Pharmacy Podcast Network

Join host Jenna Carmichael, PharmD as she discusses A multi-center, double-blind, randomised study of the Lavender oil preparation Silexan in comparison to Lorazepam for generalized anxiety disorder with guest Kari Coody, PharmD.

Kari Coody is a Christian, wife, mom, Integrative Health Practitioner, Pharm D., and co-host of Take the Upgrade Podcast. Helping women prioritize their health is a real passion after seeing how broken the healthcare system is. She loves putting the pieces together and getting to the root cause of her client's issues and walking on their journey with them. Kari’s greatest role is being a wife to BJ and mom to Edy and Cooper.

Article link: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19962288/

Silexan link: https://www.naturesway.com/products/calmaid

To learn more about our guest, Kari Coody:

Website: www.karicoody.com

IG: www.instagram.com/karicoody

Kari is also offering a free Natural Health Toolkit here: https://kari-coody.aweb.page/p/72c3dc98-a4f0-4cc9-8b05-4b7247264d67

Dr. Jenna Carmichael of Wobbly Arrow Wellness is a holistic oncology pharmacist and health coach. She works with women on the cancer journey looking for a different perspective on wellness. She combines her knowledge in the oncology space along with holistic healing methods of meditation, reiki, and yoga to help empower her clients to choose the path that works the best for their goals. She also offers genetic testing services to get a true, personalized idea of how her clients process their medications for safe and effective therapy. Go to www.wobblyarrowwellness.com to learn more about her services.

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Dr. Scott Knoer, PharmD is the CEO of the American Pharmacists Association. Scott has been very vocal about the FDA eliminating barriers to Pharmacists prescribing COVID antivirals and how the American Medical Association (AMA) seeming to be more concerned with their 'turf' and political position compared to the benefit to public health within America.

Amesh Adalja, MD wrote in MedPage Today, an article titled: "A Successful 'Test-to-Treat' Program Requires All Hands on Deck"

Within the article, Dr. Adalja wrote. In encouraging news, President Biden just announced a new plan to increase faster access: test-to-treat. The plan will enable pharmacies to become one-stop shops for COVID-19 diagnosis and oral antiviral treatment. Having treatment available at the point-of-diagnosis has the potential to significantly improve prescribing rates, which will have the downstream impact of reducing hospitalizations. More sick patients will quickly be able to access treatment.

"We can't have a guild-like mentality that seeks to use government force to exclude qualified persons from engaging in a field for which the AMA wants physicians to be the exclusive purveyors. This has been evident in organized medicine's general opposition to expanded practice scopes for nurse practitioners, physician assistants, psychologists, and -- as is clear -- pharmacists. It's bad enough to advocate for this on a day-to-day basis. To do so during a public health emergency, where all hands are needed on deck, is destructive." -- Amesh Adalja, MD 

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Tune into the Darshan Talks Podcast as we discuss pharmacy law. The host Darshan Kulkarni invites guest Erin Albert to share her insights, views, experiences, and much more. Erin Albert PharmD JD MBA CPBS CHVP - Edutainer, is a Kinetiq Health Pharmacy Benefit Practice Leader at Apex Benefits, Co-Host of The Point Podcast, President of American Society for Pharmacy Law.

The conversation began with the question of what is pharmacy law on which the expert explained that it is a curious intersection of pharmacists and regulatory aspects. While pharmacy is already a highly regulated industry, it offers various niches for lawyers who are now pharmacists. For example, one person might know the life sciences and regulatory aspect but completely not expertise in reimbursement. It is the broader intersection of law and the pharmacy profession.

Erin leads ASPL. ASPL is a combination of lawyers, pharmacists, and pharmacists-lawyers who like to talk about pharmacy, law, ethics, and policy that directly relate to healthcare. They are in total five hundred members associated with ASPL, an annual conference is held every year, two and half days of legal and pharmacy education. ASPL helps develop leadership, education and brings thought leaders in the space of pharmacy and law to work on a year-long project

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Disclaimers:

1. This discussion is merely an oral discussion and should not be relied upon solely on its own to support any conclusion of law or fact.

2. The discussion does not and should not reflect any individual products status as safe, efficacious, adulterated, or misbranded or meeting or not meeting expectations at a local, state, federal, or international agency or organization.

3. The discussion should not be construed to be complete advice that is right for you and may not necessarily represent a specific product.

4. This discussion is provided for general educational purposes and should not be construed as legal advice, regulatory advice, or medical advice.

5. This does not create an attorney-client relationship.

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Where there is healthcare for people's lives, Pharmacists must be present. Where were all the Pharmacists at ViVE 2022? The very first ViVE conference was absolutely amazing. ViVE created an immersive environment for interactive learning, idea generation and collaboration for the digital health community to come TogetheRx to advance healthcare. ViVE's inaugural event was on March 6-9, 2022, in Miami Beach, Florida. Where were all the #DigitalHealth Pharmacists? The Pharmacy Podcast Network will work with HLTH and ViVE to assure Pharmacists play a greater role in Tennessee at ViVE 2023. Learn more: https://www.viveevent.com/

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Dr. Carolina Ung of University of Macau and Dr. Joanna Harnett are conducting a study to obtain pharmacist opinions on their professional role in complementary medicines. The results of this survey will be used to inform key discussion points in a consensus process and a step towards developing an agreed and defined professional role for pharmacists in traditional and complementary medicines while establishing the support required for pharmacists to enact that role effectively. This is a public health matter implicating the quality and safe use of T&CM.  The findings of this international survey contribute to the development of an international consensus regarding:

professional role of pharmacists regarding T&CM

support required to enact the role effectively and safely

More information about the study and a link to the survey can be found here:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Ph_T_CM_US_20220316

 

The study is entirely voluntary and is completed anonymously.

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Pennsylvanians suffer while pharmacy middlemen profit

By Suzanna Masartis

Pennsylvanians are getting crushed by the costs they face at their neighborhood pharmacy counter. The situation has grown so bad that a shocking one in five Keystone State residents report they are unable to take their medications as prescribed due to the cost burden.[1]

As a lawmaker and an advocate who speaks to patients in Pennsylvania every day with liver disease, diabetes and other chronic conditions, I am convinced more strongly than ever that we need to reform the prescription drug supply chain.

To understand how we got here we need to understand what’s driving increasing costs. A new report found that, in 2020, manufacturers of brand-name and generic medications received only 37 cents of each dollar of the more than $680 billion spent on medications. If you look exclusively at manufacturers of brand-name medications, the drug makers are taking in just under 50 cents on the dollar. So where is the money going? Turns out that it’s little-known middlemen corporations, Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs), that are taking a bigger and bigger share of the pie.[2]

PBMs were created to negotiate with insurers and drug manufacturers and establish which prescription drugs are covered by a health plan. In reality, they demand steep discounts from drug makers off of the original list price as a condition to include those drugs on the approved list of medications – and then keep the savings for themselves. But here's the real rip-off: Patients at the pharmacy counter still face co-insurance charges based on the list price -- not the discounted price insurers actually pay. In other words, PBMs are enriching themselves while hiking prices for the rest of us. {3}

Worse still, PBMs manipulate their powerful market position to reduce the availability of prescription medications by excluding them from formularies. PBMs make their money when they demand exorbitant rebates from drugmakers and charge patients full cost, meaning they prefer to include drugs with higher list prices on their formulary over an equally effective drug with a lower list price. As a result, a number of drugs are excluded from formularies because PBMs can’t make as much money from them. In 2020, the three largest PBMs excluded 846 FDA-approved drugs, denying patients access to more medications than ever before.

This market manipulation has disastrous results for patients. A study published last year found that these practices, called “drug utilization management,” can lead patients to abandon their prescribed medications and delay treatment. Approximately 20% of prescriptions in the U.S. are never filled, according to the study.[4] This outcome is simply unacceptable, and our leaders need to take action.

Congress needs to ensure that any attempt to rein in out-of-pocket prescription drug costs includes taking a close and hard look at PBMs. Doing so would go a long way toward ensuring every patient and healthcare consumer in our state can access and afford to take their medications as prescribed by their doctor.

Suzanna Masartis of Pittsburgh is the CEO of the Community Liver Alliance.

[1]https://www.healthcarevaluehub.org/advocate-resources/publications/pennsylvania-residents-worried-about-high-drug-costs-support-range-government-solutions

[2]https://ecommunications.thinkbrg.com/44/2328/uploads/brg-pharmaceutical-supply-chain-2022.pdf?intIaContactId=24HydQaSTYqd85tTztTDcQ%3d%3d&intExternalSystemId=1

[3] https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/payer/study-drug-utilization-costs-health-industry-93b-a-year-patients-bearing-most-cost

[4] https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/full/10.1377/hlthaff.2021.00036

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Educational Objectives

Examine challenges in current treatment options for seizure clusters, including efficacy and safety, and differentiating routes of administration

Highlight considerations in treatment of seizure clusters, including addressing barriers to treatment and providing patient counseling to improve outcomes

Faculty:

Gretchen M. Brophy, PharmD, BCPS, FCCP, FCCM, FCCM, FNCS, MCCM 

Professor

Departments of Pharmacotherapy & Outcomes Science and Neurosurgery

Virginia Commonwealth University, Medical College of Virginia

Richmond, Virginia

Neurocritical Care Clinical Pharmacist

Virginia Commonwealth University Health

Richmond, Virginia

Gretchen M. Brophy, PharmD, BCPS, FCCP, FCCM, FCCM, FNCS, MCCM, has the following relevant financial relationships with commercial interests to disclose:

Grant/Research Support: Department of Defense

Consultant: UCB, Chiesi, Marinus, Alexion, Ceribell

Speakers Bureau: UCB, Chiesi

Pharmacy Times Continuing Education™ is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) as a provider of continuing pharmacy education. This activity is approved for 0.5 contact hour (0.05 CEU) under the ACPE universal activity number 0290-0000-22-129-H01-P. The activity is available for CE credit through March 31, 2023.

This activity is supported by an educational grant from Neurelis Inc.

Gretchen M. Brophy, PharmD, BCPS, FCCP, FCCM, FNCS, MCCM is Professor of Pharmacotherapy & Outcomes Sciences and Neurosurgery at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) School of Pharmacy, Medical College of Virginia Campus. She is a Past President of the Neurocritical Care Society. Dr. Brophy’s research interests include neuropharmacotherapy, traumatic brain injury, biomarkers, hemostasis, stroke, and status epilepticus.

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Pittsburgh Headquartered based Pharmacy Podcast Network welcomes 3 Pittsburgh Pharmacy Business Innovators. 

Todd Eury welcomes Dr. Kyle McCormick to an interesting discussion with fellow pharmacy owners Shawn Nairn and Chris Antypas. Payment model changes, PBM Reform, Cost-plus pricing strategies, and some surprise growth announcements --all part of this dynamic conversation. 

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Two accomplished professionals share insights into key things to look for, and to do, have a successful nutritional supplement business in your pharmacy. Dennis Song, R.Ph. and owner of Flower Mound Pharmacy in Flower Mound, Texas is doing remarkable things. Critical to his success, he says, is working closely with prescribers and finding ways for nutraceuticals to become part of their prescribing habits. Getting out of the pharmacy and taking at community events is also a key aspect of success. Mike Ewers, CEO of Medella Springs provides an “insider's” view of the way his company decides which products they can produce that meet a need in the consumer market place and how clinical and functional trials help them produce products that deliver on their promise. At the end of the day, Song says there is a need for pharmacists to get more involved in helping people prevent illness.

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Educational Objectives

Describe the impact of ADHD and new non-stimulant class of ADHD treatments

Highlight the role of the pharmacist in patient counseling, monitoring and medication management in ADHD

Faculty:

Sandy Mullen, PharmD, BCPP

Clinical Pharmacy Specialist - Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 

Department of Pharmacy 

Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Health

Richmond, VA

Sandy Mullen, PharmD, BCPP, has no financial relationships with commercial interests to disclose.

Pharmacy Times Continuing Education™ is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) as a provider of continuing pharmacy education. This activity is approved for 0.75 contact hours (0.075 CEU) under the ACPE universal activity number 0290-0000-22-127-H01-P. The activity is available for CE credit through March 30, 2023.

This activity is supported by an educational grant from Supernus.

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