ppp 01-28-08

Quote of the day: Men are wise in proportion, not to their experience,

but to their capacity for experience.

James Boswell (1740 - 1795), Life of Samuel Johnson, 1791

David Carradine, in his role in Kung Fu, was affectionately called “grasshopper” by the blind master. In flash backs the master would often ask questions as a way of teaching his young charge life lessons. At one point the young apprentice conjectures how terrible it must be to blind. The blind master calls the boy’s attention to the grasshopper at his feet which the master had heard but the full sighted boy had not observed.

My son left for his Spring semester in Rome last week. Leaving Minneapolis at 8:30am and flying through Chicago and Washington DC, he landing in Rome by 7:30am Rome time. To hear more about his sleep deprivation and subsequent adventures you can go to http://www.freewebs.com/dansromeblog2008/dansromeblog2008.htm . Daniel has set up his own website/blog for sharing his travels and pictures of the Eternal City. You, as I, can live vicariously through the site as he visits Pompeii, Assisi, Venice, Florence, Spain, Germany, France, Austria and wherever his Eurail pass takes him between his studies. (He is taking a full credit load while in Rome and receives no credit for travel).

In this next act, I play the blind master and my son plays the young Kwai Chang Caine. I have been writing The Prattle for 10 years now and am happy to see my son pick up his own gauntlet and write out of affection for friends, family and love of the written word. In his first post from Rome he made two minor typographical errors. Having had the assistance of readers with my spelling (my family once bought a T-shirt for me with the words “Bad Spellers of the world untie” emblazoned across it) I urged him to pay attention to the details as well as the content.

ps. Best answer this week to the question "How are you?" was "Glad to be inside" (it was 10 below zero outside at the time)

pps. Occasionally, some of the links require FREE registration.... I'm sure you can handle THAT slight inconvenience.

AARP is equating the off shore manufacture of Lilly drugs with “re-importation”. Lilly, and others, have strict control over the manufacturing process and bring the drugs into the US in bulk with absolute control that assures that no counterfeit drugs are introduced. “Re-importation” comes from multiple sources, many of which are shown to introduce counterfeit drugs into the system. Even if each of the bottles could be inspected, the real issue is financial under cutting of the distribution system. AARP, however, is not swayed by logic.

WalMart is getting into the PBM business even if they have exactly called it that… yet. Their focus appears to be in the employer area. They could have a real shot at a piece of the rock…they are already the third largest pharmacy chain in the USA.

Diclofenac in now available in a transdermal patch. Promoted as free of GI side effects (unless the are swallowed). One patch is to be applied to the painful area every 12 hours. I remain skeptical but that data, and the FDA, say it works.

AIRx and Exubera are dead and have fouled the inhaled insulin air. Uncle Eli (Lilly) says that they are keeping their noses to the grindstone on Air Insulin (I hope Michael Jordan doesn’t get wind of the brand name).

Pennsylvania is following the federal lead and refusing to pay for costs associated with errors made while patients are hospitalized. I saw something else this week that suggested that private insurers are planning to do the same thing. Maybe the quality assurance department at each facility will receive a budget boost as a financial risk management strategy.

Product recall of some heparin flush syringes due to bacterial contamination with Serratia marcescens. Manufactered by AM2 PAT and marketed under the brand names Sierra Pre-filled, Inc. and B. Braun both heparin lock flush and saline flushes have been recalled. FDA has confirmed that the following lots grew bacteria from unopened containers: Heparin Lot 070926H and Normal Saline Lot 070917A.

Drive up pharmacy windows at retail stores are thought to contribute to medication errors. Pharmacist site “distractions” produced by the service for increased errors. Unless the pharmacists are being called to the window to counsel patients they should be insulated.

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