The House Energy and Commerce Committee advanced the Promoting Access to Treatments and Increasing Extremely Needed Transparency (PATIENT) Act (HR 3561) Wednesday, May 24, 2023, in a unanimous 49-0 vote. The PATIENT Act includes several provisions related to lowering prescription drug costs and pharmacy benefit manager reform (PBM) that are supported by the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) and Michigan Pharmacists Association (MPA), including: The Drug Price Transparency in Medicaid Act (HR 1613). This legislation, would prevent the use of spread pricing in Medicaid-managed care programs, while moving to a fair and transparent pharmacy reimbursement system based on average acquisition costs plus the state’s Medicaid fee for service dispensing fee. It would also require all pharmacies to respond to the Centers [...]

Every two years, the Michigan Pharmacists Association (MPA) conducts an economic survey of pharmacy professionals in Michigan to evaluate salaries and benefits received as well as other practice issues. Please take a few minutes to anonymously add your responses which will help provide pharmacy professionals and employers with valuable salary and benefit information. Links to the surveys are listed below. Survey responses must be received no later than Friday, June 9, 2023. The results of the 2023 Michigan Pharmacy Economic Survey will be published and available to MPA members in the July issue of the Michigan Pharmacist journal. Nonmembers who provide their e-mail address will be provided with a summary of survey results. Questions? Please contact MPA. Thank you in advance for your [...]

FDA announced Tuesday it has authorized second updated booster vaccines against COVID-19 for older adults and those with compromised immune systems. The bivalent vaccines target the Omicron variants of SARS-CoV-2. FDA said people who are aged 65 years and older who have not had a bivalent booster in at least 4 months can get another dose. For individuals with compromised immune systems, additional doses of the updated vaccine can be administered 2 months after the last dose. Additionally, FDA said people who are unvaccinated can receive a single dose of the bivalent booster. "COVID-19 continues to be a very real risk for many people," said Peter Marks, director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research within FDA. "The available [...]

When Christopher Duke’s frail, elderly patient needed her blood pressure prescription refilled last year, she did what she always does — she called Duke, a physician in Chevy Chase, Md. No problem, Duke told her, he would call it in to a nearby pharmacy. But there was a problem — because Duke couldn’t get anyone to answer his calls. Instead, he ran up against a frustrating new reality at many drugstores, especially those in big chains: As essential jobs at retail outlets go unfilled, and hours are reduced at many chains, the likelihood of spotty service and potential mistakes at pharmacies has grown. When Duke called the pharmacy, its phone mailbox was full. He called the pharmacy again and requested [...]

The FDA on Wednesday approved Narcan, an opioid overdose reversal drug, to be sold without a prescription. The approval marks the first time any form of naloxone will be available without a prescription. The drug, which first received FDA approval in 1971, was originally an injection. The FDA approved the inhaled nasal spray version, more commonly known as Narcan, in 2015. It contains 4 mg of naloxone that can be sprayed into the nose like a common allergy medication. “Today’s approval of OTC naloxone nasal spray will help improve access to naloxone, increase the number of locations where it’s available and help reduce opioid overdose deaths throughout the country,” FDA Commissioner Robert Califf said in a statement. Emergent BioSolutions, which [...]