Specialty Pharmacy

WASHINGTON — A Food and Drug Administration panel will meet Monday to discuss a class of drugs designed to treat chronic painful conditions that currently are under development and the safety issues possibly related to the drugs.

In January, specialty pharmacy group contracting organization Armada Health Care introduced ApproveRx, a Web-based system that it says will greatly streamline the prior authorization process and already has been adopted by Amber Pharmacy. Meanwhile, the company also is gearing up for the Armada Summit at the Wynn Las Vegas Hotel in May. Recently, Drug Store News spoke with Armada CEO Larry Irene about these recent developments.


DSN: How did Armada develop the ApproveRx 
system? 


The number of patients with diabetes is not decreasing any time soon, and one of the most important fronts in the battle lies at the pharmacy counter.


ST. PAUL, Minn. — A pharmacy benefit manager and the U.S. subsidiary of a German drug maker have made a deal concerning a drug for multiple sclerosis.

WASHINGTON — Prices for generic drugs may be dropping, but increases in branded and specialty drug prices have offset those decreases, according to a new study.

The study, conducted by AARP's Public Policy Institute, found that the cumulative change in drug prices from 2005 to 2009 was almost double the rate of inflation. As a result, the average annual cost of drug therapy continued to rise.

WOODCLIFF LAKE, N.J. — The Food and Drug Administration has declined to approve a drug made by Eisai for leukemia in certain elderly patients, the drug maker said.

Eisai said the FDA delivered it a complete response letter for the chemotherapy drug Dacogen (decitabine) in patients ages 65 years and older with acute myeloid leukemia who are not candidates for induction therapy. The FDA delivers a complete response letter when questions remain about an regulatory application that preclude approval, usually due to insufficient clinical trial data.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Takeda Pharmaceutical's cancer drug unit has started a late-stage clinical trial of a drug for treating a rare form of lymphoma, the company said.

The unit, Millennium, announced the start of a phase-3 trial to evaluate MLN8237 in patients with relapsed or refractory peripheral T-cell lymphoma, an aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — An organization representing independent retail pharmacies is criticizing a new ad by a pharmacy benefit manager industry group, calling the ad "irresponsible."