The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Office of Women’s Health today released a new public service announcement (PSA) titled, “Use Medicines Wisely,” to help raise awareness about safe medication use.
Millions of people benefit from FDA approved medications and are living longer productive lives. However, when medications are used incorrectly, they can cause serious injuries, even death. Many of these injuries can be prevented.
To view Multimedia News Release, go to http://multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/fda/50878/
Following FDA approval of the AspireSR® generator for the VNS Therapy® system in June 2015, more than a thousand patients with drug-resistant epilepsy across the United States have received this new treatment option. Many of these patients are experiencing benefits which have positively impacted their lives – and are sharing their stories during Epilepsy Awareness Month with the hope of encouraging others to seek new treatments for drug-resistant epilepsy. Numerous hospitals nationwide have begun providing the AspireSR device to patients with drug-resistant epilepsy – a condition that affects as many as one-third of people with epilepsy, causing them to have seizures in spite of treatment with antiepileptic medications.
The VNS Therapy system is a minimally invasive option in which a medical device is placed under the skin in the upper chest area during an outpatient procedure. The device sends mild electrical pulses through the vagus nerve to areas of the brain known to be associated with seizures. The new AspireSR generator takes the VNS Therapy technology a step further – detecting relative heart-rate increases that are often associated with seizures in people with epilepsy and providing responsive stimulation in an attempt to stop and shorten seizures and improve recovery.
To view the multimedia release go to:
http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7651751-livanova-aspiresr-treatment/
Extremely painful and destructive, gout is the most common form of inflammatory arthritis with elevated serum uric acid (sUA) a root cause of the disease. Even with the growing incidence of gout, recent research from the Gout & Uric Acid Education Society (GUAES) found that just 16 percent of Americans overall know the target sUA number for gout (6 mg/dL or below) – and just 38 percent of people with gout had their sUA levels checked within the past six months, the timeframe recommended by the American College of Rheumatology. Additionally, the majority of gout sufferers don’t understand the importance of taking daily uric acid-lowering medications, with four in 10 incorrectly believing that they can stop taking medications when they aren’t experiencing flares.
Seeking to increase recognition of the severity of gout and need for routine sUA testing and management, GUAES hosted a professional roundtable discussion on October 3, 2015. The roundtable brought together several experts – rheumatologists, a family care physician, and representatives from the American Association of Diabetes Educators, the National Kidney Foundation and CreakyJoints – to explore how to more effectively educate about gout and improve access to public education and treatment.
To view the multimedia release go to:
http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7715851-guaes-gout-roundtable-discussion/
Fifty-two year-old Paul McNeel, a fire chief from Leonardtown, Maryland was 37 in 1996 when a sudden health problem caused the loss of his small intestine. Almost all of it had to be surgically removed to save his life. For 13 years after that, McNeel continued to fight fires and stayed alive by feeding himself a special liquid formula through a tube that went from a port in his chest directly to his heart and into his bloodstream. Over time that feeding process called TPN or total parenteral nutrition took a toll on his body; it was damaging his liver and he began to suffer frequent and worsening infections. McNeel needed a life-saving transplant that 13 years earlier would not have been survivable. Thanks to research into improved surgical methods, better anti-rejection medications and a better understanding of the small intestine, McNeel was able to have that transplant in May 2009 at Georgetown University Hospital under the care of Thomas Fishbein, MD, executive director of the Georgetown Transplant Institute and a specialist in small bowel transplants.
To view Multimedia News Release, go to http://www.multivu.com/mnr/52073-small-intestine-transplant-experts-hosted-by-georgetown
Today Safe Kids Worldwide released a new research report that found while the death rate among children from poisoning has been cut in half since the late 1970s, the percentage of all child poisoning deaths due to medications has nearly doubled, from 36 percent to 64 percent.
Safe Storage, Safe Dosing, Safe Kids: A Report to the Nation on Safe Medication examines trends in morbidity and mortality of medication poisoning among children ages 14 and under. The report underscores the challenge of medication-related poisoning among children and offers solutions that will reverse the trends. Safe Kids also proposes specific roles that parents and other caregivers, industry, governments, and the medical community can play in improving medication safety through safe storage and safe dosing.
To view Multimedia News Release, go to http://www.multivu.com/mnr/55155-safe-kids-worldwide-medication-safety-campaign-research-report
Nearly 12 million men in the U.S. suffer from symptoms related to benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), an enlargement of the prostate that can cause issues such as frequent and weak urinary streams and sleep deprivation from getting up repeatedly during the night to urinate. Since traditional BPH therapies such as daily medications and more invasive or surgical procedures often result in unwanted side effects and complications, more than 54 percent of men who would benefit from treating their BPH choose not to do anything1. With today’s national introduction of the FDA-cleared Rezūm® System, NxThera provides urologists and their patients suffering from symptomatic BPH with a new, safe and effective minimally-invasive, office-based treatment option which improves quality of life and preserves sexual function2 – one of the main reasons many men choose to forego medications or more invasive procedures.
“Men suffering from BPH are constantly evaluating the trade-offs between maintaining their current declined quality of life or treating their BPH symptoms and possibly incurring long term side effects,” said Dr. Kia Michel, M.D., a urologist at Comprehensive Urology in Los Angeles who recently performed the procedure as part of a nationally televised segment on prostate health. “Of all the minimally-invasive BPH treatments I’ve performed, Rezūm is the most effective and most versatile treatment available to patients – and the results have been excellent.”
To view the multimedia release go to:
http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7933151-nxthera-rezum-therapy/
Express Scripts clinical innovations saved its clients $45 billion in 2018 and delivered a 25-year record low drug trend of just 0.4 percent across employer-sponsored plans, according to data released today in its annual Drug Trend Report, an authoritative analysis of drug spending in the U.S.
Express Scripts’ solutions for driving lower drug prices and fostering the use of lower-net-cost treatments are making medication more accessible for beneficiaries. Unit drug costs decreased in 2018 for employer-sponsored and Medicare plans, while utilization of medications rose.
To view the multimedia release go to:
https://www.multivu.com/players/English/8478051-express-scripts-2018-drug-trend-report/
According to a recent national survey, 17.1 percent of Americans lack health insurance, and more than nine million of the nation’s uninsured rely on federally qualified health centers (FQHC), non-profit community clinics and free clinics each year for primary care. While these clinics serve the critical health care needs of the uninsured, patients oftentimes cannot afford the medications prescribed by the clinic’s physicians, or navigate a fragmented system that only offers partial solutions. This is a particularly growing problem for America’s working poor.
Today, Medco Foundation and Dispensary of Hope (DOH), a not-for-profit pharmacy-focused social venture for the uninsured, introduced a new, national initiative to substantially improve the supply, delivery and management of critical prescription drugs to thousands of uninsured Americans who are managing a chronic illness.
To view Multimedia News Release, go to http://www.multivu.com/mnr/54424-medco-dispensary-of-hope-prescription-drug-program-clinics-uninsured
Mark your calendars now – those leftover OTC and prescriptions in your medicine cabinet have got to go!
Chances are, if you open your medicine cabinet, you’ll find some some leftover medication that “might come in handy someday.” The reality is, those medications may have expired and are either ineffective or may cause more harm than you know. With cold and flu season upon us, it’s a great time to purge the medicine cabinet. Better to prepare now than scramble when you are sick. Clean out clutter and stock up on the staples!
Could migraine patients be doing more to get the most out of their medical visits? According to a new national survey released by the National Headache Foundation (NHF) and GlaxoSmithKline, the answer is yes. For the nearly 30 million migraine sufferers in the U.S., including six million treating with prescription medication, these survey results may have important implications.
The survey, conducted online in November 2010 by Harris Interactive, included 1,218 diagnosed migraine patients taking prescription medications for their migraine attacks as well as 533 physicians who treat between five and 10 migraine patients per week. The findings revealed disparities between what patients and physicians each reported typically discussing during office visits.
To view Multimedia News Release, go to http://multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/glaxosmithkline/48596/
The American Pain Foundation (APF) announced today the launch of new information and resources on pain medication safety for acetaminophen and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) as a part of its PainSAFE™ educational initiative. The new information will be launched with a national public service announcement (PSA) emphasizing the safe use of pain treatment options, particularly medications containing NSAIDs (aspirin, ibuprofen, naproxen) and acetaminophen (Tylenol, APAP). APF is the nation’s largest consumer advocacy organization dedicated to people with pain.
To view Multimedia News Release, go to http://multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/painfoundation/49865/
Every spring, allergies take control of the lives of millions of Americans, affecting their work, their family time and even how well they sleep at night. Something else affects those millions of allergy sufferers, according to a new survey: big misconceptions about allergies that may keep people from getting needed relief.
To help put those misconceptions about allergies to rest, Sanofi is teaming up with science educator and television personality Adam Savage, along with allergist Dr. Neeta Ogden, to dispel them with credible information. The goal: help the 50 million allergy sufferers in America get the facts they need to understand and treat their allergies and take back control of their lives.
To view the multimedia release go to:
https://www.multivu.com/players/English/8255452-sanofi-allergy-misconceptions-facts-adam-savage/
