Chain Drug Review, June 4, 2018

86 Chain Drug Review June 4 2018 Newsmakers News Focus Blood Pressure Goes Higher One out of every three U S adults had blood pressure high enough that it should be treated via medications according to new guidelines adopted by the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association The new guidelines redefined high blood pressure as 130 80 in November 2017 AbbVie Assists Puerto Rico AbbVie is donating 100 million to improve access to health care and housing in a Puerto Rico still struggling to recover from Hurricane Maria Half of the amount will go to Direct Relief and the other half to Habitat for Humanity International This donation is an extension of the more than 4 million AbbVie provided in 2017 Chain Drug Review June 4 2018 ADA Chooses Brown Sams Club Exec to Be New CEO The national board of directors of the American Diabetes Association has appointed Tracey Brown as the ADAs new chief executive officer effective June 1 Brown joins ADA from the Sams Club division of Walmart where she served as senior vice president of operations and chief experience officer She succeeds Martha Parry Clark who has served as ADAs interim CEO since April 2017 Clark left her role as interim CEO on May 31 and returned to her seat on ADAs board Mark Merritt PCMA After 15 years of heading up the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association president and chief executive officer Mark Merritt is stepping down effective at yearend Under Merritts leadership PCMA grew from an obscure group into the nations leading voice on prescription drug benefits One of his first missions was to help shape the bill that established the Medicare Part D program in 2003 Since then Merritt has helped navigate the industry through countless legislative and regulatory debates in Washington and in the states including the Affordable Care Act Matthew Hamed Tops Markets Tops Markets has promoted Matthew Hamed to the position of director of pharmacy He joined the grocer in 2009 as a floater in the pharmacy departments in the Rochester N Y district Since that time he has worked as a staff pharmacist pharmacy manager medication therapy management pharmacist and regional pharmacy manager for Tops West region Hamed has been the interim director of pharmacy since January 2018 Jennifer Dudinak Celgene Corp Celgene Corp has appointed Jennifer Dudinak as senior vice president for global regulatory affairs responsible for regulatory strategy and execution across the companys portfolio Walgreens Offers Free Hepatitis C Screenings The Virginia Department of Health is partnering with Walgreens to offer no cost hepatitis C testing at 10 pharmacies across the state The testing offer comes as Virginias opioid epidemic has contributed to an increasing number of hepatitis C cases in the state The health department says people who share needles when they inject drugs are most at risk for acquiring the virus Lilly to acquire AurKa Pharma Eli Lilly and Co has agreed to acquire AurKa Pharma Inc a company established by TVM Capital Life Science to develop oncology compound AK 01 an Aurora kinase A inhibitor that was originally discovered at Lilly The compound is a potential first inclass asset that AurKa Pharma is studying in Phase 1 clinical trials in multiple types of solid tumors PhRMA targets seniors Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America PhRMA launched the Lets Talk About Medicare advertising campaign focused on solutions to improve affordability and predictability for seniors in Medicare Part D Similar to how the Lets Talk About Cost campaign opened up a conversation about costs and prescription drug coverage this campaign builds on the momentum of that larger conversation to facilitate a discussion about solutions to strengthen the Part D program and ensure it fulfills its promise to seniors EnvisionRx enhances pain management plan In response to the nations opioid epidemic pharmacy benefit manager EnvisionRx a division of EnvisionRxOptions announced enhancements to its comprehensive opioid and pain management program EnvisionCare Pain Management Insect Borne Illnesses Rise NEW YORK The number of people who get diseases transmitted by mosquito tick and flea bites has increased dramatically in the United States in recent years federal health officials recently reported Since 2004 at least nine such diseases have been newly discovered or introduced into the United States Illnesses from mosquito tick and flea bites have tripled in the U S with more than 640000 cases reported during the 13 years from 2004 through 2016 These findings are in the latest Vital Signs report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC This is CDCs first summary collectively examining data trends for all nationally notifiable diseases caused by the bite of an infected mosquito tick or flea It provides detailed information on the growing burden of mosquito borne and tick borne illnesses in the U S Zika West Nile Lyme and chikungunya a growing list of diseases caused by the bite of an infected mosquito tick or flea have confronted the U S in recent years making a lot of people sick And we dont know what will threaten Americans next said CDC director Dr Robert Redfield Our Nations first lines of defense are state and local health departments and vector control organizations and we must continue to enhance our investment in their ability to fight against these diseases Widespread and difficult to control diseases from mosquito tick and flea bites are major causes of sickness and death worldwide The growing number and the spread of these diseases pose an increasing risk in the U S The report found that the nation needs to be better prepared to face The incidence of sicknesses transmitted by insects is surging this public health threat CDC scientists analyzed data reported to the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System for 16 notifiable vector borne diseases from 2004 through 2016 to identify trends During that period about 643000 cases of 16 insect borne illnesses were reported to the CDC 27000 a year in 2004 rising to 96000 by 2016 Many infections are not reported or recognized so it is difficult to truly estimate the overall cost and burden of these diseases In 2016 the most common tick borne diseases in the U S were Lyme disease and ehrlichiosis anaplasmosis The most common mosquito borne viruses were West Nile dengue and Zika Though rare plague was the most common disease resulting from the bite of an infected flea The data show that were seeing a steady increase and spread of tickborne diseases and an accelerating trend of mosquito borne diseases introduced from other parts of the world noted Dr Lyle Petersen director of the Division of Vector Borne Diseases in the CDCs National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases We need to support state and local health agencies responsible for detecting and responding to these diseases and controlling the mosquitoes ticks and fleas that spread them The increase in diseases caused by the bite of an infected mosquito tick or flea in the U S is likely due to many factors Mosquitoes and ticks and the germs they spread are increasing in number and moving into new areas As a result more people are at risk for infection Overseas travel and commerce are more common than ever before A traveler can be infected with a mosquito borne disease like Zika in one country and then unknowingly transport it home Finally new germs spread by mosquito and tick bites have been discovered and the list of nationally notifiable diseases has grown While the CDC did not suggest that Americans drop plans for playing outdoors or resting in hammocks this summer Redfield emphasized that everyone especially children needs to protect themselves against tick and mosquito bites PBM Finds Ways to Bolster Adherence ST PAUL Minn Prime Therapeutics a pharmacy benefit manager serving more than 27 million members nationwide found intervening after a missed medication refill was associated with an improvement in medication adherence for Medicare patients This is important because adherence to medication can improve health outcomes and reduce health care costs The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services CMS includes medication adherence in its measurement of a health plans quality known as Star Ratings The higher the adherence of members to medication the higher the health plans Star Rating The finding came from an analysis of Primes Missed Refill program a Medicare patient outreach program designed to decrease patients drug supply gaps and increase adherence for three drug categories cholesterol hypertension and diabetes Nearly 83000 Medicare patients were identified as having up to a seven day gap in medication supply Three to five days after identification patients received a call reminding them to refill their medication Patients received a reminder letter if a medication claim was not processed within 10 days Medication refills increased 15 and showed an 8 higher refill rate among members who received the intervention compared to those who did not Medication refills improved 14 for cholesterol drugs 17 for hypertension drugs and 19 for diabetes drugs all statistically significant improvements The frequency of refills spiked following the call while the member letter generated a slightly smaller spike In another study Prime reduced the member cost share for generic hypertension cholesterol and diabetes drugs in Primes Stars formulary benefit program from 4 or more to 0 to 2 per 30 day supply The study identified an average of 160000 Medicare patients as eligible for this intervention each month The results showed patients with the lowered cost share saw improved adherence of 14 overall compared to patients not in the program