Manitoba's aboriginals, pregnant women and homeless get priority for flu drug

From the Canadian Press:
The province that experienced an acute outbreak of swine flu on its northern reserves is making it easier for aboriginals and other vulnerable patients to get free antiviral drugs in a bid to lessen the impact of the virus come fall.

Manitoba has set out who can get Tamiflu more quickly under its pharmacare program. The groups include aboriginals, those with underlying medical conditions, pregnant women, smokers and the obese. The homeless and those with immune deficiencies, including cancer patients, will also get priority.

The changes, which will make it easier for doctors to prescribe Tamiflu quickly, were set out in a regulation that takes effect Aug. 18. People who don't meet the medical criteria can still buy a prescription for Tamiflu but it may not be covered by the province.

Under the old system, doctors had to justify each prescription which involved phone calls, faxes and paperwork.

Provincial Health Minister Theresa Oswald said her government wants to make sure that those who need the antivirals get them quickly. ...more

H1N1 drugs available to First Nations, official says

From the Winnipeg Free Press:
A senior Manitoba Health official said its stockpile of H1N1 antiviral drugs was made available to Health Canada for distribution among the province's First Nation communities.

Terry Goertzen, an assistant deputy minister of health, said Ottawa did not request from Manitoba more than the 45 courses, or 450 doses, of Tamiflu it was given in mid-May to deal with an H1N1 outbreak on reserves.

"When it comes to health care on First Nation communities, (Ottawa) takes the lead," Goertzen said, adding no special requests for additional antiviral drugs were made to deal with the outbreak in the Island Lake communities.

Chiefs from Garden Hill and St. Theresa Point are demanding to know why their communities received next to no antiviral drugs when the northwestern Ontario First Nation of Sandy Lake was given 1,800 doses to control an H1N1 outbreak there. ...more

MDs, pharmacists battling drug resellers

From the Winnipeg Free Press:
Inner-city doctors and pharmacists want the province to help them crack down on prescription-drug abuse in response to the growing number of people reselling addictive painkillers such as OxyContin on the street.

Betty Edel, executive director of the Mount Carmel Clinic, said the strip of medical clinics and pharmacies along North Main Street has become a hub for the resale of prescription painkillers.

Edel said area residents and people from other Winnipeg communities are coming to North Main to fill their prescriptions and sell them to dealers who, in turn, sell the drugs for a steeper price on the street.

OxyContin is a strong narcotic that contains oxycodone and other opiates and is prescribed by physicians as a long-release painkiller. Some addiction experts call it "hillbilly heroin," since tablets containing oxycodone can be purchased for about $5 a pill, then resold by dealers. ...more

Pharmacy to open soon

From the Interlake (MB) Spectator:
Non-Insured Health Benefits patients in the Peguis and Fisher area will have to wait a little longer to use the temporary pharmacy service arranged between Health Canada and Winnipeg's Four Rivers Pharmacy.

Paul Spendlove, media relations officer for Health Canada, says the temporary pharmacy will be located at the Peguis Mall as of Monday.

“Interim arrangements have been in place with Four Rivers Pharmacy since Jan. 1,” said Spendlove. “This interim measure will be in place pending a permanent solution, which is being developed by the First Nation community. Health Canada has worked to ensure minimal disruption of pharmacy services.”

Daren Jorgenson, founder of Four Rivers Pharmacy, says the pharmacy will open once access to the province’s drug information network database is received.

“It provides information about drug interactions and if someone’s double doctoring their medication,” said Jorgenson. “We need it and it’s out of my control as to when we’ll get it. We’ll probably have it by the 18th, but it’s day to day, so we’ll have to wait and see.” ...more

Tories push for cancer drug funds

From the Winnipeg Sun:
A cancer drug that can help patients live longer should be fully funded and not done on a “case-by-case basis” say the provincial Tories and a national cancer group.

“Why shouldn’t everybody have equal access to this drug?” said Barry Stein, president of the Colorectal Cancer Association of Canada.

“There needs to be quality of treatment for patients in Manitoba,” said Kelvin Goertzen, Tory health critic.

A spokeswoman for the province’s health minister Theresa Oswald said doctors can prescribe Avastin in Manitoba based on a patient’s need. The drug cost is covered in a limited number of cases. ...more

Pharmacare to cover 120 more generic drugs

From the Winnipeg Free Press:
The Manitoba government will add 120 new generic drugs to be covered under Manitoba's Pharmacare Program , Health Minister Theresa Oswald said Thursday.

The decision, effective March 19, means the province will save about $4 million a year as these generic drugs will replace more costly prescription medication. The province already covers more than 1,950 drugs under the Pharmacare system. For a complete list of approved drugs go to www.gov.mb.ca/health/mdbif/.

Pharmacare assists patients with the cost of prescription drugs by covering all bills for them after an income-based deductible.

In a release Oswald said the generic drug cost savings are substantial. For example, generic blood pressure medication Ramipril costs about half as much as prescription drug Altace; Altace costs about $33.60 a month while Ramipril only $19.95.

Tory health critic Kelvin Goertzen said the province could save even more money be creating a speedier approval process for generic drugs -- drugs already approved by Health Canada. ...more

Ah, Cuba: sun, cigars and hip replacements

This isn't speciifically a pharmacy story, but it does involve a Canadian pharmacist.

From Macleans:
Cuba -- a mecca for fine cigars, rusty cars and rickety communism -- is being sold by a Winnipeg entrepreneur as a cutting-edge destination for health care queue jumpers. Daren Jorgenson, founder and "chief idea officer" of Choice Medical Services, has sent some 200 Canadians and Americans on medical tourism excursions to the island for services including drug rehabilitation, hip replacement, eye surgery and breast augmentation. "The standards of care are very high," says Jorgenson, who also runs an Internet pharmacy and a chain of Canadian medical clinics. "Obviously Cuba is an impoverished country, but when you're having surgery done, you're in some pretty premier facilities."

Medical tourism is a growing source of hard currency for Cuba, which trains a surplus of doctors. "I like to call Cuba's physician pool Fidel's oil, an untapped economic power," says Jorgenson. His business lets Canadians with the ability to pay avoid long wait times. For Americans who enter Cuba through a third country to thwart the U.S. embargo, it's a way to stretch inadequate private insurance. The cost of a hip replacement in Cuba is $8,000, compared to $63,000 in the U.S. ...more

A prescription for change

From the Portage (Man.) Daily Graphic:
Pharmacists in Manitoba may be able to prescribe drugs in certain cases if the province has its way.

Pharmacists, doctors and patients are being consulted as new regulations are being drafted in accordance with Manitoba’s Pharmaceutical Act passed last fall. The Act gives pharmacists the authorization to write prescriptions in cases such as when a patient with a chronic condition needs a refill or when a patient has developed a reaction to a prescribed drug and requires a substitute.

“Pharmacists are not interested in taking over the job of doctors and, in Manitoba, doctors are not interested in inhibiting a pharmacist’s ability to help his or her client,” said Health Minister Theresa Oswald yesterday.

“We’re not trying to discourage people from getting the care they need. It just means in some circumstances where patients would go to the doctor for a routine signature that would not have to happen.”

The province has tried to assure opponents of the legislation it will make sure all the appropriate checks and balances are in place so neither pharmacists nor patients abuse the system with regard to visits and prescriptions. ...more

Campaign hopes to erase bad handwriting

From the Globe and Mail:
Along with the stethoscope and the white coat, bad handwriting is central to the popular image of the physician.

But the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority has launched a campaign to stamp out hastily scrawled prescriptions after an audit revealed a third of the orders issued in its hospitals could have compromised patient safety, either because they were illegible or contained banned abbreviations.

“We know from the literature that there are certainly medical errors that result from miscommunication,” said pharmacist Lora Jaye Gray medication safety co-ordinator for the WRHA. “There are continually reports throughout Canada of patients who have been harmed and killed through medication errors. We also know from the Canadian Adverse Events Study in 2004 that 7.5 per cent of patients admitted to Canadian hospitals had at least one adverse event. Not all were medications, but medications were a big part of that.” ...more

Combination of sunscreen, insect repellent can pose threat

From Canada.com:
With summer's sunshine and biting insects here, new Canadian research suggests applying sunscreen and insect repellent containing DEET at the same time may compromise the safety and effectiveness of each product.

Xiaochen Gu, a pharmacology professor at the University of Manitoba, warns that when the chemical ingredients are applied at the same time, the repellent permeates the skin in far greater amounts. The sunscreen also loses some of its protection ability.

The research poses a conundrum for Canadians who want to protect themselves from skin cancer and keep possible West Nile-carrying mosquitoes away.

Gu said people should wait at least half an hour after applying sunscreen before using bug repellent containing DEET. Health Canada maintains people can use sunscreen and insect repellents together, as long as the sunscreen is applied first and the insect repellent second. It does not give any advice about waiting in between applications ...more