U.S. Pharmacist Weekly News

May 18, 2022

Prescribing Long-Term Steroids at Discharge to Recovered COVID-19 Inpatients

Systemic inflammation helps explain elevated death rates for recovered COVID-19 patients who required hospitalization, according to a new study. New research from the University of Florida suggests that inflammation contributes to negative health impacts months after apparent recovery from severe COVID-19 and that hospitalized COVID-19 patients should be discharged with prescriptions for steroids to help manage persistent systemic inflammation. Read more.

Disease-Modifying Therapies Safe for Use by Breast-Feeding Mothers With MS

Breast-feeding mothers with multiple sclerosis (MS) have struggled with keeping their babies safe, on the one hand, while also trying to continue with disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) to slow down damage from the disease, on the other. Now, a new study demonstrates that a common DMT appears safe for use while breast-feeding. Learn more about this study.

How Bad Is Concurrent Prescribing of Nitrates, PDE5Is?

It is gospel from the FDA and specialty societies that using nitrates and phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors (PDE5Is) at the same time is extremely dangerous for patients with ischemic heart disease. That is why the results of a new Danish study were so puzzling: Researchers did not identify a "statistically significant association between concomitant use of these medications and cardiovascular adverse events." Read more.

Paxlovid Cost-Effective COVID-19 Drug; Pharmacies Have More Access

An independent group—the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review—found Paxlovid highly effective against COVID-19, and yet—despite the efforts of the federal government—the drug has been underused until very recently. Find out the White House's latest aggressive plans to remedy that and why pharmacies are such a big part of future efforts.