2- Tuesday Pharmacy Practice News – 19th October

 1 – FDA Grants Emergency Use Authorization for Single Test to Differentiate Between COVID-19, Flu, RSV

• Officials with the FDA have issued an emergency use authorization for PerkinElmer’s PKamp Respiratory SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR Panel 1 assay, a single test that can detect and differentiate between SARS-CoV-2, influenza A, influenza B, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
• Samples for the test are isolated from nasopharyngeal swabs, anterior nasal swabs, and mid-turbinate swabs.
• COVID-19, flu, and RSV infections are often difficult to differentiate between based on symptoms alone and each of the viruses are highly contagious.
• CDC guidelines encourage laboratories performing COVID-19 testing to adopt a multiplex method to detect and differentiate between SARS-CoV-2 and influenza viruses.
• The PKamp Respiratory SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR Panel 1 assay, a multi-analyte test, allows for the conservation of resources by avoiding multiple tests on samples collected from individuals with a respiratory infection consistent with COVID-19.

Source: Pharmacy Times

2 – Study Finds Memory T Cells Which Protect Lymph Nodes From the Spread of Cancer

• Investigators have discovered a population of tumor-fighting T cells that remain in the lymph nodes to provide protection against melanoma, according to a study published in Immunity.
• The investigators said that these cells, referred to as lymph node resident memory T cells, have been demonstrated to counteract the spread of melanoma in mice.
• They found that when mice that had previously been cured of cancer through immunotherapy had melanoma cells reintroduced, the lymph nodes remained resistant to the cancer.

Source: Pharmacy Times

3 – FDA Approves Avacopan for Treatment of ANCA-Associated Vasculitis    

• The FDA approved avacopan (Tavneos, ChemoCentryx) for patients with severe active anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibody-associated (ANCA) vasculitis, according to a company press release.
• Avacopan is the first FDA-approved orally administered inhibitor of the complement C5a receptor.
• The FDA’s approval was based off the results of the phase 3 ADVOCATE trial, which met its primary endpoints of disease remission at 26 weeks and sustained remission at 52 weeks by the Birmingham Vasculitis Score.
• The trial included 330 patients with ANCA vasculitis residing in 20 different countries. The patients were randomized to receive either rituximab or cyclophosphamide, followed by azathioprine/mycophenolate, and either avacopan or oral prednisone.

Source: Pharmacy Times

4- Study: Non-Health Care Settings Spread C. Difficile Bacteria

• Clostridium difficile, bacteria that cause inflammation of the colon, were found to be widely prevalent within non-health care settings, results of a study by the University of Houston showed.
• The prevalence of C diff has been primarily investigated within hospital settings.
• Investigators tested worldwide environmental samples from health care and non-health care and found that 26% of these samples tested positive for a C diff strain. Of the positive samples, 45% were from the soles of shoes.
• Investigators collected samples from health care settings, public areas, and shoe soles in the United States and 11 other countries between 2014 and 2017. They compared the rates of positive C diff among the settings to investigate the environmental transmission of the bacteria.

Source: Pharmacy Times

5 – Medically Integrated Pharmacies, Oral Oncolytic Agents Grow in Importance During COVID-19

• Despite efforts to diminish the effects of COVID-19 on care of patients with cancer, the pandemic still poses challenges to oncology care delivery.
• However, as practices have gained experience in this new environment, health care professionals have found innovative ways to work around many of the obstacles COVID-19 presents.
• Last year’s lockdowns and restrictions dramatically affected in-office care, initially halting screenings and new patient consults while changing the way care could be delivered to existing patients.
• Eventually, practices identified and adopted strategies that reduced immunocompromised patients’ potential exposure to the virus.

Source: Pharmacy Times

6 – Study: Ketone Supplement May Be Therapeutic for Boosting Brain Function in Obesity

• New research has found that ketone supplements may be a novel strategy for protecting and improving brain health in people with obesity, according to a study published in The Journal of Physiology.
• Because those with obesity are known to be at a higher risk of developing cognitive impairment and neurodegenerative diseases, this study found that giving a ketone supplement 3 times a day for 14 days improves blood flow to the brain and enhanced aspects of cognitive function, such as working memory and processing speed.
• The researchers also demonstrated that ketone supplements may be a novel therapy for protecting and improving brain health in people with obesity who are at risk of developing neurocognitive impairment, according to the researchers.

Source: Pharmacy Times

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