Pharmacists News

• 'Astounding' Response to Neoadjuvant Desmoplastic Melanoma Tx Desmoplastic melanoma, an often deeply invasive disease occurring in older adults, showed a uniquely favorable response to neoadjuvant pembrolizumab in this small study.
  Medscape Medical News, March 29, 2023
• Bias, Lack of Access Make Long COVID Worse for Patients of Color "I was in a wheelchair when the doctor at Hopkins told me I had long COVID,” Liely said. “I just broke down and cried. The validation was the biggest thing for me."
  WebMD Health News, March 29, 2023
• FDA Advisory Panels Consider Easing Isotretinoin Requirements The 19-day lockout, home pregnancy tests, and attestation intervals for counseling people who cannot get pregnant were among the hot topics on the first day of a 2-day meeting.
  Medscape Medical News, March 28, 2023
• AAD 2023 Another JAK Inhibitor Shows Efficacy for Atopic Dermatitis A novel JAK inhibitor being evaluated for a broad array of inflammatory diseases was associated with efficacy and safety for treating atopic dermatitis in a pivotal multinational phase 3 trial.
  Medscape Medical News, March 28, 2023
• Spotting STIs: Vaginal Swabs Work Best Many US healthcare providers use urine samples to diagnose sexually transmitted infections in women, but researchers have shown that vaginal swabs provide more accurate results.
  Medscape Medical News, March 28, 2023
• Cigna's PBM, Two Others Sued in Ohio Over Drug Price Fixing Ohio on Monday filed a lawsuit accusing Cigna Group, Humana, and others of colluding to drive up prescription drug prices by charging exorbitant fees for pharmacy benefit management services.
  Reuters Health Information, March 27, 2023
• DMARDs Taper-to-Discontinuation Trial Deemed Inconclusive For patients with RA in sustained remission taking half doses of conventional synthetic DMARDs, the risk of flare was similar to that from stopping medication altogether, but the trial was too small to inform practice.
  Medscape Medical News, March 28, 2023
• Amgen-Sanofi Patent Case Divides Makers of Antibody Drugs Amgen's battle with Sanofi and Regeneron at the Supreme Court over its cholesterol drug Repatha on Monday has some drugmakers hoping a ruling will reshape US patent law and competition among companies that make antibody medicines.
  Reuters Health Information, March 27, 2023
• Supreme Court Mulls Amgen Bid to Revive Cholesterol Drug Patents Amgen sought to convince the US Supreme Court on Monday to revive patents on its cholesterol-lowering drug Repatha, while rival Sanofi urged the justices not to stifle competition for therapies to address a common health risk.
  Reuters Health Information, March 27, 2023
• SGO 2023 'Home Run': Immunotherapy Add-on for Advanced Endometrial Cancer Two new studies show that adding immunotherapy with pembrolizumab or dostarlimab to chemotherapy significantly boosts progression-free survival in patients with advanced endometrial cancer.
  Medscape Medical News, March 28, 2023
• Safety, Efficacy of Analgesics for Low Back Pain 'Uncertain' A new review reveals considerable uncertainty around the efficacy and safety of analgesic medications for acute low back pain.
  Medscape Medical News, March 27, 2023
• AAD 2023 Topical Delgocitinib Effective for Hand Eczema in Phase 3 Trial The phase 3 study evaluated delgocitinib, an investigational topical pan-JAK inhibitor that inhibits activation of the JAK-STAT pathway and targets key mediators of chronic hand eczema.
  MDedge News, March 27, 2023
• Hydroxyurea Underused in Youth With Sickle Cell Anemia Sickle cell anemia can lead to pain crises, stroke, and early death. Hydroxyurea, an oral disease-modifying medication, can reduce the complications.
  MDedge News, March 27, 2023
• GSK Loses Bid to Keep Experts Out of Upcoming Zantac Trial A California judge on Thursday denied GSK's bid to keep expert testimony linking its discontinued heartburn drug Zantac to cancer out of an upcoming trial, a setback for the British drugmaker.
  Reuters Health Information, March 24, 2023
• Anifrolumab Shows Promise in Refractory Discoid Lupus The study evaluated the records of eight women with DLE recalcitrant to standard therapies who were treated with anifrolumab for at least 8 weeks.
  MDedge News, March 27, 2023
• Alert FDA Approves New Formulation of Hyrimoz Adalimumab Biosimilar The agency approved a higher concentration formulation of Hyrimoz for its previous indications, including rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis.
  Medscape Medical News, March 27, 2023
• Melatonin a New Way to Reduce Self-Harm? Treating sleep disturbances associated with depression and anxiety may decrease the risk of intentional injuries in adolescents, new research shows.
  Medscape Medical News, March 27, 2023
• FDA Approves Pharming's Immune Disorder Drug The US Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved Pharming Group's drug to treat a rare genetic disorder that leads to a weakened immune system, the Dutch company said.
  Reuters Health Information, March 24, 2023
• AAD 2023 New Data Forecast More Oral PDE4 Inhibitors for Psoriasis A new oral phosphodiesterase-4 (PDE4) inhibitor achieved impressive rates of complete or near-complete skin clearance in a phase 2 study that also found the drug was well tolerated.
  Medscape Medical News, March 24, 2023
• Lebanon's Healthcare System Is at Breaking Point Since the Beirut port explosion of 2020, skyrocketing inflation has made healthcare unaffordable for a greater proportion of the population.
  Medscape Medical News, March 24, 2023