News Continued from page 1918
would otherwise not be treated, a polypill may actually represent optimal care. Vanderbilt University nephrologist Julia Lewis was uncomfortable with the polypill concept. She said no one really knows what the effects of such treatment would be outside of clinical trials or in patients who might otherwise have had medication dosages tailored to their circumstances. “We have no idea if it will help or hurt them,” she said of a polypill. Lewis proposed that FDA require new safety studies of polypill products before approving them. John Flack, chair of the department of medicine at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, said that putting the polypill components together
in a single product “doesn’t automatically create some large risk that isn’t already out there.” Flack said he doesn’t think FDA should require new cardiovascular outcomes studies for polypill products. He and several other advisers suggested that polypill sponsors could perhaps conduct observational studies about the “real-world” use of the products. FDA officials and some advisers noted that the drug combinations that would constitute a polypill are routinely used by many patients. Norman Stockbridge, director of FDA’s division of cardiovascular and renal products, said that proposed polypill components are generally thought to be “pretty safe” overall, even among patients who concurrently take medications for a variety of conditions other than heart disease.
Worldwide pharmacy meeting discusses future of hospital practice, ethics
M
ore than 1900 pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists from 95 countries gathered in Bangkok, Thailand, from August 31 to September 4 for the 74th annual World Congress of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. The congress, organized by the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP), presented the opportunity for pharmacists and representatives of national pharmacy organizations to discuss issues of mutual concern and conduct elections. From Basel to Bangkok. The sixyear-old Basel Statements on the future of hospital pharmacy practice underwent the last step in revision during the meeting in Bangkok, reported Lee C. Vermeulen, secretary of the FIP Hospital Pharmacy Section. “I think they’re considerably clearer,” he said of the revised statements. Vermeulen, director of UW Health’s Center for Clinical Knowledge Manage1920
ment in Madison, Wisconsin, conducted some of the underlying research for the original statements and also the revisions. Part of the effort in revising the 75 consensus statements went to “globalizing” the language, he said. Effort also went to separating ideas that initially had not seemed complex. To Vermeulen, the resultant statements seem less Eurocentric and less focused on North American viewpoints than the original statements. “We’re still doing some final wordsmithing,” he said in mid-September, noting that the section’s leaders were exploring options for publication. Up-to-date code of ethics. FIP’s member organizations on September 1 agreed on a new set of professional standards regarding codes of ethics for pharmacists. This statement of professional standards was based on a reference document
Am J Health-Syst Pharm—Vol 71 Nov 15, 2014
Recent evidence suggests that many patients don’t receive optimal care for cardiovascular disease regardless of their prescribed drug regimen. A report published in September found that half of patients treated with a three-drug polypill for the secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease were still taking their medication nine months later, compared with 41% of patients assigned to take the drugs separately. The committee members were not asked to vote on any of the issues that arose during the polypill discussion, and FDA officials did not state whether any specific applications to market a polypill are currently under review. —Kate Traynor DOI 10.2146/news140077
developed by the FIP Working Group on Pharmacist Ethics and Professional Autonomy. The group was cochaired by William A. Zellmer, a U.S.-based consultant on pharmacy practice and education issues, and Betty B. Chaar of Australia. FIP Vice President Philip J. Schneider said ethics has an important place in pharmacists “making the best use of limited resources with the patient in mind first”—his restatement of the congress’s theme, “Access to Medicines and Pharmacists Today, Better Outcomes Tomorrow.” “Increasingly, pharmacists are employees” and not proprietors, Schneider, associate dean for the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy in Phoenix, said. “And increasingly pharmacists have to manage . . . the financial pressures of the enterprise versus the well-being of the patient.” He said the session devoted to ethics, which was held after adoption of the statement “Codes of Ethics for Pharmacists,” attracted about 100 people. Continued on page 1922
News Continued from page 1920
Photo courtesy of FIP.
“We reviewed the code of ethics line by line, and we read it together” while standing, Schneider said. “It was kind of emotional, I have to say.” The professional standard, which replaces one adopted in 2004, is available at www.fip.org/uploads/database_ file.php?id=351&table_id=. The reference document is at www.fip.org/uploads/database_file. php?id=358&table_id=. Awards. FIP bestowed honors on four members of the Hospital Pharmacy Section. Vermeulen, Zellmer (see photo), and outgoing Section President Jacqueline Surugue of France became fellows of FIP. Surugue is chief of the pharmacy department at Centre Hospitalier Georges Renon. The Joseph A. Oddis Award for Exceptional Service to FIP was given posthumously to Colin R. Hitchings, who died on June 30. Hitchings had served as an officer of FIP and its Hospital Pharmacy Section for a total of 22 years.
William A. Zellmer (at right) receives the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) Fellow pin and certificate from President Michel Buchman during the opening ceremony of the World Congress.
1922
Vermeulen said the section’s poster session had almost 100 displays. This year’s top prize in the section’s poster competition went to a team from Pakistan’s Aga Khan University Hospital for the poster “Developing Competency Through Webinar to Establish Oncology Pharmacy Services at the Aga Khan Hospital, Dar-es-salaam, Tanzania.” Elections. Four ASHP members won election or reelection as an officer of the Hospital Pharmacy Section. • Marianne F. Ivey, a professor at the University of Cincinnati College of Pharmacy in Ohio, was elected president. • Ryan A. Forrey, associate director of pharmacy at The Ohio State University Medical Center in Columbus, was elected the vice president representing the Americas. • Abdul Latif Sheikh, director of pharmacy services at Aga Khan University Hospital and a coauthor of the poster that won the section’s top prize, was elected the vice president representing the Eastern Mediterranean. • James G. Stevenson was elected to a second term as treasurer. He is a professor at the University of Michigan College of Pharmacy in Ann Arbor.
The world’s national pharmacy organizations elected the first female president of FIP, community pharmacist Carmen Peña of Spain. Schneider was reelected as an FIP vice president. South Africa’s Andrew L. Gray and Uruguay’s Eduardo Savio, members of the Hospital Pharmacy Section, won election as FIP vice presidents as well. Gray in addition was accorded the status of honorary member of the Hospital Pharmacy Section. He was president when the section held the Global Conference on the Future of Hospital Pharmacy, which produced the Basel Statements.
Am J Health-Syst Pharm—Vol 71 Nov 15, 2014
Next year’s World Congress of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences is scheduled for September 29 through October 3 in Düsseldorf, Germany. The theme is “Better Practice—Science based, Evidence driven.” Schneider said he is set to cochair the meeting’s first opening symposium on evidence-based practice. —Cheryl A. Thompson DOI 10.2146/news140078
News Briefs • A handheld device was cleared by FDA in September for use in measuring the blood glucose concentration of patients throughout a hospital and in any healthcare setting. The StatStrip Glucose Hospital Meter System requires a 1.2-µL sample of whole blood. Measurements are based on the glucose oxidase test. The device is by Nova Biomedical Corporation.
ASHP Chief Executive Officer Paul W. Abramowitz, Pharm.D., Sc.D. (Hon), FASHP, attended the Annual Fall Seminar of the Arkansas Association of HealthSystem Pharmacists (AAHP) in Little Rock, October 2–3. He gave the keynote presentation, titled “Transforming Patient Care: Paramount Issues and Opportunities in Pharmacy Practice.” He also attended the AAHP Board Meeting and met with members and students.
Copyright of American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy is the property of American Society of Health System Pharmacists and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.
would otherwise not be treated, a polypill may actually represent optimal care. Vanderbilt University nephrologist Julia Lewis was uncomfortable with the polypill concept. She said no one really knows what the effects of such treatment would be outside of clinical trials or in patients who might otherwise have had medication dosages tailored to their circumstances. “We have no idea if it will help or hurt them,” she said of a polypill. Lewis proposed that FDA require new safety studies of polypill products before approving them. John Flack, chair of the department of medicine at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, said that putting the polypill components together
in a single product “doesn’t automatically create some large risk that isn’t already out there.” Flack said he doesn’t think FDA should require new cardiovascular outcomes studies for polypill products. He and several other advisers suggested that polypill sponsors could perhaps conduct observational studies about the “real-world” use of the products. FDA officials and some advisers noted that the drug combinations that would constitute a polypill are routinely used by many patients. Norman Stockbridge, director of FDA’s division of cardiovascular and renal products, said that proposed polypill components are generally thought to be “pretty safe” overall, even among patients who concurrently take medications for a variety of conditions other than heart disease.
Worldwide pharmacy meeting discusses future of hospital practice, ethics
M
ore than 1900 pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists from 95 countries gathered in Bangkok, Thailand, from August 31 to September 4 for the 74th annual World Congress of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. The congress, organized by the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP), presented the opportunity for pharmacists and representatives of national pharmacy organizations to discuss issues of mutual concern and conduct elections. From Basel to Bangkok. The sixyear-old Basel Statements on the future of hospital pharmacy practice underwent the last step in revision during the meeting in Bangkok, reported Lee C. Vermeulen, secretary of the FIP Hospital Pharmacy Section. “I think they’re considerably clearer,” he said of the revised statements. Vermeulen, director of UW Health’s Center for Clinical Knowledge Manage1920
ment in Madison, Wisconsin, conducted some of the underlying research for the original statements and also the revisions. Part of the effort in revising the 75 consensus statements went to “globalizing” the language, he said. Effort also went to separating ideas that initially had not seemed complex. To Vermeulen, the resultant statements seem less Eurocentric and less focused on North American viewpoints than the original statements. “We’re still doing some final wordsmithing,” he said in mid-September, noting that the section’s leaders were exploring options for publication. Up-to-date code of ethics. FIP’s member organizations on September 1 agreed on a new set of professional standards regarding codes of ethics for pharmacists. This statement of professional standards was based on a reference document
Am J Health-Syst Pharm—Vol 71 Nov 15, 2014
Recent evidence suggests that many patients don’t receive optimal care for cardiovascular disease regardless of their prescribed drug regimen. A report published in September found that half of patients treated with a three-drug polypill for the secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease were still taking their medication nine months later, compared with 41% of patients assigned to take the drugs separately. The committee members were not asked to vote on any of the issues that arose during the polypill discussion, and FDA officials did not state whether any specific applications to market a polypill are currently under review. —Kate Traynor DOI 10.2146/news140077
developed by the FIP Working Group on Pharmacist Ethics and Professional Autonomy. The group was cochaired by William A. Zellmer, a U.S.-based consultant on pharmacy practice and education issues, and Betty B. Chaar of Australia. FIP Vice President Philip J. Schneider said ethics has an important place in pharmacists “making the best use of limited resources with the patient in mind first”—his restatement of the congress’s theme, “Access to Medicines and Pharmacists Today, Better Outcomes Tomorrow.” “Increasingly, pharmacists are employees” and not proprietors, Schneider, associate dean for the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy in Phoenix, said. “And increasingly pharmacists have to manage . . . the financial pressures of the enterprise versus the well-being of the patient.” He said the session devoted to ethics, which was held after adoption of the statement “Codes of Ethics for Pharmacists,” attracted about 100 people. Continued on page 1922
News Continued from page 1920
Photo courtesy of FIP.
“We reviewed the code of ethics line by line, and we read it together” while standing, Schneider said. “It was kind of emotional, I have to say.” The professional standard, which replaces one adopted in 2004, is available at www.fip.org/uploads/database_ file.php?id=351&table_id=. The reference document is at www.fip.org/uploads/database_file. php?id=358&table_id=. Awards. FIP bestowed honors on four members of the Hospital Pharmacy Section. Vermeulen, Zellmer (see photo), and outgoing Section President Jacqueline Surugue of France became fellows of FIP. Surugue is chief of the pharmacy department at Centre Hospitalier Georges Renon. The Joseph A. Oddis Award for Exceptional Service to FIP was given posthumously to Colin R. Hitchings, who died on June 30. Hitchings had served as an officer of FIP and its Hospital Pharmacy Section for a total of 22 years.
William A. Zellmer (at right) receives the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) Fellow pin and certificate from President Michel Buchman during the opening ceremony of the World Congress.
1922
Vermeulen said the section’s poster session had almost 100 displays. This year’s top prize in the section’s poster competition went to a team from Pakistan’s Aga Khan University Hospital for the poster “Developing Competency Through Webinar to Establish Oncology Pharmacy Services at the Aga Khan Hospital, Dar-es-salaam, Tanzania.” Elections. Four ASHP members won election or reelection as an officer of the Hospital Pharmacy Section. • Marianne F. Ivey, a professor at the University of Cincinnati College of Pharmacy in Ohio, was elected president. • Ryan A. Forrey, associate director of pharmacy at The Ohio State University Medical Center in Columbus, was elected the vice president representing the Americas. • Abdul Latif Sheikh, director of pharmacy services at Aga Khan University Hospital and a coauthor of the poster that won the section’s top prize, was elected the vice president representing the Eastern Mediterranean. • James G. Stevenson was elected to a second term as treasurer. He is a professor at the University of Michigan College of Pharmacy in Ann Arbor.
The world’s national pharmacy organizations elected the first female president of FIP, community pharmacist Carmen Peña of Spain. Schneider was reelected as an FIP vice president. South Africa’s Andrew L. Gray and Uruguay’s Eduardo Savio, members of the Hospital Pharmacy Section, won election as FIP vice presidents as well. Gray in addition was accorded the status of honorary member of the Hospital Pharmacy Section. He was president when the section held the Global Conference on the Future of Hospital Pharmacy, which produced the Basel Statements.
Am J Health-Syst Pharm—Vol 71 Nov 15, 2014
Next year’s World Congress of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences is scheduled for September 29 through October 3 in Düsseldorf, Germany. The theme is “Better Practice—Science based, Evidence driven.” Schneider said he is set to cochair the meeting’s first opening symposium on evidence-based practice. —Cheryl A. Thompson DOI 10.2146/news140078
News Briefs • A handheld device was cleared by FDA in September for use in measuring the blood glucose concentration of patients throughout a hospital and in any healthcare setting. The StatStrip Glucose Hospital Meter System requires a 1.2-µL sample of whole blood. Measurements are based on the glucose oxidase test. The device is by Nova Biomedical Corporation.
ASHP Chief Executive Officer Paul W. Abramowitz, Pharm.D., Sc.D. (Hon), FASHP, attended the Annual Fall Seminar of the Arkansas Association of HealthSystem Pharmacists (AAHP) in Little Rock, October 2–3. He gave the keynote presentation, titled “Transforming Patient Care: Paramount Issues and Opportunities in Pharmacy Practice.” He also attended the AAHP Board Meeting and met with members and students.
Copyright of American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy is the property of American Society of Health System Pharmacists and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.
