The Ontario College of Pharmacists is taking action to try to prevent future problems in preparing chemotherapy. The move comes after patients in the Ontario communities of Oshawa, Peterborough, London and Windsor, as well as in Saint John, N.B., were given lower than intended doses of the chemotherapy drugs cyclophosphamide and gemcitabine. Too much saline was in the IV chemotherapy bags, overdiluting them by between three and 20 per cent, according to Cancer Care Ontario. The college, Health Canada, Ontario and New Brunswick's health ministries, and an independent investigator are all checking into how patients received overdiluted chemotherapy. The Hamilton, Ont.-based owner of Marchese Hospital Solutions, which provided the drugs, has said the problem occurred in how the intravenous bags of chemotherapy were administered at the five hospitals, not in how they were prepared at the company's Mississauga facility. So far, health officials have found an oversight gap when chemotherapy is prepared outside of a hospital or an accredited pharmacy. On Monday, Ontario College of Pharmacists spokeswoman Lori DeCou said the college is drafting regulations to help close that gap in regulatory oversight. "We are in the final stages of developing a draft regulation for provincial government consideration," DeCou said. … Continue reading →

Greensboro, N.C. -- A place many people have relied on for decades is closing Monday. It's a place where the employees know your name. It's a place where they help you with your problems. No, it's not a local restaurant. It's a pharmacy. Burton's Pharmacy in downtown Greensboro is closing after being in business for more than thirty years. Although customers are saying good-bye, the owner and many of the workers will still be able to serve the same customers, just in a different way. Burton not only put his name on his pharmacy, he put his heart into it. "It's been a wonderful ride. I have enjoyed every minute of it. Being downtown and being part of the downtown scene," Burton said. Customer Rochelle Baxter said, "It feels like you're losing a friend. You might not seem 'em again." Another long-time customer, Bud Lauder, added, "I walk in the door and they say, 'Hey, Bud. How's everything going?' That's something you don't get in other stores." Burton decided to sell the business for one key reason. "The paperwork. The administrative end of it. The Medicare regulations and everything else are just so over burdensome, I'm ready to just go … Continue reading →

By Sakini Mohd Said KUALA LUMPUR, April 23 (Bernama) -- An increasing number of young people are choosing to further their studies in the line of pharmacy these days. This probably stems from the level of confidence they have towards career prospects in the field, which has also indirectly increased the number of places offered by both private and public universities for pharmacy studies. On one hand, this could be viewed as positive news because it will produce more pharmacists who would beef up the profession. On the other hand, however, this development, which is something to be proud of, could, without any warning, bring about the problem of a glut of pharmacy graduates in the perceived popular sectors. Among the reasons for such a possible scenario is the very attitude of a majority of the pharmacy graduates themselves, said an industry player. For them, the sectors to focus on to get employment are the hospital pharmacies, government clinics, academia and the National Pharmaceutical Control Bureau. Due to negative assumptions within the community, the picture drawn is that there is a limited scope of career fields for people in the profession. However, the career possibilities in the world of pharmacy, … Continue reading →

Tuesday April 23, 2013 BRATTLEBORO -- A former Hotel Pharmacy employee will serve time in federal prison for stealing tens of thousands of prescription-painkiller tablets and then shipping the pills across the country for resale. Moments before he was sentenced to spend a year and a day behind bars and to pay $8,500 in restitution, Joshua Bozetarnik apologized for what the Elliot Street pharmacys owner had described as "devastating" thefts. "Im truly sorry for what I did to all of you," Bozetarnik said. "I broke your trust. I wish I could take it back." Bozetarnik, 29, last year pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Brattleboro to conspiracy to distribute hydrocodone. The crimes happened in 2006 and 2007 while Bozetarnik had been working as a pharmacy technician at Hotel Pharmacy. Prosecutors said Bozetarnik stole the painkillers from his employer and sent them to a woman in Arizona. Both then profited from the pills illegal resale. The extent of Bozetarniks thefts remains unclear, with previous estimates having ranged from 10,000 to 80,000 pills. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Drescher said Mondays court sentencing was based on a quantity of 20,000 to 40,000 pills. "This man had easy access to controlled substances that … Continue reading →

A Florida-based compounding pharmacy is voluntarily recalling all lots of its sterile non-expired drug products sold nationwide over concerns that the products may contain bacteria, federal regulators said Sunday. The Food and Drug Administration asked hospitals and other health-care providers who received sterile products, including all injectables, from Balanced Solutions Compounding Pharmacy, a division of Axium Healthcare Pharmacy of Lake Mary, Fla., to immediately check their medical supplies, quarantine the products and follow the companys recall instructions. Patients who were administered any sterile drug products made and distributed by Balanced Solutions should contact their health-care providers. Officials are not aware of any illnesses, an agency spokesman said. The company, which says it is licensed to operate in all 50 states, posted the recall on its Web site but did not say how many products are affected. The pharmacy is one of 30 compounding pharmacies those that custom mix medication for individual patients that the FDA inspected between February and April, part of a targeted action after inspectors found filthy conditions at the New England Compounding Center, the Massachusetts pharmacy in the middle of last falls fungal meningitis outbreak. Tainted steroid shots made by NECC have killed 53 people. Federal inspectors … Continue reading →