Drug Topics - November 5, 2007 - (Page 15)

NOVEMBER 5, 2007 DRUG TOPICS 15 expected to be voted on in December. Sewell also noted that pharmaceutical companies are also hoping for a delay in the rule’s implementation, citing difficulty in gathering the required data. In addition to the AMP bill, NCPA has been busy lobbying Congress on several pharmacy bills. According to Roberts, caucus members were helpful in passing a last-minute bill that delayed implementation of a new rule requiring tamper-resistant prescription pads for Medicaid prescriptions and are pushing for prompt-pay legislation. The groups also helped kill a proposed bill that would have given the Food & Drug Administration greater control over compounding. 150 Years of American Pharmacy By Reid Paul 1918 influenza ‘puts pharmacists to the test’ Editor’s note: Throughout 2007, this column appears in each issue as part of our sesquicentennial celebration, and tied with the column is a contest. Monthly questions based on this column will be posted on the Drug Topics anniversary microsite. Contestants are eligible to win a Visa gift card of $250. For details about the contest, go to www.drugtopics.com. W tice. In October, Druggists’ Circular, which later merged with Drug hen influenza first hit in Europe in 1918, it drew relatively little no- New opportunities In addition to increasing NCPA’s clout in Congress, members were urged by Roberts to move beyond dispensing to increase involvement in medication therapy management, e-prescriptions, and specialty pharmacy. Roberts touted the organization’s ventures with Mirixa for MTM and SureScripts for e-prescribing as tools for independent pharmacists to diversify and modernize their businesses. He also noted that independent pharmacists lag behind chains for e-prescriptions. “We are behind the curve,” he warned. “E-prescribing is not coming. It’s here, and we have a ways to go.” According to Douglas Hoey, NCPA’s chief operating officer, another one of the tools for independent pharmacies will be Project Destiny, which NCPA has been developing with the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, and American Pharmacists Association. A final report is expected on the business plan project later this month. “We think it will be a vital tool for all of retail pharmacy to diversify their business,” he said. “We need to move retail pharmacy to a different place, a place of trusted value and a part of the healthcare system,” Roberts argued. “If pharmacy continues down the path of being purveyors of a commodity, then I’m not optimistic. This is a major change for this industry, but the pain creates opportunity.” DT Topics, briefly mentioned the spread of the virus, noting that death rates “have been very low.” The magazine reported that after a few days of high fever and general malaise, most patients had a “rapid and complete recovery.” Quickly, however, the scope and impact of the disease would be unmistak- This 1919 Drug Topics cartoon noted able. Before the year was out, an estimat- the impact of the influenza pandemic. ed 20% of the world’s population —including 28% of Americans—had contracted the disease, and between 20 million and 100 million people had died worldwide. According to a report in Drug Topics, the disease killed an estimated 360,000 Americans and produced more than $100 million in life insurance claims. Just a month after its initial report, Druggists’ Circular reported that the disease had crossed the Atlantic. “Spanish influenza,” as it was called, was clearly different from the typical flu. Schools closed, buildings were converted into hospitals, and pharmacists stood at the front lines of the fight. “Spanish influenza is raging throughout the East, and the epidemic has made a deep impression on the drug business,” a reporter insisted. “Druggists are no more immune to influenza than other people… [and are] overworked to a degree believed to be unprecedented.” As quickly as it arrived, the disease was gone. Numerous pharmacists described to Druggists’ Circular the measures they took during the pandemic as well as the impact it had on their business. Magnesium citrate, salicylate, quinine, and phenacetin were in high demand, and camphor prices rose as the “public appears to have gained the notion that even the odor of camphor would keep influenza germs off.” Other parts of the pharmacy like the soda fountain or cosmetic counter “were practically ignored in order to put every competent man at work compounding prescriptions. We worked as long as we could stay on our feet,” pharmacists told the magazine. Pharmacists were up to the task, at least in the view of Druggists’ Circular. “In one respect, at least, the ill wind of the late epidemic of Spanish influenza blew some good to pharmacy,” the magazine opined. “It served to establish in the estimation of the public the practice of pharmacy as a profession. That pharmacists saved lives, many lives, is indisputable and that they conducted themselves with conspicuous and self-sacrificing devotion to duty and to humanity is equally conclusive.” DT http://www.drugtopics.com

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Drug Topics - November 5, 2007 Contents Latebreakers Latebreakers in Depth Letters Rx Care Community Practice 150 Years of American Pharmacy Hospital Practice Pharmacists at Risk Government and Law High-Density Lipoprotein New Products Advertisers Index Classified Viewpoint

Drug Topics - November 5, 2007

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