Reduce Your Risk During Healthy Weight Week : 25/01/2011 :

The Minister for Health and Ageing, Nicola Roxon kicked off Healthy Weight Week yesterday by calling on the community to get active, eat well and adopt a healthy lifestyle.

“Australia has the world’s fifth-highest rate of adult obesity and with more than 60 per cent of adults and 25 per cent of children either overweight or obese, there has never been a more important time to tackle preventable diseases”, Ms Roxon said.

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Australia Day : 25/01/2011 :

We won't be publishing the AusPharm(e)news tomorrow as it's Australia Day.

We'll be back as usual on Thursday.

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Unsanctioned tranquilliser use in teenagers : 24/01/2011 :

Around 17% of Australian teenagers have used tranquillisers other than for medical reasons at some point in their life with the proportions of students ever using tranquillisers increasing from
13% of 12 year-olds to around 19% of 15 to 17 year olds.

These figures were released this week in a National Drug Strategy monograph: Australian secondary school students’ use of tobacco, alcohol, and over-the-counter and illicit substances in 2008.

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Only stage 1 NRT PBS listed? : 24/01/2011 :

'Listers may have noticed in our February PBS report that some nicotine replacmeent therapy products will be fully listed from February 1. The listed products are:

• Nicorette 15mg Patch
• Nicotinell Step 1 21mg patch
• Nicabate P 21mg

AusPharm wonders what the rationale is for listing only 'stage 1' NRT products?

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Cipro gets PBS flood listing : 21/01/2011 :

The Acting Minister for Health and Ageing, Mark Butler, announced yesterday the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) listing of an important antibiotic will be extended, to increase the treatment options for people with skin infections caused by contact with contaminated flood water.

Mr Butler said that in response to a Queensland Health request, doctors will be able to prescribe the PBS-subsidised antibiotic ciprofloxacin for the treatment of skin infections associated with exposure to flood waters.

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Consumers release budget ask : 21/01/2011 :

The Consumers Health Forum has released its 2011-12 Federal Budget submission.

The submission addresses a range areas including:

• prevention and promotion
• access and equity
• health reform initiatives, including consumer engagement and involvement in these initiatives
• therapeutic goods policy, and
• and consumer information and health literacy.

The CHF submission is here.

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Bill Kelly new AFSPA executive director : 21/01/2011 :

The Australian Friendly Societies Pharmacies Association (AFSPA) announced yesterday that it had appointed pharmacy industry stalwart Bill Kelly as its new Executive Director.

Bill will be well known to many in pharmacy circles and brings a great deal of knowledge and experience to AFSPA. He is currently a member of the Pharmacy Board of Australia and is a former Chair of the Pharmacy Board of the ACT.

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AHPRA offers new service to check registration renewals : 21/01/2011 :

Health practitioners renewing their registration can now go online to confirm that their application has been received by AHPRA.

A new online service will allow 174,000 health practitioners who are currently renewing their registration to check that their application has been received by AHPRA. The National Law provides for a one-month grace period so these practitioners may lodge applications to renew their registration up until the end of January 2011.

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February 2011 PBS schedule : 20/01/2011 :

The February 2011 PBS Schedule and the 'Summary of Changes’ are available here.

Download the PBS Summary of changes

Download the Full PBS schedule

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Panel to review the transparency of the Therapeutic Goods Administration : 20/01/2011 :

An independent Review Panel has been commissioned by the Australian Government to provide recommendations on improving public access and understanding about the work of Australia's medicines regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). The Panel is seeking input from the public, industry and the medical profession for the purposes of its inquiry.

The call for written submissions has been sent to a range of interest groups and advertisements will be placed in daily newspapers.

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Medicines Partnership responds to flood hardship : 20/01/2011 :

With hundreds of pharmacy staff and community pharmacies affected directly and indirectly by the widespread flood disaster, the peak bodies of the pharmacy industry have developed a united approach to help community pharmacies, their owners and their staff to deal with the damage and ongoing economic impacts.
 
The Medicines Partnership of Australia met on Tuesday to consider a range of ways in which the industry can respond to the hardship and adversity that has closed many businesses and will continue to inflict loss of trading on many pharmacies for some time.

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Pfizer Australia makes $250,000 donation for Queensland flood relief : 20/01/2011 :

Pfizer Australia announced yesterday that it donated $250,000 to the Queensland Government Premier’s Disaster Relief Appeal.

"Pfizer Animal Health is also on alert to assist the RSPCA and the Government with any requests for help with farm animals and domestic pets as needed and we will work closely with our farmers and vets to help them at this difficult time,” asaid Pfizer Animal Health Division Director, Mr Mike Van Blommestein.

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Early career Pharmacists urged to support their colleagues : 20/01/2011 :

The Early Career Pharmacist Working Group of the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia has called on early career pharmacists to provide whatever help they can to pharmacists affected by the floods along the breadth of the entire east coast of Australia.
 
Chair of the ECPWG, Justin Lee, said early career pharmacists working all across Australia were seeing the devastation to pharmacies and pharmacists’ homes firsthand.

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Poll: pharmacist only ownership of pharmacies : 19/01/2011 :

As we reported on Monday , co-author of the the 2000 review of pharmacy ownership, Terry Barnes, now has some regrets about his role in the review and has questioned the 'public benefit' justification for retaining pharmacist only ownership.

In a post to AusPharmList yesterday Queensland hospital pharmacist Phil Day writes: "I still think that pharmacist only ownership has some merits in terms of protection of public interest and it is probably in the interest of our profession as a whole."

What do you think? Is pharmacist only ownership of pharmacies still appropriate in 2011?

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A message from the Pharmacy Board of Australia : 19/01/2011 :

The Pharmacy Board of Australia isued a statement yesterday reminding pharmacists who lodged an application to renew registration within one month of their registration renewal expiry date that they can continue to practise pharmacy while that application is being assessed. 

Pharmacists in all states and territories except WA should have applied to renew registration by now. 

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MIMS Monthly Medicine Update : 19/01/2011 :

The MIMS January 2011 Monthly Medicine Update is now available. Click the link to read it now.

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Latest issue of MedicinesTalk Published : 19/01/2011 :

The latest edition of NPS MedicinesTalk was published on the NPS website yesterday.

The issue includes articles on:

• Seeing the back of back pain
• Are you as healthy as your car?
• Umbrella brand names: buyer beware, and
• Tips for overcoming eyesight trouble to safely manage your medicines

To check them out for yourself, click here.

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Adelaide gets set for 2011 NAPSA Congress : 19/01/2011 :

The 2011 NAPSA Congress, hosted by the South Australian Pharmacy Students’ Association (SAPSA), is making final preparations for the biggest event on NAPSA’s calendar.

Running from January 24th - 30th, two hundred and forty pharmacy students, ranging from their first year of study to recent interns, will converge on Adelaide in just under a week to take part in the conference.

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Dementia awareness campaign launched : 18/01/2011 :

Almost 600,000 Australians are projected to be living with dementia by 2030, Minister for Mental Health and Ageing Mark Butler said yesterday.

Mr Butler yesterday launched  an awareness-raising campaign, "Know the signs", which aims to provide information to health professionals and the general public about the early signs of dementia and the importance of early treatment and management.

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February 2011 PBS schedule : 18/01/2011 :

The February 2011 ‘PBS Summary of Changes’ is available here.

Download the PBS Summary of changes

The Full PBS schedule is not yet available. We will advise when it is.

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