Specialty Pharmacy

PITTSBURGH — Mylan's fully integrated specialty pharmaceutical business has a new leader.

ATLANTA — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday released new recommendations to treat latent tuberculosis infection.

The new recommendations, published in CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, provide guidance on how to administer a new 12-dose regimen for TB preventive therapy that will significantly shorten and simplify the course of treatment from about nine months to 12 weeks. The recommendations are based on the results of three clinical trials, as well as expert opinion.

SHARON HILL, Pa. — Attendance at the fifth annual Payer/Managed Care Symposium "far exceeded" that of previous years, the event's sponsor said.

SAN DIEGO — Diplomat Specialty Pharmacy has signed an agreement with a provider of acquisition and management services for oral cancer drugs that the companies said would allow for better access to the drugs and related programs.

RainTree Oncology Services announced the agreement with Flint, Mich.-based Diplomat, saying it was building a network of community oncologists through which members will obtain drugs at contracted prices and that the agreement would improve access to clinical and medication management programs.

NEW YORK — A Food and Drug Administration panel of 13 advisers has voted in favor of a drug made by Pfizer for treating kidney cancer, the drug maker said Wednesday.

Pfizer announced that the FDA's Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee voted unanimously to state that axitinib's benefits outweighed its risks in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma for whom first-line treatments had failed.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — New legislation proposed in the Senate would strengthen penalties against people who traffic in counterfeit medications.

Introduced by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., S. 1886, the Counterfeit Drug Penalty Enhancement Act of 2011, would harshen laws against producing, buying or selling counterfeit drugs. The bill has received support from the chain retail pharmacy lobby.

SILVER SPRING, Md. — Prescribers, patients and specialty care centers no longer will be required to enroll in safety monitoring programs for two drugs used to treat low platelet counts, following changes to their risk evaluation and mitigation strategies.

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. — BioPlus Specialty Pharmacy has appointed a new regional director.

The company said that Shelley Moore will be responsible for business development in Tennessee. Moore, a registered nurse, brings six years of nursing experience, along with a career specialty in bleeding disorders, to her position at BioPlus.