2- Tuesday Pharmacy Practice News – 9th November

 1 – How Precision Dosing Technology Helps Prevent Adverse Events

• While the eyes of the health care world have understandably been focused on mitigating COVID-19 over the past year, it is important that we remain focused on a critical patient safety issue that can lead to escalating costs and worse outcomes: adverse events (AEs).
• The AE problem persists in spite of numerous initiatives.
• However, new technology has emerged to help prevent AEs.
• Precision medicine, and more specifically, precision dosing technology, uses multiple patient-specific factors to individualize medication doses, helping clinicians reduce medication errors that lead to AEs.

Source: Pharmacy Times

2 – Ofatumumab Safety Data Reinforced By Multi-Year Study in Patients With Relapsing Multiple Sclerosis

• Novartis has announced data demonstrating the safety of ofatumumab over extended exposure—approximately 3.5 years—in patients with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (RMS) at the 37th Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis.
• According to the investigators, these new data support ofatumumab as a first-choice treatment for adult patients with RMS, including those who are newly diagnosed.
• Ofatumumab is a targeted B-cell therapy, which studies have shown to have a higher efficacy and a similar safety and tolerability profile compared to teriflunomide.
• In the data from the ALITHIOS phase 3b open-label extension study, mean immunoglobulin G (IgG) levels in patients treated with ofatumumab remained stable, and there was no apparent association between IgG levels and serious infection risk.

Source: Pharmacy Times

3 – Study Finds mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines Have Stronger Initial Response, Ad26 Vaccine Remains More Stable Over Time

• The Moderna COVID-19 vaccine elicited generally higher antibody responses that were also more durable compared to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
• The study compared the immune responses induced by 3 COVID-19 vaccines—Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech, and Johnson & Johnson—and found that although the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine induced lower initial antibody responses than the 2 mRNA vaccines, these responses were generally stable over time.
• The investigators evaluated and compared the immune responses induced by the 3 vaccines over the course of an 8-month follow-up period.
• The study included 61 participants and analyzed their levels of various antibodies, T cells, and other immune products, retrieving samples at 2 to 4 weeks following complete immunization and 8 months following vaccination.

Source: Pharmacy Times

4- Coping With Burnout in the Pharmacy

• With millions of health care professionals heroically fighting COVID-19 on the front lines, battle fatigue has surely kicked in for some.
• This battle fatigue transcends mere tiredness and is more specifically referred to as burnout.
• A recent meta-analysis demonstrated that physician burnout led to decreased professionalism, which negatively impacted patient care satisfaction.
• Burnout can also lead to lapses in judgement, resulting in medical errors.
• In the field of pharmacy, providing efficient customer service and eliminating medication errors are 2 of the highest priorities.
• A 2017 study focused on pharmacists found that the rate of burnout among clinical pharmacists was 61.2%.
• Mitigating the likelihood of burnout requires a multifactorial approach.
• Some of the precipitating causes of burnout include spending too many hours at work per week, increased level of bureaucratic responsibilities, and poor relationships with supervisors.

Source: Pharmacy Times

5 – Study: Insulin Resistance Linked to Major Depression

• Insulin resistance has been linked to an increased risk of developing major depressive disorder, according to the results of a study at Stanford Medicine, published in the American Journal of Psychiatry.
• Insulin-resistance is independent of the body’s ability to secrete insulin into the bloodstream as it is the decreased ability of cells throughout the body to use the hormone.
• Approximately 40% of individuals who suffer from mood disorders are insulin resistant, according to Rasgon, so the link between mental disorders and insulin-resistance has already been established.
• Investigators analyzed data from 601 individuals who had never been troubled by depression or anxiety.
• The 3 proxies measured were fasting blood glucose levels, waist circumference, and the ratio of circulating triglyceride levels to circulating high-density lipoprotein.
• The results of the study showed that the 3 measurements were linked to an 89% increase in the rate of new major depressive disorder cases.

Source: Pharmacy Times

6 – Elacestrant Improves Outcomes for Certain Patients With Breast Cancer

• Elacestrant met both primary endpoints of the EMERALD study, which included significant improvements to progression-free survival (PFS) in the overall study population and the estrogen receptor 1 (ESR1) mutation subgroup, according to the positive topline results of the study.
• The study was designed to evaluate elacestrant as a monotherapy compared to the standard of care (SoC) for the treatment of estrogen receptor-positive (ER-positive)/human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2-negative) advanced or metastatic breast cancer (mBC).
• Elacestrant is a selective estrogen receptor degrader and the safety profile demonstrated in the phase 3 EMERALD trial was similar to the previous clinical trial for the drug.
• A total of 466 patients were enrolled in the study, 220 of whom had tumors harboring an ESR1 mutation.
• According to the investigators, ESR1 mutations drive the development of resistance to endocrine therapy in ER-positive/HER2-negative mBC patients.

Source: Pharmacy Times

• Read more from FADIC Blog, with many articles with evidence based articles.
• Learn More Through FADIC® – Online Programs & Mini-Courses.
• Listen Now to FADIC Podcast focusing on varieties of pharmacist perspectives in specialties.
• Read More Now about FADIC Pharmacy Events to get more Experience.

Course Copyrights:

All Courses is meant for SINGLE user use only.
If more than one person acceced this course, they will be BLOCKED Forever.

Why FADIC 2020 Pharmacotherapy Daily News (FNN) ?

• It helps to keep up with the literature!
• Provide you with the Updated with the latest in your clinical practice. Wherever you are, and Whenever you need!
• Help you to share in the advance in clinical career. In addition to adding an impressive image to the pharmacists all-around!

Subscribe to FADIC 2021 Pharmacy Practice FNN E-News, for publication of:

Read & Download FNN Issue 8 of April 2020 FNN News