Regulatory and Washington

ATLANTA — According to last week’s FluView report, released Friday, influenza activity remains elevated nationally. Flu activity is likely to continue for several more weeks, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concluded.

For the week of Jan. 26 through Feb. 1, the national proportion of people seeing their healthcare provider for influenza-like illness decreased slightly for the fifth week, but remains above the national baseline. All 10 regions continue to report ILI activity above their region-specific baseline level. 

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Two Florida lawmakers have introduced legislation in the Florida State Senate and Florida House of Representatives, respectively, that aims to apply standards to pharmacy audits and rein in practices that could negatively impact patient care, small business community pharmacies and state revenue. The legislation has received a nod of approval from the National Community Pharmacists Association.

ROCKVILLE, Md. — Women who take aspirin daily may reduce their risk of ovarian cancer by 20%, according to a study by scientists at the National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health. 

The study was published Feb. 6 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

WASHINGTON — In a report publicly released Thursday by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the GAO found that the total draft federal upper limits amount based on the new formula under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was about 1.4% lower than the total National Average Drug Acquisition Cost amount in aggregate for 1,035 outpatient drugs subject to the FUL in first quarter 2013.

SILVER SPRING, Md. — The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday published an interim final rule to further safeguard the health of infants fed infant formula in the United States. The rule, which sets standards for manufacturers to produce safe infant formula that supports healthy growth, is accompanied by two draft guidance documents for industry.

SILVER SPRING, Md. — The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday unveiled its first youth tobacco prevention program, “The Real Cost,” which will target at-risk youth ages 12 to 17 years who are open to smoking or already experimenting with cigarettes. About 10 million youth in the United States currently fall into this category.

The campaign launches nationally Feb. 11. 

WASHINGTON — Reps. Bill Johnson, R-Ohio, and Bruce Braley, D-Iowa, last week introduced bipartisan legislation — the Preventing Abuse of Cough Medicine Treatment Act — that would help combat the abuse of dextromethorphan by placing an age restriction on its purchase. 

WASHINGTON — The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America on Tuesday announced a partnership with the National Institutes of Health that will help spur drug development, the association stated. 

The Accelerating Medicines Partnership — an initiative of NIH, several non-profit disease foundations, 10 biopharmaceutical companies and PhRMA — aims to transform the current model for developing new diagnostics and treatments by joining forces to identify and validate promising biological targets of disease.