Liberals play up health reforms

From the Fredericton (NB) Daily Gleaner:
The Liberal government will soon unveil its provincial health plan, which includes help for seniors to stay in their homes, allowing pharmacists to prescribe some medication and regulating midwifery.

There will also be a dial-a-dietician service and more restrictions on the display of tobacco products.

"A self-sufficient New Brunswick requires healthy people with access to high-quality and accessible health-care services," said Lt.-Gov Hermenegilde Chiasson, who read the throne speech Tuesday. ...more

Strange Prescription

From Monday Magazine (BC):
The nine members of the provincial government’s new pharmaceutical task force include the head of Canada’s largest drug lobby group, but nobody to represent the interests of patients or the public.

“It’s a good idea to do this, but the compostion of the board is highly debateable,” says Adrian Dix, the NDP health critic. “I think it’s extraordinary and bizarre the pharmaceutical representatives were put on the panel this way. It’s really unfortunate patients are so poorly represented here.”

The highest profile drug industry representative on the task force is Russell Williams, the president of Canada’s Research-based Pharmaceutical Companies (Rx&D), a national lobby group with members from some 50 drug companies and whose directors include the presidents, CEOs and other top officials from 14 of the countries biggest drug manufacturers. ...more

Journal accuses Shoppers Drug Mart of poaching South African pharmacists

I find the concept of recruiting health professionals from other geographic areas a fascinating ethical question. Who is to say that a foreign pharmacist doesn't deserve the opportunity to build a new life in another country? Also, what about luring health professionals from rural areas of Canada to larger urban centres? What if Shoppers recruits the only pharmacist in a small town in northern Manitoba and leaves that town without pharmacy services?

I'm not sure why a physicians group has decided to take Shoppers Drug Mart to task on this. I'd like to hear the Canadian Medical Association's views on urban health regions recruiting in smaller Canadian towns that are already short of physicians.

The last line in the article is very interesting...

"If Shoppers Drug Mart fails to act before World AIDS Day on Dec. 1, CMAJ also believes governments, hospitals and all Canadians should show solidarity for South Africa, and take their business elsewhere."

Does this mean we will see a physician led boycott of Shoppers Drug Mart? Will physicians counsel their patients to not get their prescriptions there? Will they refuse to send new or refill prescription orders to Shoppers? As far as I'm aware, physicians are ethically obliged to not suggest one pharmacy over another to patients.

From the Canadian Press:
Human rights activist and former UN ambassador Stephen Lewis joined one of Canada's pre-eminent medical journals Tuesday in denouncing an iconic drugstore chain for aggressively recruiting South African pharmacists and potentially fuelling a public health disaster.

In an article to be published in its January edition, the Canadian Medical Association Journal takes Shoppers Drug Mart, Canada's largest drugstore chain, to task, accusing it of going after the very pharmacists South Africa desperately needs to dispense drugs to its own population.

For the last three years, Shoppers has dispatched recruiters to the southern African country with aim of luring pharmacists with the promise of a guaranteed $100,000 salary, the journal says.

"This behaviour is not just gauche; it is unethical," the article states. ...more

Number of pharmacists up 33% over 10 years

From CTV News:
he number of pharmacists in Canada grew by more than 7,200 over a 10-year period, according to a new report from the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

This represents an increase of 33 per cent in a decade, compared to a 10 per cent increase in the population.

Prince Edward Island showed the greatest percentage increase, at 42.9 per cent. The Northwest Territories saw a 40.5 per cent drop, with the number of pharmacists in the territory falling from 42 in 1995 to 25 in 2005. Ontario is currently home to almost one-third of the country's 29,471 pharmacists. ...more

Pharmacists on call for medicine questions

From the Edmonton Journal:
People with questions about medication now have access to pharmacists throughout the night to answer them.

Capital Health has launched a new pharmacist telephone line through Capital Health Link. Nurses at Capital Health Link can't answer detailed questions about drug side effects or wrong dosages, but now will be able to transfer those patients to one of 60 pharmacists on call in 10 stores across the city.

The system has been in quiet operation since Oct. 16 and has fielded more than 300 calls, including one from a woman with a rash who wondered what medication wouldn't interfere with her breastfeeding. A man on blood clot medication wondered if he could also take pain medication for a shoulder injury. Another person wondered how to keep pain medication working steadily throughout the night. ...more

Thalidomide resurfaces as treatment for multiple myeloma

From CBC News:
A derivative of thalidomide may prolong life in people with a type of bone marrow cancer called multiple myeloma — if taken with a steroid — a new study finds.

Called lenalidomide, the drug, in combination with the steroid dexamethasone, can slow the progress of the incurable bone marrow cancer and extend the lives of patients with the condition by an average of 10 months, the research suggests.

Multiple myeloma is a cancer of a type of white blood cell in the bone marrow. It is the second most prevalent blood cancer after non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, according to Myeloma Canada, with approximately 14,000 newly diagnosed cases in the United States annually. ...more

Entre Nous with Mark Wainberg

This is not exactly a pharmacy article, but I had to include it as it's related to HIV/AIDS and it features Mark Wainberg. His group's research in the 80's led to the discovery of 3TC, one of the most important antivirals on the market. Very few people seem to be aware that Canadians discovered this medication.

I've had the opportunity to hear him speak and meet with him. If you ever get the chance to do the same, I'd highly recommend it.

From the McGill (QC) Reporter:
Fresh off the red-eye from L.A. where he was visiting his grandchildren, Mark Wainberg poked fun at our photographer when it was suggested that he change his shirt for the photo shoot. "The New York Times never asked me to change my shirt," laughed the Director of the McGill AIDS Centre, over his shoulder as he hustled to his car to get a change of wardrobe. A leading HIV/AIDS researcher and activist, Wainberg is tireless; meeting with scientists, world leaders, industrialists and Hollywood celebrities in his ongoing quest to raise awareness and shape policies geared toward slowing the spread and, ultimately, eradicating the dreaded disease. Having donned a fresh shirt, Wainberg sat down with the Reporter to talk about where the world stands on the eve of World AIDS Day. ...more

Teens turning to prescription painkillers, survey finds

From Canada.com:
While alcohol still remains the substance of choice among Canadian teens, a new study in Ontario released Tuesday shows use of prescription painkillers is a growing cause for concern.

According to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, 21 per cent of students surveyed about their drug use revealed they had tried a prescription pain medication for non-medical purposes at least once in the past year.

More than 75 per cent of teens reported getting the pills from home.

Doug Beirness, manager of research and policy for the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse said Ontario's youth opioid statistics are the first of their kind in Canada but should serve as a wake-up call across the country. An opioid is a chemical substance that has a morphine-like action in the body and is used for pain relief. ...more

Drug firm help queried

From the London (Ont.) Free Press:
Medical training sponsored by drug companies is often skewed in favour of the company's own products, says a University of Western Ontario study reported on yesterday by the prestigious journal Nature.

Drug companies in Canada and the U.S. pour hundreds of millions into required courses for doctors, footing the bill for more than 60 per cent of continuing medical education training.

The courses are supposed to be objective, but a study by the head of Continuing Medical Education at the Schulich School of Medicine at UWO found that isn't always the case. ...more

Canadian drug-benefits provider sues WISH-TV

From the Indianapolis Star:
Canadian pharmacy benefit manager CanaRx Services, which is trying to expand its business in Indiana, sued the parent company of WISH-TV (Channel 8) on Monday, alleging defamation over a broadcast linking CanaRx to sales of counterfeit drugs.

The Windsor-based company sent its president, chief pharmacist and two attorneys to Indianapolis to announce the lawsuit and demand a retraction of statements made in the Nov. 2 broadcast.

The eight-page lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, charges that reports in the broadcast were "false, defamatory and constituted commercial disparagement of CanaRx and its business." ...more

Methadone alternative to hit Canadian market

From CBC News:
A new heroin-addiction treatment that many doctors say is safer than methadone can be prescribed in Canada starting this week.

The drug, sold under the names Subutex and Suboxone, contains buprenorphine, an opiate. Manufactured by Schering-Plough Corp., it was approved by Health Canada in 2005.

Dr. Mark Dubé, a private practitioner in Sudbury, Ont., has been prescribing methadone for years. He started prescribing Subutex and Suboxone in August to one of his methadone patients under a special access permit granted by Health Canada. ...more

Solutions to oxycodone addiction

From Canoe.ca:
A Wallaceburg man gets hooked on OxyContin and helps launch a $175-million lawsuit against Purdue Pharma Canada, the maker of the drug.

City hall calls for a $3.7-million, five-year strategy on substance abuse.

Pain specialists suggest more training for family doctors.

Pharmacists ask for tools to track patients.

Addiction experts ask all of us to stop blaming the addicts.

There seem to be dozens of possible solutions to halting widespread and growing abuse of oxycodone-based painkiller drugs in London. ...more

Medicine man wanted Munday officials work to lure pharmacist

Here's an older article that I wanted to post because I don't think I've ever heard of a town be so aggressive in the pursuit of an independent pharmacist.

From the Wichita Falls (Tex.) Times Record:
It was more than a drug store.

It was the center of life in Munday.

For decades, locals drifted into Smith Drug on Main Street for a cup of coffee, a gift for a friend's birthday and - almost as an afterthought - their prescriptions.

But in March 2006, the out-of-town owners of the store closed the business, creating a huge void that city leaders are working hard to fill, said Munday City Manager Dwayne Bearden.

"People need a pharmacy," he said. "We have one 12 miles away (in Knox City), but it's not as good as having one here. Somebody would be a hero if they could get one here."

The city, along with the Development Corporation of Munday, have been actively trying to lure a pharmacist to town by offering incentives for anyone willing to relocate and reopen the business. ...more

Lack of sympathy greets drug advertising debate

From the Toronto Star:
To say that prescription drugs are not like other products – and so should not be marketed like they are – is just plain patronizing, a public debate on whether to loosen Canada's advertising restrictions on medication heard yesterday.

"No one makes better decisions about what's best for you than you," said Ruth Corbin, who runs a research company specializing in intellectual property, such as drugs.

Speaking to a largely unsympathetic crowd at Ryerson University, Corbin said patients need advertising to help them discuss treatment options with their doctors. ...more

A popular placebo

From the Ottawa Citizen:
They've been a mainstay on drug store shelves for decades. They come in many flavours -- cherry, grape, bubblegum -- all tailored to a child's sugar-loving palate. And when your little one had an up-all-night cough or a nose runnier than a soft-boiled egg, you probably bought one of these over-the-counter (OTC) infant cough or cold medicines. Because they work. Right?

Dani Donders, an Ottawa mother of two, thought so. She's given her sons Tylenol Infant Cold, and while the results weren't spectacular, she believed it must do something; otherwise, drug stores wouldn't sell it.

Andrea Tomkins, who lives with her husband and two daughters in Westboro, also thought children's cold medicines worked. At least a little. If one of her daughters had a nasty cough, Tomkins reached for an off-the-shelf remedy. Who wouldn't? ...more

Living longer with HIV

From the Toronto Star:
"You can't live your life with a gun to your head," says 52-year-old Gary, who tested positive for HIV in 1985. "At some point, you have to look away and get on with things."

While Gary is rigorous about his drug routines and follows his doctor's orders, he no longer wastes time speculating about when he'll die.

"I stopped asking my doctors how long I had to live 20 years ago," says the Toronto house painter. (Gary asked us not to use his last name.) "And I stopped paying attention to survival time statistics because, especially in the beginning, it was a pretty safe assumption that I wasn't going to live very long."

A lot has changed since then. Not only are people living longer with HIV, in the final analysis most of them will not die of AIDS at all. ...more

Merck agrees to US$4.85B settlement over Vioxx

From CTV News:
Merck & Co. has offered to pay US$4.85 billion to end litigation with thousands of U.S. plaintiffs over its painkiller Vioxx.

The agreement applies only to U.S. legal residents and those who allege that a heart attack or stroke they experienced while taking Vioxx occurred in the United States.

In Canada, negotiations continue in a number of class-action cases against the makers of Vioxx.

Mike Peerless, of Siskinds LLP, a law firm that represents hundreds of Canadian plaintiffs in Vioxx class actions, tells CTV that the settlement in the U.S. is a good sign and suggests that the company will want to quickly settle its Vioxx cases in Canada. ...more

Pharmacist shortage dangerous: association

From the Montreal Gazette:
Quebec's hospitals are suffering from a severe shortage of pharmacists - a situation that could lead to medication errors, the president of a pharmacists' association is warning.

There are 1,250 pharmacists working in Quebec hospitals and other health-care establishments. But hospitals need another 200 pharmacists to properly serve patients, said Francine Lussier-Labelle, president of the Association des pharmaciens des établissements de santé du Québec. ...more

FDA Hears Pros, Cons of Pharmacist-to-Patient Drug Sales

From Forbes:
During a day-long public hearing Wednesday on whether to allow certain drugs to be sold by pharmacists without a prescription, U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials listened to arguments for and against the proposal by representatives of various medical and public interest groups.

But at the day's end, the FDA officials said they weren't ready to make a decision on whether to create a new class of drugs that pharmacists could sell "behind-the-counter." And, they wouldn't speculate on a timetable for such a decision. ...more

Anti-obesity drugs provide only modest weight loss

From CTV News:
Anti-obesity medications can only help obese patients lose a "modest" amount of weight, report Canadian researchers in a review of a group of studies on the long-term effectiveness of the drugs.

The researchers from the University of Alberta and the University of Calgary reviewed 30 placebo-controlled studies in which adults took anti-obesity drugs for a year or longer. ...more