Pharmacies compounding sterile drug products for dispensing to patients in California would be required to obtain a license to engage in that practice under a bill introduced to the state’s senate on February 19, 2013.

Prescription drugs were involved in 60% of drug overdose deaths, which increased for the 11th consecutive year, reports Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Aimed to address prescription drug misuse, addiction, and overdose deaths, the Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (SB 348) was reintroduced in the United States Senate.

A Georgia bill (PDF) requiring pain management clinics to be physician-owned and licensed by the Georgia Composite Medical Board has passed in the state’s House of Representatives. 

Cooperation among international pharmacy regulatory agencies and tightening the United States drug distribution chain would help protect global public health from substandard and falsified drugs, indicates a new report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM).

Stricter inspection requirements for nonresident compounding pharmacies and a clarification that distinguishes compounding from manufacturing are among the statutory changes included in House Bill 2312 currently being considered by the Virginia Legislature. 

Consumers across the country will have another opportunity to help prevent abuse and misuse of prescription drugs by disposing of any unneeded or unwanted medications during the sixth Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day.

NABP to share information on NABP PMP InterConnect and AWARxE.

Aimed to protect public health, a bill introduced in the Oklahoma Legislature would bring pharmacy benefit managers under the regulation of the Oklahoma State Board of Pharmacy. 

NABP is pleased to announce that the Kentucky All Schedule Prescription Electronic Reporting program is the 11th prescription monitoring program (PMP) to deploy NABP PMP InterConnect^®. 

In a letter (PDF) to PharMEDium Services LLC, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Drug Evaluation and Research indicates that it will no longer exercise enforcement discretion that allowed the company to produce non-patient specific drug products for distribution to hospitals across the country. 

Partial or complete cease and desist orders were issued to 11 compounding pharmacies by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH).

FDA is alerting health care providers that an unapproved cancer medicine distributed by a United States company, Medical Device King (also known as Pharmalogical), is counterfeit.

Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is offering two regional one-day Pharmacy Diversion Awareness Conferences in Albuquerque, NM.

Compelling progress has been made by stakeholders seeking to address the public health issue of acetaminophen overdose, indicates a white paper published by the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs (NCPDP).

A majority of respondents to a survey on compounding practices indicated that pharmacy technicians who work in sterile compounding should be certified or licensed. 

With the multistate meningitis outbreak linked to unsafe compounding practices at the New England Compounding Center, multiple stakeholders, including NABP, are seeking to clarify the law and put in place new systems. 

Responding to epidemic proportions of flu in New York State, Governor Andrew Cuomo has passed emergency orders expanding pharmacists’ authority to vaccinate individuals against the illness. 

A Philadelphia doctor was sentenced to seven years in prison for charges related to a pill mill scheme that operated out of his office. 

With high rates of flu across the country, FDA in conjunction with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) took action to help protect consumers from an unapproved product marketed to treat the flu.