Regulatory and Washington

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The Medicare Part D program and taxpayers often pay more when prescription drugs are obtained through "preferred" pharmacies and mail order than they would if the same prescriptions were filled through other, "non-preferred" pharmacies, according to a cost comparison made by the National Community Pharmacists Association released Thursday using the Medicare Plan Finder website. The findings come shortly after recently proposed requirements that officials with the U.S.

WASHINGTON — The Consumer Healthcare Products Association on Thursday responded to the Food and Drug Administration’s recommendation to discontinue prescribing and dispensing prescription combination medicines that contain more than 325 mg of acetaminophen per dosage unit, suggesting it would not impact use of over-the-counter formulations containing acetaminophen.

SILVER SPRING, Md. — The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday issued a warning that some cryogenic wart removers — which remove warts from the skin by freezing them off — have caught fire during use at home, harming consumers or setting fire to items around the house.

Since 2009, FDA has received 14 such reports about over-the-counter wart remover products. Ten patients have described singed hair, blisters, burns or skin redness, the agency stated.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday voted to restore $85 million in Food and Drug Administration sequestered user fees.

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. — Dr. Ronald Worthington, associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences at the School of Pharmacy at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, obtained U.S. Patent No. 8,563,293 for his invention to protect against bacterial contamination. 

NEW YORK — Pharmacists in Illinois are pushing for the state to let them run medical marijuana dispensaries, according to published reports.

The Chicago Tribune reported that pharmacists are trying to get the state to reclassify marijuana as a Schedule II controlled substance. Currently, the Drug Enforcement Administration classifies it as Schedule I, making it illegal in all circumstances at the federal level; the proposed rescheduling would mean it was legal for medical use, but still tightly regulated, similar to opioid painkillers.

NEW YORK — The National Advertising Division on Tuesday referred advertising claims made by Coorga Nutraceuticals Corp. for its Grey Defense dietary supplements to the Federal Trade Commission.

NAD is an investigative unit of the advertising industry’s system of self-regulation. It is administered by the Council of Better Business Bureaus.

SILVER SPRING, Md. — The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday recommended healthcare professionals discontinue prescribing and dispensing prescription combination drug products that contain more than 325 mg of acetaminophen per tablet, capsule or other dosage unit.