Drug Pipeline

Optimal management can raise health plans' generic utilization rates from the current average of 34.5% to 51%. So concludes a new study from Stanley Wallack, PhD, and other researchers from Brandeis University.

New dosage regimen: Single-dose and 3-day regimens for acute otitis media

New formulation: Monthly SC injection form of GnRH agonist for advanced prostate cancer

New indication: Oral cancer drug approved to treat rare gastrointestinal tumors

New indication: Biologic cleared for psoriatic arthritis

New indication: Broader allergy indication, new hives indication for nonsedating antihistamine

New biologic: Pegylated form of filgrastim requiring less-frequent administration

New biologic: Factor Xa inhibitor for reducing risk of blood clotsafter orthopedic surgeries

A simple enhancement to Pyxis drug dispensing machines can drastically improve adverse drug event (ADE) capture.

If your organization hasn't yet selected a computerized provider order entry system (CPOE), it will likely benefit from the checklist of features and functionality criteria presented by Richard Diefes, MS.

What's your institution's policy for handling the following situation: A physician wishes to prescribe an FDA-approved drug for an off-label indication for which there is little literature support.

New Orleans-When faced with ensuring the appropriate use of high-risk, high-cost drugs, physician credentialing may be another option worth considering.

The Bush administration's $2 trillion budget proposal for fiscal year 2003 includes $190 billion to improve Medicare, almost half of that aimed to help seniors buy medicines.

Hartford Hospital, Hartford, CT-Although the economic advantages of IV to oral (PO) antibiotic conversion programs have been documented in numerous studies, most of these programs require physician contact to encourage the switch.

To retain resources or to justify allocation of additional resources, it's essential to demonstrate the value that outcomes projects bring to organizations. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's project review process serves as a useful model for how to do so. This month's column explores the AHRQ process for following up and communicating the results of outcomes projects conducted at various practice settings.

Prompted by the proliferation of new therapies in the field, the American College of Rheumatology has updated its guidelines for the management of rheumatoid arthritis.

Contraryto hypothetical additive benefits, a combination of aspirin and warfarinappears to be no more effective than aspirin alone for preventing vascularevents and death after acute myocardial infarction (MI). So concludes arandomized, open-label Department of Veterans Affairs study in 5,059 post-MIpatients.

Direct thrombin inhibitors are superior to heparin in preventing death or myocardial infarction (MI) in patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS), according to a meta-analysis of 11 randomized trials.

WellPoint Health Networks plans to take reference drug pricing into new territory-commercial pharmacy benefits.

Medications currently available to treat osteoporosis slow the rate of bone loss primarily by reducing bone resorption. The purported advantage of the anabolic agent teriparatide is that it actually promotes new bone growth. Clinical trials have shown the drug to be effective for vertebral fracture prevention in postmenopausal women at high risk. Additional evidence is accumulating to support teriparatide's use in other populations (including men) with osteoporosis. This injectable is likely to receive FDA approval in the second half of this year.

Pharmacologic therapy is the second cornerstone of the medical management of reflux esophagitis. Because the merits of various drug classes for reflux esophagitis have been widely discussed, the focus of this article is on differing strategies for using these classes. The management strategies - and the rationale and evidence for promoting or rejecting them - are discussed for step-up therapy, empiric therapy, ste-down therapy, on-demand proton pump inhibitor use, combination therapies, and other considerations.

VA Medical Center, Miami-ACE inhibitor therapy is recognized as the gold standard treatment for congestive heart failure (CHF) as well as diabetic nephropathy due to its effect on the morbidity and mortality associated with these conditions.

New combination: Fixed niacin/statin combination for second-line lipid therapy

NME: Topical nonsteroid for second-line eczema Tx

NME: 5-alpha reductase inhibitor for treatmentof benign prostatic hyperplasia

NME: Loratadine successor for symptoms of seasonal allergic rhinitis

Atypical antipsychotics withstand strong Geodon debut; Reminyl slices into formulary presence of Alzheimer rivals

With its FDA approval in November, valdecoxib becomes the hird COX-2 inhibitor to gain US market clearance. This Focus article examines valdecoxib's pharmacologic, pharmacokinetic, and therapeutic aspects and considers its role in relation to other COX-2 inhibitors and traditional NSAIDs. Special attention is devoted to its comparative COX-1:COX-2 inhibitory ratio and an array of unpublished efficacy and safety trials.

This 287-study meta-analysis aimed to address unanswered questions about antiplatelet therapy in patients at high risk for occlusive vascular events. It yielded several new findings or clarifications, including these: (1) Antiplatelets protect against vascular events in patients with unstable angina, intermittent claudication, and atrial fibrillation. (2) Antiplatelet therapy can be started promptly during acute ischemic stroke and continued long-term. (3) Daily aspirin doses of 75 to 150 mg seem to be as effective as higher doses for long-term treatment.

Fluoroquinolones and nitrofurantoin have surpassed trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMZ) as the most frequently prescribed antibiotics for uncomplicated urinary tract infections (UTIs) in women, according to a new national analysis. This is despite well-established recommendations (from the Infectious Disease Society of America and others) that TMP-SMZ is the drug of choice for UTIs due to cost and concerns about antibiotic resistance.