Regulatory and Washington

ARLINGTON, Va. — National Association of Chain Drug Stores president and CEO Steve Anderson on Monday participated in a meeting with Health and Human Services Sec. Tom Price about pharmacy’s engagement in solutions to the opioid epidemic.

ATLANTA — Condom use is up among men, according to a report published Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the National Health Statistics Reports.

During 2011–2015, 23.8% of women and 33.7% of men aged 15–44 used a condom at their last opportunity in the previous 12 months, an increase for men since 2002 (29.5%). The usage rate for women had not changed.

ARLINGTON, Va. — Two members of Congress have introduced legislation that would mandate electronic prescribing for controlled substances under Medicare Part D. Reps. Katherine Clark, D-Mass., and Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., introduced the Every Prescription Conveyed Securely Act in the House Wednesday afternoon. 

WASHINGTON — Rep. Mia Love, R-Utah, as of last week has taken on a new leadership role as a co-chair of the Congressional Dietary Supplement Caucus. Love replaces Rep. Jason Chaffetz, formerly a DSC co-chair, who retired from the House of Representatives this summer.

You may have seen the news this week about an interim report of the President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis. The Commission — chaired by Governor Chris Christie — included among its initial recommendations one that it describes as “first and most urgent”: declaring a national emergency on this issue.

WASHINGTON — The Senate on Thursday voted to pass the Food and Drug Administration Reauthorization Act of 2017, sending the bill to the desk of President Donald Trump following the House’s passage of the legislation in June. The bill contains the reauthorizations of the FDA’s Prescription Drug, Biosimilar, and Generic Drug User Fee Acts.

SILVER SPRING, Md. — Janssen Biotech and Pharmacyclics’ Imbruvica (ibrutinib) has a new indication. The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved the drug to treat adults with chronic graft versus host disease after one or more treatments have failed.

This approval makes Imbruvica the first FDA-approved treatment for the illness, which afflicts patients who have received hematopoietic stem cell transplantation to treat blood or bone marrow cancers. The illness occurs when cells from the stem cell transplant attack healthy cells in a patient’s tissues.