'Lister profile: Ben Wishaw : 08/04/2010 :

'Listers who have been with us for some time will be familiar with the sense of 'community' that participating in AusPharm(List) brings.

With that in mind we thought that, every week or so, we'd ask someone who's active in our little community to tell us a bit more about themselves and to share their thoughts about pharmacy.

Ben Wishaw is managing a small pharmacy in Toowoomba and is currently working his my accreditation to conduct HMRs. He is well known to 'listers as an AusPharmList 'frequent flyer'.

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PHARMeFOOTY weekly wrap : 07/04/2010 :

NRL Round 4 saw just 2 tippers select all 8 winners with Janet Turcic of Gordon Pharmacy and Megan O'Connor from Wishart Day and Night Pharmacy selecting the perfect round. Janet was closest to the margin and is awarded the weekly prize, well done Janet! In 3rd place was Gloria Wood of Gordon Pharmacy Croydon.

AFL Round 2 proved favourable to tippers with 18 selecting all the 8 winners correctly. Both Kent Brodie of T & L Pharmacy Group and Katie Young from Coombabah Pharmacy selected the game margin perfectly. However with Kent having the lower Total Margin he wins the Weekly prize, congratulations Kent! In 3rd place was Sean Young of Terry White Chemists.

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More PPIs to S3 : 07/04/2010 :

Both lanzoprazole (15mg) and omeprazole (20mg) are to be made available as 'Pharmacist only' medicines.

However, an application to include schedule 3 pantoprazole preparations in Appendix H of the schedule, which would have the effect of allowing the product to be advertised direct to consumers, was refused by the Committee.

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New risk managment tool launched : 07/04/2010 :

Guild Insurance has just launched Riskequip – a new risk management resource for pharmacists. Pharmacists gain full access to risk management guidance from Guild through the Riskequip website.

Riskequip gives pharmacists quick access to topical information on risk management issues in the profession, including articles and case studies covering a range of topics such as personal safety, your liability when apologising to a customer and the risks of Medication Management Reviews (MMRs).

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April Australian Prescriber released : 07/04/2010 :

The April edition of Australian Prescriber is out now and looks at topical issues including: 

• H1N1 immunisation – too much too soon?
• Management of renal bone disease
• New oral anticoagulant drugs
• Medicines Safety Update

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Poll: pricing compounded prescriptions : 07/04/2010 :

There's been a bit of discussion on AusPharmList in the last week or so on how to make David Haworth's cream (LPC, Ac Sal, Emuls Oint, H20).

As per Anne Todd's suggestion, now that we've made the cream what are we going to charge for it?

Please tell us what happens in your pharmacy by ticking the appropriate box in today's AusPharm poll.

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New NSW PSA Committee member : 07/04/2010 :

Manly Vale pharmacist Lachlan Rose has been appointed to the NSW Branch Committee of the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia to replace Alison Roberts who has resigned to move interstate.

Mr Rose is a community pharmacist at Manly Vale on the North Shore of Sydney and is a current member of the NSW Early Career Pharmacist Working Group, having previously held the position of President of the NSW Young Pharmacists Committee of the PSA.

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Bio-Organics CoQ10 teams up with Gold Cross : 06/04/2010 :

The Gold Cross brand is about to receive another boost through the support of Bio-Organics CoQ10.

A new promotional campaign, aimed at reinforcing the Gold Cross as the symbol of the profession – representing trust, service and advice,  commenced on April 4 and will run for 7 weeks.

The message focuses on the benefits of Bio-Organics CoQ10 with the final message to ‘Ask your pharmacist where you see the Gold Cross’.

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TGA publishes guidance on the safety of fish oil and omega-3 fatty acids : 06/04/2010 :

In light of safety concerns in people taking fish oil, in particular regarding the risk of postoperative bleeding, and given the likelihood that consumption will continue to rise, the Therapeutic Goods Administration has published a 'safety summary' for clinicians.

The TGA analysis concludes, amongst other things, that despite the lack of evidence of a systematic safety concern, it is reasonable to be mindful of the theoretical risk of bleeding with fish oil when monitoring patients treated with fish oils and anticoagulants. The TGA suggests that clinicians consider recommending that, similar to aspirin, warfarin and clopidogrel, patients cease taking fish oil 4-7 days before an elective procedure.

Read it all for yourself here.

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New president for ACT branch of PSA : 06/04/2010 :

The ACT Branch of the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia has a new President following the resignation of Professor Gabrielle Cooper due to her commitments and responsibilities at the University of Canberra.

Cathy Beckhouse, pictured at right, , currently a National Board Member of PSA, will take over the presidency.

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April NPS RADAR now out : 06/04/2010 :

The March issue of RADAR is now available on the NPS website.  It contains reviews of:

• Dabigatran (Pradaxa): for preventing venous thromboembolism after hip or knee replacement surgery
• Nebivolol (Nebilet): for chronic heart failure
• Methylnaltrexone injection (Relistor): for opioid-induced constipation in palliative care

as well as a number of 'in brief' news items.

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RGH E-Bulletin: Smoking, smoking cessation and medications : 06/04/2010 :

The topic of this RGH E‑Bulletin is Smoking, smoking cessation and medications..

"Tobacco smoking, and cessation of tobacco smoking, is known to affect the handling of various medications. However the significance of the effect smoking can have on medications may not always be considered in clinical practice. As many hospitals and health services (including RGH) work towards becoming smoke-free environments it is timely to highlight potential interactions involving smoking, smoking cessation and medications."

Click here to read the bulletin in full. The E‑Bulletins are archived on the AusPharmList website here.

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Cheap codeine - Crikey! : 06/04/2010 :

This comment from a reader appeared on the Crikey website last week.

"As a regular reader of the catalogue from discount chemist chain Chemist Warehouse I was disturbed to see a large "!!Stop Press!!" splash on the back page advising: "As of the 1st of May NEW LEGISLATION will prevent the sale of large packs of Analgesic products that contain codeine."

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Genepharm becomes Ascent : 03/04/2010 :

Generics company Genepharm has changed its name to Ascent Pharmaceuticals in order to align it's business more closely with it's growing international presence.
 
Ascent says that it has also established a new relationship with Pfizer. According to  CEO Dennis Bastas, “This relationship with Pfizer ensures Ascent Pharmaceuticals and our partner pharmacies will be at the forefront of change as many products come off patent over the next three years. We expect to be the first to launch some of the biggest molecules through innovative launch programs that will create significant returns.“

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Class action possible against Sigma? : 01/04/2010 :

In the wake of yesterday's announcement by Sigma that it had delivered shareholders a record loss for the year ending January 31 of $389 million, law firm Slater and Gordon has announced it is finalising a "detailed investigation" into disclosures made by Sigma Pharmaceuticals which led to yesterday's 50 per cent plunge in its share price.

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Queensland Guild to pilot script folder recycling program : 01/04/2010 :

The Queensland Branch of the Pharmacy Guild announced this morning that it was to pilot a prescription folder recycling program. The plan involves Guild members taking competitor pharmacies' folders that they have salvaged along to Guild meetings where they will be able to exchange them for used folders from their own pharmacy, brought along by other members.

Queensland Branch President Tim Logan said: "When we saw the way this week's AusPharm poll was trending - that people were keen on recycling their script backers - we thought this was the obvious next step."

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Poll result: recycling script folders : 01/04/2010 :

This week's poll sought to find out the prevalance of recycling of prescription folders. The result (shown below) tells us that pharmacists are, in the main, environmentally (or economically!) conscious and re-use their script backers if they can.

Our poll did have an unexpected and positive outcome however.

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Personalised care for chronic illness : 01/04/2010 :

The federal government yesterday announced the first stage of a program designed to better manage the health of people with chronic illnesses.

Both the Pharmacy Guild and the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia issued supportive statements in response to yesterday's announcement.

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Bilingual Webster-paks : 31/03/2010 :

Pharmacists may receive enquiries about Webstercare Multi-Lingual paks by people who attend in-language seminars about medicines use issues, which are being run by the National Prescribing Service and the Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia over the next few months.

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PHARMeFOOTY weekly wrap - still not too late to register : 31/03/2010 :

AFL round 1 was a good start for tippers with 13 selecting the 8 winners correctly. The margin decided the winner and the closest was Zoe Escott  from The Circle Pharmacy so Zoe becomes our first AFL weekly winner in 2010, congratulations Zoe!In second place was Andrew Folino of Exhibition Pharmacy with Ben Pietrafesa  from Hamilton Labs taking 3rd spot.

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