margaret-hamburgs-fda-causes-cancer-drug-shortages/

First Drugmaker to Exit Greece
German pharmaceutical firm Biotest says it will stop shipments to Greece in July, becoming the first drugmaker to announce it would quit the debt-mired country's market because its bills had not been paid. Even though Biotest is a relatively small player in Greece, the company's exit sets an unwelcome precedent for a country whose healthcare system is crumbling under the weight of economic crisis and administrative deadlock.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/16/us-biotest-greece-idUSBRE85F0BU20120616

Spain PHARMA Sounds Alarm
Spain's drug industry may be in trouble if the government does not prevent overspending regions from accumulating more unpaid medical bills. The government said in February it would clear the regions' debts accumulated by end-2011, and expects to do so this month of June. Hospitals are owed more than 6.3 billion euros ($8 billion) to drug companies at the end of 2011. However, payments of around 1.5 billion euros for debt run up this year remain outstanding and many regions are piling up debt at a faster pace than in 2011.
http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/06/19/spain-regions-pharmaceuticals-idINL5E8HJETI20120619

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�that this week, we experienced the Summer Solstice or the longest day of the year and the day at which the sun is at its northernmost part of the sky? The days now start getting shorter.

Don't forget, IACP Compounders on Capitol Hill starts this weekend through next Tuesday. We (IJPC) hope to see you there!

Handbook of Pharmaceutical Excipients
7th ed.
Nathan A
Rowe RC, Sheskey PJ, Cook WG et al, eds.
Pharmaceutical Press; London-Philadelphia; 2012; $495

The indispensable standard for pharmaceutical excipients is now available in the 7th edition. The new edition contains the following:

• All monographs are fully updated in light of current knowledge.
• Important new content includes 40 new monographs and IR spectra figures.
• New two-color printing enhances usability in daily practice.
• The Directory of Suppliers is updated and indexed by country and by monograph.

Undoubtedly, this is the most comprehensive edition to date and is highly recommended to those needing physicochemical and practical information on excipients in an easy-to-read format.

Twinkle, twinkle
One-eyed car,
We all wonder
WHERE you are!
      Burma Shave

PCAB is proud to announce the accreditation and re-accreditation of the following pharmacies:

WELLHealth Rx, Jacksonville, Florida; Rakesh Patel, RPh, co-owner; Rakesh.patel@wellhealthrx.com; Initial Accreditation for Sterile and Nonsterile Compounding.

Yee's Pharmacy, Long Beach, California; Steve Yee, PharmD; yeesrx@verizon.net; Initial Accreditation for Nonsterile Compounding.

Compound Pharmaceutical Technologies, Inc., Daphne, Alabama; John Hart, Owner; johnhart@cptinc.org; Re-accreditation for Sterile and Nonsterile Compounding.

Please join us in congratulating these fine pharmacies.

The 2012 USP <797> Compliance Study is well underway, and there is still time left to participate before the Study closes at the end of June. The results assist in benchmarking progress and to identify where additional resources and focus are required to continue to improve sterile compounding practice and patient safety.

The 2012 USP <797> Compliance Study uses a sophisticated web-based <797> Gap Analysis Tool that is being made available at no charge to all study participants. It should be noted that ALL INDIVIDUAL FACILITY RESULTS ARE CONFIDENTIAL—ONLY AGGREGATE DATA WILL BE USED IN THE STUDY REPORT.

In return for your participation, you will receive a highly detailed Action Plan that is automatically generated based on your answers to the survey. This Action Plan provides documentation that can be used to begin or continue sterile compounding practice improvements at your location. The survey takes 60 to 90 minutes to complete but does not need to be completed at one sitting. This year, the study team has also provided a PDF document of all the questions to facilitate data collection offline for those who might find this useful.

Please register for the Study today: www.797study.com. Use Survey Code B797I.