Regulatory and Washington

NORTH DAKOTA — A House bill that would have paved the path for chain and big-box pharmacy retailers to set up shop in North Dakota was rejected on Tuesday, according to a local news report.

Under the current law, pharmacies must be majority-owned by a licensed pharmacist, but House Bill 1434 would have eliminated that portion of the law, the Bismarck Tribune reported. The bill was defeated 71-23.

Those in favor of the bill said the state should open up the market to competition.

ORLANDO, Fla. — The Generic Pharmaceutical Association has elected its 2011 executive committee and board of directors, the generic drug industry trade group announced. As part of a reorganization last year, the board has been reduced to 12 members.

The GPhA said Watson Pharmaceuticals president and CEO Paul Bisaro had been reelected as chairman for a second, one-year term. Also elected were Mylan Pharmaceuticals president Tony Mauro, as vice chairman; and Momenta Pharmaceuticals president Craig Wheeler, as secretary treasurer.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas on Friday became the fourth state this year to entertain making the popular decongestant pseudoephedrine available only by prescription.

AMITYVILLE, N.Y. — Generic drug maker Hi-Tech Pharmacal has received Food and Drug Administration approval for its version of a drug used to treat neurological disorders, the company said Tuesday.

Hi-Tech announced the approval of gabapentin oral solution in the 250 mg/5 mL strength, a generic version of Pfizer’s Neurontin oral solution.

The drug is used to treat postherpetic neuralgia and epilepsy. Neurontin had sales of $15 million in 2010, according to IMS Health.

ALLEGAN, Mich. — Generic drug maker Perrigo has filed for approval of a drug to treat psoriasis with the Food and Drug Administration.

Perrigo announced Tuesday that it had filed an application with the FDA for calcipotriene and betamethasone dipropionate in the 0.005%/0.064% strength. The drug is a generic version of Leo Pharma’s Taclonex and is used to treat psoriasis vulgaris in adults.

All the hype around H1N1 
that was so prevalent in 2009 is gone, leaving only the tough comparisons a year later. That makes the first half of the 
2010-2011 cough-cold season an H1N1 hangover with overall sales of $4.6 billion, representing a slight decline of 1.8%, for the 52 weeks ended Dec. 26, 2010, according to SymphonyIRI Group. What was missing in 2010 was the 2009 summer of sickness that reached a crescendo in September.

“Smah-ten up, Ee-dah.” Loosely translated from deep “Mainer-ese,” that means, “smarten up, Eder.”


It’s a voice from my childhood, an old coach and counselor from summer camp, Tobias Woodworth. I called him Toby. He called me “Ee-dah.”


Stuck with me and all my other quasi-incorrigible New York City friends, Toby found himself saying, “smah-ten up!” an awful lot. It could mean anything from “you’ve got two strikes — protect the plate” to “put down that rock.”


ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The National Association of Chain Drug Stores and the National Community Pharmacists Association on Friday sent a joint letter to every governor and state Medicaid director on the importance of pharmacies in Medicaid and the industry’s interest in working with state governments to cut costs.