New molecular entities: Ventavis
First inhaled prostacyclin approved for pulmonary arterial hypertension
Safety. Iloprost may cause dizziness, lightheadedness, and syncope due to its blood pressure-lowering effects. Because of this, patients should be monitored while initiating iloprost, and caution should be exercised in patients with low systemic blood pressure to avoid further hypotension. Iloprost has the potential to increase the hypotensive effect of other vasodilators and antihypertensive agents. A potential increased risk of bleeding may be associated with iloprost since the drug inhibits platelet function. This risk may be increased further in patients maintained on anticoagulant therapy. Patients with systolic blood pressure lower than 85 mmHg should not take iloprost. If signs of pulmonary edema occur when iloprost is administered, therapy should be discontinued immediately. Iloprost has not been evaluated in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), severe asthma, or acute pulmonary infections. The most common adverse events associated with iloprost include vasodilation (flushing), increased cough, headache, trismus, insomnia, nausea, hypotension, and vomiting.
Remote Care Advancement for Heart Failure, COPD and Diabetes Patients
February 24th 2021In this week's episode of Tuning In to the C-Suite podcast, MHE's Briana Contreras spoke with Dr. Rob Kowal, chief medical officer of the Cardiac Rhythm and Heart Failure division at Medtronic. The two discussed how remote monitoring and IoT is changing healthcare and how remote technology is also gaining a wide-spread adoption to monitor patients at home who have chronic conditions like heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and diabetes.
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ICER Finds Insurers Struggled to Provide Fair Access for Obesity Drugs
December 19th 2024The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review assessed the formularies of 11 payers, covering 57 million people, to determine access for drugs that the organization had reviewed in 2022 for cost-effectiveness.
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David Calabrese of OptumRx Talks Top Three Drugs in Pipeline, Industry Trends in Q2
July 1st 2020In this week's episode of Tuning Into The C-Suite podcast, MHE's Briana Contreras chatted with David Calabrese, R.Ph, MHP, who is senior vice president and chief pharmacy officer of pharmacy care services company, OptumRx. David is also a member of Managed Healthcare Executives’ Editorial Advisory Board. During the discussion, he shared the OptumRx Quarter 2 Drug Pipeline Insights Report of 2020. Some of the information shared includes the three notable drugs currently being reviewed or those that have been recently approved by the FDA. Also discussed were any interesting industry trends to watch for.
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