2- Tuesday Pharmacy Practice News – 22th June

1 – FDA Approves Controversial Alzheimer’s Drug Aducanumab (Aduhelm)

• Amid significant controversy, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the anti-amyloid agent aducanumab (Aduhelm, Biogen/Eisai) for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), disregarding the recommendation by its own advisory panel not to approve the drug.
• Aducanumab was approved using the accelerated approval pathway, which can be used to fast-track a drug that provides a meaningful therapeutic advantage over existing treatments for a serious or life-threatening illness.
• However, under this pathway, the FDA requires Biogen to conduct a new randomized, controlled clinical trial to verify the drug’s clinical benefit.
• In an FDA release, the agency said if the drug fails to show clinical benefit in this trial it has the option to withdraw its approval.
• Aducanumab’s approval marks the first new treatment approved for AD since 2003 and is the first to target beta-amyloid, the hallmark pathology of the disease.

Source: Medscape

2 – Strengthening our defenses: The role of the health-system pharmacist in cybersecurity management

• Over the past several years—and especially since the unprecedented circumstances of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic—the number of cybersecurity breaches affecting health care organizations has steadily increased.
• Due to the rapid electronification of health care delivery and the evolution of pharmacy informatics in recent years, the implications of cybersecurity threats on pharmacy practice have become especially poignant.
• In addition to protecting the personal information of patients and staff members, pharmacy leaders should also implement measures to preserve the integrity of pharmacy services in the event of a cybersecurity crisis.
• In light of the recent digitization of pharmacy services, cybersecurity management plans must incorporate the myriad operational systems and information technologies that contribute to the delivery of pharmaceutical care.

Source: ACCP

3 – Pharmacy education to transform and strengthen healthcare: a call for action and reflection during COVID-19 epidemic

• Recent events associated with the COVID-19 pandemic have challenged the healthcare workforce.
• Pharmacists worldwide are not the exception.
• Suddenly and with very little previous notice, pharmacists were expected to test, treat, immunize and educate within an evolving and uncertain clinical, service delivery and health policy environment.
• The strengthening of pharmaceutical education with critical and system thinking skills can contribute to pharmacists being able to respond to the unpredictability and evolution of pandemic crises such as COVID-19.
• This pandemic has highlighted the need for pharmacists working in hospitals, primary care centres and community pharmacies to be available to patients; identify or detect clinical presentations of the virus; identify the emergence of other health problems and complications associated with the health virus; promote health and prevention; ensure the effectiveness of medications and treatments; prevent the side effects caused by them and make decisions in the responsible use of limited healthcare resources.

Source: Oxford Academic

4- Antibiotics and toothache: a social media review

• Antibiotics are inappropriate for the treatment of toothache, yet many seek them.
• Social media allows users to express their opinions, share experiences and offer support.
• This study used social media to investigate the public’s experiences of, and attitudes towards, antibiotics for toothache.
• Social media is used extensively to seek antibiotics, avoid dental treatment and provide support to people with toothache.
• A general belief that antibiotics are an appropriate and necessary treatment for toothache exists.
• This improved understanding about the factors driving antibiotic-seeking behaviour provides new targets for the development of approaches to tackling antibiotic resistance, by reducing unnecessary antibiotic use in dental clinics and beyond.

Source: Oxford Academic

5 – Development of a multivariable model to predict medication non-adherence risk factor for patients with acute coronary syndrome

• The aim of this study was to develop a risk prediction model for non-adherence to prescribed medication based on self-reported risk factors in patients with the acute coronary syndrome (ACS).
• This study indicates poor knowledge, polypharmacy and comorbidity as risk factors associated with medication non-adherence among patients with ACS.
• Identification of predictors of non-adherence and strategies has the potential to reduce non-adherence dramatically.

Source: Oxford Academic

6 – Novel therapeutic approaches for Parkinson’s disease by targeting brain cholesterol homeostasis

• Human brain is composed of 25% of the cholesterol & any dysfunction in brain cholesterol homeostasis contributes to neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson, Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s disease, etc.
• A growing literature indicates that alteration in neurotransmission & brain cholesterol metabolism takes place in the early stage of the disease.
• The current paper summarizes the role of cholesterol & its homeostasis in the pathophysiology of Parkinson’s disease.
• In the current review, they have discussed the possible molecular role of cholesterol homeostasis in Parkinson’s disease progression.
• They also identified potential therapeutic targets that need to be evaluated clinically for the development of Parkinson’s treatment.

Source: Oxford Academic

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