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Don’t Delay, Get Tested Today!
The second annual national Hepatitis Testing Day arrives in just a few days, on May 19, 2013. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) spearheads this event as a call to action for health care providers and the public about testing for hepatitis infection. Who Should Get Tested for Hepatitis C? Anyone age 40 … Continue reading
Hemophilia and “Inhibitors”
Hemophilia is a bleeding disorder that interferes with the blood clotting process. Hemophilia A, also known as classic hemophilia, is the most common type – affecting one in 5,000 to 10,000 males worldwide. This condition is treated with infusions of clotting factor, which can either be derived from plasma or as a genetically engineered clotting … Continue reading
Prescription “Stretching” Harms Health
Health care costs for patients, including prescription medications, continue to rise. Out-of-pocket costs for prescriptions reached $45 billion for Americans in 2011 (the most recent year data is available). For a growing number of people, Rx costs simply exceed their ability to pay. Overburdened Americans rely on two less-than-healthy methods to stretch their health care … Continue reading
Getting the Word Out: National Primary Immunodeficiency Awareness Month
Guest Blog: Tracy Siler, Senior Rx Coordinator at BioPlus Specialty Pharmacy Now is the perfect time to think about the immune system: not only is April National Primary Immunodeficiency Awareness Month but this week (April 22-29) is also World PI Week, both of which have the goal of earlier diagnoses and optimal treatment for these … Continue reading
Leukemia as Cancer Treatment Consequence
Chemotherapy, while necessary for the treatment of many types of cancer, is known to increase the later risk of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a rare but often fatal cancer. A new study from researchers at the National Cancer Institute clarifies this risk of AML, in terms of different patient populations. Over the past three decades, … Continue reading
Connecting Patients in Need with $5.1 Million
As if getting a diagnosis for a complex or chronic disease wasn’t tough enough, some patients discover serious shortfalls in their insurance. In some cases, patients can’t start treatment because they are unable to financially bridge the difference of a very high deductible. This is where the Patient Foundation Assistance program at BioPlus Specialty Pharmacy … Continue reading
Shingles Not an Issue with Newer Rheumatoid Arthritis Treatments
Guest Blog: Monica Morgan, Pharm.D., Clinical Pharmacy Specialist at BioPlus Specialty Pharmacy As if the aches and pains of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) weren’t trouble enough, people with this autoimmune disease also develop shingles (herpes zoster) infections more often than the general population. An increasingly popular rheumatoid arthritis treatment – anti-tumor necrosis factor (anti-TNF) medications – … Continue reading
Wave of New FDA-Approved Drugs
Guest Blog: Sharon O. Ferrer, Director of Pharmaceutical Contracting at BioPlus Specialty Pharmacy The pharmaceutical industry’s hard work is paying off with a number of new drugs poised for approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA approved 39 new pharmaceuticals last year, making 2012 the most prolific year for new drug … Continue reading
Hepatitis C ‘Super-Spreaders’
Like ripples in a pond, every single hepatitis C-infected injection drug user is likely to infect an additional 20 people with this disease. Time is of the essence in stopping this disease spread, since about half of these transmissions happen in the first two years after the drug user’s initial infection. Not surprisingly, these drug … Continue reading
Going Nuts
Did you catch last Monday’s landmark study in the New England Journal of Medicine showing that nuts in the diet can protect against heart disease? Usually, I’m fairly critical of nutritional studies that are related to health, since so many are poorly designed and biased. This study, known as the PREDIMED trial and led by … Continue reading
