Specialty Pharmacy

RIDGEFIELD, Conn. — A drug used to prevent stroke in patients with a form of atrial fibrillation has won preferred Tier 2 formulary status with pharmacy benefit managers Medco Health Solutions and CVS Caremark.

Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals announced Monday that CVS Caremark and Medco had added Pradaxa (dabigatran etexilate mesylate) capsules to their commercial preferred drug lists, and Medco had added the drug to its Part D drug list.

ST. LOUIS — Drug maker Fleming Pharmaceuticals is increasing production of a drug for preventing thyroid cancer in response to the nuclear crisis in Japan.

The drug, ThyroShield (potassium iodide), is designed for use in nuclear emergencies and works by saturating the thyroid gland so that it can’t absorb radioactive iodine.

WASHINGTON — A study published last week in Nutrition Journal found that dietary supplement usage and patient recommendations were common for physicians across several medical specialties, including dermatology, cardiology and orthopedics.

WASHINGTON — By 2015, “pharmacists will be the healthcare professionals responsible for providing patient care that ensures optimal medication therapy outcomes.” That was the consensus reached in the Joint Commission of Pharmacy Practitioners' vision statement at the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board’s Consumer Awareness, Resources, Education, State Policy and Testing Summit last month.

NEW YORK — "Fake drugs are a big threat and an exploding threat," Kumar Kibble, deputy director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, told the news program "60 Minutes" in a segment that appeared Sunday night.

SEATTLE — The Food and Drug Administration has approved biotech company Dendreon’s expansion of manufacturing capacity for an immunotherapy treatment for prostate cancer, Dendreon said Thursday.

The company said it would be able to increase the ability of Provenge (sipuleucel-T) manufactured at its plant in New Jersey by increasing the number of workstations to produce it from 12 to 48.

The treatment is designed to induce an immune response against prostatic acid phosphatase, an antigen present in most prostate cancers.

ELMSFORD, N.Y. — Specialty pharmacy provider BioScrip had sales of $450.4 million in fourth quarter 2010 and $1.6 billion for the year as a whole, according to financial results released Friday.

Sales for the quarter were $108.8 million higher than in fourth quarter 2009, while sales for the fiscal year were $300 million higher than in fiscal year 2009. However, the company still had net losses of $67.1 million for the quarter and $69.1 million for the year.

INDIANAPOLIS — Eli Lilly on Thursday announced that it has named Greg Plowman VP oncology research and SVP for ImClone Systems research.

Plowman will oversee the oncology research efforts of both Lilly and ImClone, the drug maker's subsidiary that it acquired in 2008. He will report to Jan Lundberg, EVP science and technology and Lilly Research Labs president, as well as Bernhard Ehmer, ImClone president.

Prior to accepting the position at Lilly, Plowman served as senior director of research for Genentech for six years. He officially will join the company March 28.