Retail Clinics

WHITEHOUSE STATION, N.J. — Merck on Wednesday announced that the Food and Drug Administration has approved Gardasil [human papillomavirus quadrivalent (types 6, 11, 16 and 18) vaccine, recombinant] for the prevention of anal cancer in males and females 9 to 26 years of age.

According to the company, Gardasil is the first HPV vaccine on the market available for use in both men and women, and the only one indicated  to help prevent cervical, vaginal, vulvar and anal cancers and pre-cancers, as well as genital warts, caused by certain types of HPV.

MORRISTOWN, N.J. — The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first and only low-dose oral contraceptive to combine 0.8-mg norethindrone and 0.025-mg ethinyl estradiol in a chewable form, with four 75-mg ferrous fumarate (iron) placebo tablets, Watson Pharmaceuticals has announced.

Watson's new oral contraceptive is positioned as a novel alternative to currently available birth control pills, and the dosing combination and 24-day active hormone regimen is intended to provide users with a low level of breakthrough bleeding and short, light, predictable periods.

WOONSOCKET, R.I. — Pharmacists at a retail pharmacy are the most influential healthcare "voice" in getting patients to take their medications as prescribed, followed by nurses talking with patients as they are discharged from a hospital, according to research sponsored by CVS Caremark.

WASHINGTON — The Council for Responsible Nutrition on Monday announced plans for a joint education effort with the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners and the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners Foundation to help raise the level of awareness within the supplement industry and with consumers about the valuable role of nurse practitioners in the quest for good health.

MADISON, N.J. — Nearly one-third of pregnant women are not being screened by a laboratory test for gestational diabetes mellitus (gestational diabetes), according to a study of more than 900,000 American women published online Tuesday on the Obstetrics and Gynecology site.

WOONSOCKET, R.I. — CVS Caremark's MinuteClinic has entered into an agreement with the National Patient Safety Foundation to become the nation's first retail clinic provider to implement the Ask Me 3 health literacy program.

MinuteClinic will launch the program in early 2011 in its approximately 500 medical clinics located inside select CVS/pharmacy stores in 26 states and the District of Columbia.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The healthcare-reform bill promised to dramatically expand coverage for Americans, but healthcare consumer confidence hasn’t necessarily kept up, according to data released Monday by Thomson Reuters.

NEW YORK — Community-based healthcare models, and the nurse practitioners who work within them, are particularly helpful in assisting diabetes patients with such underlying health conditions as depression, according to a recent study published on Nurse.com.