Reliable news and information for nurses managing medicines in their nurse-led and nurse-run clinics.
So what’s new and relevant to the Nurse-led Clinic world..? We report for you.
December 2011: United States: US health secretary overrules FDA’s decision to increase access to emergency contraceptive.
The US health secretary has overruled the Food and Drug Administration (FDA’s) recommendation that the ‘Plan B’ emergency contraceptive pill should be available over the counter without a prescription to all girls and women of child bearing potential. This is the first time that a scientific decision by the FDA has been cancelled by the government. This means restrictions remain the same and it will be available to women aged 17 years or older from pharmacists and younger teenagers will need a doctor’s prescription. Comment from the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) available here.
December 2011: Domperidone products.
McNeil Products Ltd. and Winthrop Pharmaceuticals UK Ltd (trading as Zentiva- a Sanofi company) have issued new information regarding cardiac risks of Domperidone products (Motilium® and all available generic products). Advice available here.
December 2011: Increased short-term risk of thrombo-embolism or death after interuption of Warfarin treatment in patients with atrial fibrillation.
A new Danish research paper from the European Heart Journal exploring the unknown area of the risk of thromo-embolic adverse events in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) who interupt Warfarin treatment. The abstract is available here and concludes from a retropsective, nationwide cohort study that an interuption of Warfarin in those with AF is associated with a significantly increased short-term risk of death or thrombo-embolic events within the first 90 days of treatment interuption.
November 2011: Drugs in Chronic Heart Failure management.
If your clinic involves managing patients with chronic heart failure, the UK’s ‘National Institute for Health and Clinical Evidence’ have recently released a useful 24 page document reviewing the latest evidence in managing this condition. Available here.
August 2011: Ivabradine and outcomes in chronic heart failure.
To coincide with our video on what’s new in nurse-led heart failure managment, with specialist nurse Caroline Curtis, here are some useful links to Ivabradine and the SHIFT trial examining the effects of heart rate reduction in this group of patients.
Click here and click here.
August 2011: European Commission approve Pradaxa (Dabigatran etexilate) for the prevention of stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) at risk of the former condition.
PharmaTimes on line is one of the sources reporting this news. It states that Pradaxa is the first new drug for 50 years to get the green light for the prevention of AF-related strokes and provide an alternative to vitamin K antagonist therapies, such as long-time standard of care, warfarin. Pradaxa is already approved for the prevention of stroke in AF in the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia and several other countries. While overall the 150mg BID (twice-daily dose) is recommended for the majority of patients, the 110mg BID dose is specifically available for patients aged 80 years or above, for those at increased risk of bleeding and for patients who are co-administered with Pradaxa and the calcium channel blocker verapamil. See more details here.
August 2011: Lebrikizumab in the management of patients with asthma.
A new paper published on line in early August from the New England Journal of Medicine presents a randomised, double blind, placebo controlled multicentre trial aimed to determine whether treatment with Lebrikizumab would improve the control of asthma. Lebrikizumab is a monoclonal antibody that specifically binds to interleukin-13 (IL-13) and inhibits its function. IL-13 is thought to contribute to many of the main features of asthma. Patients with asthma that was inadequately controlled with inhaled glucocorticoid therapy were randomised (1:1 ratio) to receive lebrikizumab (250mg; n =107) or placebo (n =112) subcutaneously once a month. The researchers examined all enrolled patients as a group and then stratified the patients according to baseline serum periostin level. It has been postulated that periostin may contribute to the mechanisms of airway remodelling in asthma and was used as a surrogate for interleukin-13 activity. See more details here.
