ppp 08-25-08

Quote of the day: Friendship makes prosperity more shining

and lessens adversity by dividing and sharing it.

Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC), On Friendship, 44 B.C.

In the early 80’s I hired a bright young pharmacist. I have often thought about him but was unable to make contact with him because of his name. Mike is one of the many people with a common first name as a last name. A search of the internet gave so many hits as to be useless; 727,000 to be exact! I asked for information and received raw data.

Do you ever want quick, accurate, authoritative information about drugs? Entering “Prozac” into Google will bring 19,700,000 hits. Amazingly enough, the first page brings up two pretty good sites: www.rxlist.com and www.drugs.com/ .

It also brought up www.brides.com and www.goaskalice.com and www.freetradestuff.com (a “Canadian” source of drugs). Keyword “Viagra” was worse. If you want a good "Pharmacist geek” site then you can visit www.GlobalRph.com for anything from drug information to dosage calculators.

Two weeks ago I responded to a colleague’s invitation to join LinkedIn, a professional network. I had lost track of Mike for 20 years until last week when he called me. He was part of that professional network and found me. In 20 minutes on the phone we caught up on the big details (kids, work, health) and exchanged additional contact info. Once again, its who you know; not what you know. Anyone who wants to be a part of this professional network can send an e-mail to me at spepin@pharmworks.com and I’ll see that s/he receives an invitation. You may be able to connect with old friends… or even make some new ones.

ps. Best answer this week to the question "How are you?" was "I'm a peachy keen nursing machine!" (an ICU nurse on a little too much caffeine)

The makers of Viagra, Levitra, and Cialis will add transient global amnesia to the list of potential side effects found during post-marketing surveillance.

With the prevalence of pain and its historically poor management, advanced training sounds like a wonderful idea. (Just as long as patient access to effective pain control is not curtailed.)

If your platelets are pooped or your thrombocytes are tired then the recent FDA approval of Nplate (romiplostim) may be just what the doctor orders. This new drug stimulates the bone marrow to produce platelets, the body’s first line of defense against bleeding. While this may be a wonderful drug, I expect many will overuse it and that side effects will limit its use in the future. (Remember EPO drugs were going to replace transfusions when they first came out but are now relegated to use in renal failure). Reimbursement issues will also swirl around this drug. (You had better be proactive with criteria on this one) Just a guess… I hope I’m wrong.

Negation of effectiveness by many juices may be a good reason to take them with water. (right now grapefruit, orange and apple juices have been tested). I’m sure it will be awhile until they get to pomegranate juice.

What would pharmacists do (WWPD) ? Over 5,000 pharmacists were polled about their recommendations for OTC products for a plethora of common maladies. Tylenol and Sudafed are on the list.

New Jersey reports a decline in pharmaceutical jobs. New Jersey is part of the East Coast network of “ethical” pharmaceutical houses. Some plants are closing. Many are downsizing. Those loosing their “brand name jobs” might be well to network (see editorial) in their quest to find old contacts and find a new job.

Few kids are being immunized against diseases, including measles. Some attribute this to the unfounded reports of a link between autism and former preservatives found in vaccines. Those perpetuating the autism “link” should be ashamed as they are responsible for the increase. (Just my opinion… I could be wrong)

Disclaimer: "Pepin's Pharmaceutical Prattle" (AKA "The Prattle") is the property of PHARMWORKS, LLC and Steven M. Pepin, Pharm. D. The opinions expressed are those of the bald-headed author. To start or stop any drug without the advice and supervision of your physician would be stupid. So don't do anything based upon what you read here without professional advice. To be added to or removed from the distribution list please e-mail your request to spepin@pharmworks.com . All insightful comments from readers are thoughtfully considered (the rest are callously discarded). Copyright 1998-2008 PHARMWORKS, LLC all rights reserved.

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