Archive for February 2018
Maine’s Prescription Monitoring Program and Veterinarians
Maine State Senator Jim Hamper of Lincoln County has proposed a controversial bill (LD 1730) that would remove veterinarians from the Maine’s Controlled Substances Prescription Monitoring Program (Prescription Monitoring Program). Hamper is proposing to change the definition of ‘Prescriber,” under the Prescription Monitoring Program which in its current form, includes veterinarians – ‘“Prescriber” means a licensed…
Read MoreFDA Reiterates Its Concerns on Risks Associated with Kratom
The FDA announced the voluntary destruction and recall of large volumes of kratom-containing dietary supplements manufactured and distributed nationwide by Divinity Products Distribution. Divinity also agreed to stop selling all products containing kratom. The FDA is also strongly encouraging all other companies that sale products containing kratom intended for human consumption to stop manufacturing and…
Read MorePharmacy Wholesalers Allegedly Sent over 12 Million Opioid Doses to a Single West Virginia Pharmacy
West Virginia has been hit hard by the opioid crisis and data shows the death rate from opioids in 2016 was 52 victims for every 100,000 residents. New House of Energy and Commerce Committee documents allege that between 2006-2014 pharmacy wholesalers McKesson, AmerisourceBergen and Cardinal Health and others shipped over 12 million doses of opioids…
Read MoreDEA Helps Distributors Avoid Oversupplying Opioids
The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) continues to work with its over 1.7 million registrants to combat the United States opioid epidemic and recently added a new feature to the ARCOS Online Reporting System that will assist drug manufacturers and distributors comply with their regulatory obligations under the Controlled Substances Act. Under current DEA regulations, distributors…
Read MoreBuprenorphine: Prescribing by Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants
Pharmacists are uniquely positioned to assist in medication assisted treatment programs and need to be aware of a change in prescribing rights regarding buprenorphine for maintenance or detoxification treatment of opioid additions. Section 303 of the Comprehensive Addition and Recovery Act (CARA) was signed into law on July 22, 2016, and made several changes to…
Read MoreAG Sessions Announces DEA Surge to Combat Prescription Drug Diversion
Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced this week that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will surge Special Agents, Diversion Investigators and Intelligence Research Specialists over the next 45 days to focus on pharmacies and prescribers who are dispensing unusual or disproportionate amounts of controlled substances. The DEA plans to analyze the data from 80 million transaction…
Read MoreNew Nebraska Law Requires All Prescription Drugs to be Reported to PDMP
On January 1, 2018, Nebraska became the first state to require all dispensers to report all prescription drugs dispensed for an enhanced medication history, as required by Neb. Rev. Stat. 71-2454(2). The Nebraska Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) is a statewide tool for prescribers and dispensers that collects dispensed prescription information and serves as a…
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