DRUG INTERACTIONS: Didanosine: Coadministration of VIREAD and didanosine should be undertaken with caution and patients receiving this combination should be monitored closely for didanosine-associated adverse reactions. Didanosine should be discontinued in patients who develop didanosine-associated adverse reactions. When administered with VIREAD, Cmax and AUC of didanosine (administered as either the buffered or enteric-coated formulation) increased [...]

WARNINGS AND PRECAUTIONS: Lactic Acidosis/Severe Hepatomegaly with Steatosis: Lactic acidosis and severe hepatomegaly with steatosis, including fatal cases, have been reported with the use of nucleoside analogs, including VIREAD, in combination with other antiretrovirals. A majority of these cases have been in women. Obesity and prolonged nucleoside exposure may be risk factors. Particular caution should [...]

WARNINGS: LACTIC ACIDOSIS/SEVERE HEPATOMEGALY WITH STEATOSIS and POST TREATMENT EXACERBATION OF HEPATITIS Lactic acidosis and severe hepatomegaly with steatosis, including fatal cases, have been reported with the use of nucleoside analogs, including VIREAD, in combination with other antiretrovirals (See Warnings and Precautions). Severe acute exacerbations of hepatitis have been reported in HBV-infected patients who have [...]

Medication compliance is a hot topic these days, both in Washington and beyond the Beltway. For example, one of the concerns PBMs have had about a medical data privacy law is that they might not be able to get the kind of patient information they need—from pharmacies or physicians—to run the kind of compliance programs [...]

Most of our readers are working hard in hospitals, managed care organizations, and other settings to reduce the epidemic of medical errors, especially those relating to the delivery of prescription medication. Indeed, volumes have now been written about medical error reduc-tion, and major national organizations are spreading the error-reduction gospel everyday. Progress appears to be [...]

After a few years of revving up its regulatory engine, the Food and Drug Administra- tion (FDA) is ready to move forward with a proposal for bar coding pharmaceuticals. The idea is to use bar coding to cut down on the kinds of medication errors that were first highlighted in the National Academy of Science’s [...]

Depending on the drug-shortage profile, task forces might be created to determine what, if any, restrictions or interchanges are appropriate. Subsequently, the information is presented at the drug use committee and drug use and formulary review subcommittee of the P&T committee. Ultimately, the P&T committee reviews and accepts formulary recommendations and distributes communications about the [...]