The Australian Immunisation Handbook 9th Edition : 18/07/2008 :

According to the Department of Health and Aging there have been reports of missing pages in the The Australian Immunisation Handbook 9th Edition 2008 (NHMRC). Anyone requiring a replacement copy can get it at the Immunise Australia Program website (here - link in right hand menu bar).
The Immunise Australia Program website is worth a look. It contains an FAQ section and a series of fact sheets you can print off for patients, including the ever popular Immunisation myths & realities. Responding to arguments against immunisation. Click here to have a look.

Poll result: charging for end of financial year tax print outs : 18/07/2008 :

This week's poll asked 'listers whether or not a charge was levied in the pharmacies they work in for the provision of end of financial year tax print outs. The result, which we are sure comes as no surprise to anyone, is shown below.
We'll see about running another poll next week to determine whether the opportunity to think about this, prompted by this poll, has changed anyone's mind about whether or not a charge is appropriate.

Minimising birth defect risk for pregnant women with epilepsy : 17/07/2008 :

Women taking antiepileptic drugs and planning a pregnancy are advised to prepare well ahead of conception to reduce the risk of birth defects, according to an article in the current edition of Australian Prescriber.
Associate Professor Cecilie Lander, Department of Neurology at the University of Queensland, states in the article that these women have two to three times more risk than other women of having a baby with a foetal abnormality. Taking more than one antiepileptic drug may carry a greater risk.

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US authorities say Ranbaxy faked test records : 17/07/2008 :

US Federal prosecutors are investigating Indian drug manufacturer, Ranbaxy Laboratories, for allegedly falsifying records that resulted in the production and sale of generic medicines in the United States that did not meet U.S. quality standards. Officials at a Ranbaxy plant in northern India fabricated test data to show their pills met Food and Drug Administration standards and attempted to conceal the ruse from FDA inspectors, prosecutors charge. Ranbaxy has denied the allegations.
Ranbaxy has agreed to release internal reports sought by the authorities saying that "the requested documentation will demonstrate that no data manipulation, fraud, or dishonesty occurred". According to the company the US investigation will not effect its US$4.6 billion sale to Japanese company Daiichi Sankyo.

Poll: what do you charge for end of financial year tax print outs? : 16/07/2008 :

It's the middle of July and people will have started asking their friendly community pharmacist for a family End-Of-Year tax printout.

What does the pharmacy you work in charge for this service? Please let us know by voting in this week's AusPharm poll at left.

Consultation workshops on regulatory reforms for therapeutic goods : 16/07/2008 :

As part of the process of progressing proposed reforms to Australia's regulatory framework for therapeutic goods the Therapeutic Goods Administration is conducting workshops in Canberra in July and August to advance and where possible finalise consultation with interested parties.
Workshops will be conducted for prescription medicines, complementary medicines, over-the-counter medicines and medical devices.

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2000 pharmacies now registered for Patient Medication Profile Program : 15/07/2008 :

The first round of registrations for the Patient Medication Profile (PMP) Program ended on June 30 but it is still possible for pharmacies to enrol to participate. Pharmacies registering now will still receive payment for the provision of registration and baseline evaluation data will, along with those pharmacies already registered, be eligible for ongoing incentive payments for the provision of biannual evaluation data.

The Program provides eligible patients with a comprehensive profile or list of all of the medicines they are taking, including prescription, over-the-counter and complementary medicines.

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PHARM, APAC to go : 14/07/2008 :

After a formal review of the operational arrangements of the Australian Pharmaceutical Advisory Council (APAC) and the Pharmaceutical Health And Rational use of Medicines (PHARM) Committee a decision has been made to disband the committees. The review and subsequent stakeholder consultation highlighted a need for reform in order to respond to the current National Medicines Policy environment.

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Pharmacy practice review: enhancing patient care in type 2 diabetes : 14/07/2008 :

The National Prescribing Service says that its new-look Pharmacy Practice Review counselling and action resource has been well received by pharmacists, assisting them to better communicate with their patients.
According to NPS, the new-look materials better support pharmacist-patient counselling and interaction. They include tear-off pads with information to use in discussion with patients, an action checklist for pharmacists to work through with individual patients and the latest clinical information about best practice in drug use in type 2 diabetes.

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Preview the new 'Ask your pharmacist' TV ad : 11/07/2008 :

A new 'Ask your pharmacist' TV advertising campaign starts on Sunday and will run for three weeks on free to air TV (Channels 9 & 10) and for four weeks on subscription TV. The campaign is supported by in pharmacy point of sale material, a pharmacy assistants' competition and magazine articles.

The campaign, by Sanofi-Aventis, builds on the very successful Gold Cross Branding Campaign conducted in September/October 2008 that raised awareness of the Gold Cross as a symbol of Pharmacy. Over 75% of people surveyed after the campaign, reported that pharmacies were a source of trust, service and advice.

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Poll: Aug 1 and PBS prices result : 11/07/2008 :

This week's AusPharm poll asked 'listers to report on how well their pharmacies were managing their stock in the lead up to the August 1 price drops. The results are shown below.

While 59% of respondents report that they are on top of this, allowing for some disappointments, AusPharm's take on this is that approximately half of all pharmacies will break even or better with the other half losing money in the lead up to August 1. AusPharm thinks that those who did well out of this were those who (micro-)managed their dispensary stock, commencing in April or earlier.

Guild Executive Director resigns : 10/07/2008 :

Executive Director of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia, Kieran Schneeman, has resigned from the position, effective Friday July 4, to pursue other interests.

Mr Schneeman was originally appointed to the position in July 2006. Prior to that he was CEO of Medicines Australia.

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Complementary therapies – jury is out on cold prevention : 10/07/2008 :

If you want to avoid a cold over winter, your best chance to do so is to practice good hygiene techniques rather than take preventive medicines, according to the National Prescribing Service Limited (NPS) Common colds need common sense, not antibiotics campaign.

Executive Manager of Quality Use of Medicines (QUM) Programs for NPS, Karen Kaye, said many people take vitamins, mineral supplements and other herbal remedies at this time of year to avoid a cold.

“The evidence currently at hand seems to indicate that vitamin C supplements, zinc and echinacea do not assist in cold prevention,” she said. “In the case of echinacea particularly, the quality of these medicines can differ greatly and most have not been tested in good quality clinical trials.”

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Poll: Aug 1 and PBS prices : 09/07/2008 :

August 1 approaches and to varying degrees the major wholesalers and generic suppliers have dropped their prices to the 'new' levels.

How is the pharmacy you work in going with all this? Is your stock management procedure right, and generating additional profit? Or is it all a bit hard?

Please let us know by voting in this week's poll below.

Another study highlights pharmacists' role in asthma management : 08/07/2008 :

A Tasmanian study published in the current issue of the Medical Journal of Australia describes a strategy for pharmacists to identify patients whose asthma management is sub-optimal and then be part of a multidisciplinary intervention to improve their management.
In the study a software application “data-mined” medication records, generating a list of patients who had received three or more canisters of inhaled short-acting β2-agonists in the preceding 6 months. The patients identified were then allocated to an intervention or control group.

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CHOICE: Fine should be higher for drug company spin : 08/07/2008 :

In a statement issued yesterday consumer organisation CHOICE said that the $60,000 fine handed out to Eli Lilly over their Cia*is media release was inadequate and easily exceeded by the value of the publicity it generated.

Eli Lilly was fined after complaints to industry body Medicines Australia about the promotion of impotence drug Cia*is Once-A-Day through newspapers and TV news.

"The media release, clearly intended to promote Cialis Once-A-Day to the public, was in breach of the industry's own code and deserves a significant fine," said CHOICE health policy officer Michael Johnston. More......

How to extract the code*ne from Nuro*en / Pana*en Plus : 07/07/2008 :

Ever wondered what those too regular Nuro*en / Pana*en Plus customers do with their purchases?

Well, all is revealed here. A rough and ready 'cold water extraction' of the codie*e seems quite simple. These people take heroic doses of cod*ine.

Also, take a look at this; it's about the recreational use of dext*omet*orphan, including a description of a simple method of extracting it from Robitussin DX.

There's hours of enlightening reading on this website, including accounts of encounters with pharmacy assistant / pharmacists (eg here and here).

So, what was last week's mystery object? : 07/07/2008 :

Identifying this 'mystery object' proved a little harder for 'listers but we did eventually get a correct answer, once again from Professor Nerida Smith, who seems very good at this stuff! Owen Naidoo also sent along an answer very close to correct.

The following description was provided by Geoff Miller, Australian Academy of the History of Pharmacy.

"This is a Searce or sieve - it has a bowl about 450mm in diameter and about 40mm deep. The hole in the bowl is covered with a fine mesh and the bottom of the bowl has a threaded cap which fills with powder as it passes through the sieve. The resulting fine powder is released from the base cap by simply unscrewing it from the bowl and shaking out the powder

This particular Searce is made from fruit wood and varnished, as were many treen ("of wood" ) objects used as pharmacy tools For examplle pill silkverers and pill rounders were always made of treen."

Nerida and Owen each win one of our fine AusPharm calculators for sending along the best answer.

Final reminder: what's this then? (2) : 04/07/2008 :

We haven't yet had a correct answer folks, so there's still a good chance for you to win the prize. 

*Hint: the bowl is about 450mm in diameter*

Here is another 'mystery object' for 'listers to have a go at identifying. We think this one might be a little harder than the last one. What do you think it is? (Click the image for a [slightly] larger version).

Once again on offer is one of our AusPharm calculators for the best answer to us by email by midnight this Saturday night. Click here to submit your entry.

(Thanks to Geoff Miller, Australian Academy of the History of Pharmacy, for this mystery object.)

Poll result: violence in pharmacies : 04/07/2008 :

We have to say that we are not a little surprised by the result of this week's poll which seems to show that in fully 2/3 of pharmacies, on at least one occasion in the last 12 months, a staff member has been involved in an incident involving a threat, intimidation or assault (presumably from a customer!).
We'd be interested in exploring this a little further and would like to hear from people who have been involved in such incidents, either as a post to AusPharmList or as a personal email to Mark Dunn.

Click here to go to the old "Industry News" page (pre 01/09/2006).