News

Anoka Regional Treatment Facility, Anoka, MN-This 150-bed regional treatment facility was spending over half its annual budget on atypical antipsychotic medications. In an effort to better control rising drug class costs, a market share shift analysis of the products currently in use at the facility was conducted.

National Reports - A U.S. Supreme Court ruling was expected before theend of June that could stop individual states from regulating or preemptingEmployee Retirement Income Security Act plans.

The ruckus over designer babies, human cloning and genetic discrimination has colored much of the debate and perception of genetic services, but the discipline is gaining momentum as research propels new tests to determine the susceptibility to more common diseases, as well as a slew of rare ones.

You need to come from hardy stock to survive in Louisiana. The summer months can be sweltering, the spicy cuisine can set the taste buds afire, and in some parts, it's not uncommon to wake up and find an alligator in the backyard swimming pool.

The CDC calls for immunizing health care response teams against smallpox

Addendum questionnaire to June Focus On: Tadalafil

Addendum to June Focus On: Tadalafil

The investigational inhaled insulin product (Exubera) could prove a boon to patients with diabetes, cutting or eliminating the need for injections. So indicate findings from a phase III trial presented at the annual meeting of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE). For patients with type 1 diabetes, a regimen of inhaled insulin before meals and one injection at night could control blood glucose as well as or possibly better than injections alone. These results add to some phase III data presented last June that showed a small but significant number of patients with type 2 diabetes reached recommended blood glucose levels at 6 months.

as reported June 1, 2002

New Indication: COX-2 inhibitor gains rheumatoid arthritis indication

New Indication: GlaxoSmithKline Indication broadened to include HIT prevention during PCI

Albert Einstein Healthcare Network, Philadelphia-What are the real-world consequences of inadequate beta blocker therapy in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF)? That is what this group of clinicians at Prestige Health-a 50,000 member managed care organization in Philadelphia-set out to determine.

In studies reported this month at the European League Against Rheumatism meeting in Stockholm, the anti-TNF antibody adalimumab (D2E7) for rheumatoid arthritis is showing good long-term results, even in patients for whom other disease modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) have failed.

In this final installment of this series, the authors focus on the use of SSRIs in alcohol dependence, chronic pain, eating disorders, premenstrual dysphoric disorder, and sexual dysfunction. For each condition, the authors examine how well clinical trial evidence supports the application, discuss dosing and safety considerations, and provide their recommendations on preferred and alternative SSRIs, based on the weight of the evidence.

Tadalafil (Cialis) was recently deemed approvable for the treatment of erectile dysfunction (ED). When approved, it will join the widely used PDE5 inhibitor sildenafil citrate as an oral therapy for ED management. Among tadalafil?s characteristics are its rapid onset of action, a duration of action of up to 24 hours, and lack of food influence on the drug?s pharmacokinetics. In this Focus article, the pharmacologic, pharmacokinetic, and therapeutic aspects of tadalafil are reviewed and compared, when possible, with sildenafil and another investigational agent, vardenafil.

Leflunomide, etanercept, infliximab, and anakinra represent the four latest additions to the therapeutic armamentarium for rheumatoid arthritis. All four of these DMARDs have demonstrated clinical and radiographic evidence of efficacy that is changing the therapeutic approach to treatment. The authors of this article summarize the pivotal clinical trial and efficacy data up through the perimarketing period, provide the latest efficacy and safety update on these agents, discuss the financial implications of their use, and offer insights into their place in therapy.

This article reviews the efficacy of fluoroquinolones for treating community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) and discusses clinical advantages of fluoroquinolones relative to other drug classes. Of 19 randomized, controlled trials comparing a fluoroquinolone with another agent or combination of agents in CAP, 6 trials have demonstrated superiority of the fluoroquinolone with respect to clinical and/or bacteriologic efficacy.

A roundtable discussion with Vincent T. Andriole, MD, Chairperson; Paul B. Iannini, MD; Lionel A. Mandell, MD, FRCPC; Charles H. Nightingale, PhD; Lance R. Peterson, MD

The emergence of antibiotic resistance to Streptococcus pneumoniae and other bacterial pathogens is, in part, responsible for the increase in infectious-disease–related mortality occurring between 1980 and 1992.

Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic parameters serve as guidelines for selecting antimicrobial agents and dose regimens that will maximize efficacy and suppress resistance.

As of January 1, 2001

Providing the information is not enough, there won't be any benefits unless the patient can understand it

State Medicaid budgets are being squeezed between soaring costs and plummeting revenues, making it difficult to cope with growing enrollment while maintaining expanded services. As budget shortfalls widen, state officials are seeking ways to curb outlays, which could mean payment cuts for providers and plans.

It might have been a fluke the first time, some healthcare insiders thought in 1996. That was the year that both Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report did their stories on the best HMOs in America, and the top-rated company was Fallon Community Health Plan, a regional mixed-model HMO with 193,000 members.

Playing it safe can reduce costs and headaches.

New formulation: Once daily administration for continuous Tx of chronic moderate-to-severe pain

New indication: Long-term, twice-daily treatment of bronchospasm associated with COPD

New indication: For delaying relapse in long-term treatment of schizophrenia

as reported May 1, 2002

Enoxaparin (Lovenox) is typically used during hospitalization after orthopedic or abdominal surgery. Recent studies of its use after orthopedic surgery have shown that extending administration of the low-molecular-weight heparin after hospital discharge significantly reduces the frequency of deep-vein thrombosis (DVT). A new study confirms this is also the case for abdominal surgery for cancer, which carries a high risk of this complication.