Rite Aid Foundation Launches New Prescription Drug Safety Initiative in Harrisburg-Area High Schools

In an effort to help address adolescent drug abuse and misuse in Pennsylvania, The Rite Aid Foundation is bringing the Prescription Drug Safety program, an innovative digital course about prescription drug abuse prevention, to Harrisburg-area high schools.The program, developed by EVERFI, the nation’s leading education technology innovator used in one in seven schools nationwide, will be made available to high schools in Cumberland, Dauphin, and York counties at no cost. Representatives of The Rite Aid Foundation, Executive Deputy Attorney General for Public Engagement Rob Reed and Harrisburg School District officials announced the launch of the new program during a press conference and demonstration at Harrisburg High School SciTech Campus.
The Prescription Drug Safety program uses an evidence-based, public health approach to empower high school students with the skills and knowledge they need to make safe and healthy decisions about prescription drugs. Through interactive scenarios and self-guided activities, students learn the facts about drugs, how to properly use and dispose of them, and how to step in when faced with a situation involving misuse. The course is aligned with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Health Education Standards and state academic standards.Pennsylvania is one of the states hardest hit by prescription drug abuse and the opioid epidemic. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Pennsylvania is among the top five states with the highest rates of opioid-related deaths, with 5,456 deaths being attributed to opioid drug overdose in 2017, per the Drug Enforcement Administration.
The School District of the City of Harrisburg is committed to providing a rigorous and relevant education to all students in an innovative, supportive and culturally responsive learning environment that fosters high expectations, and data driven, standards aligned instruction provided by committed, highly qualified educators. Through collaborative partnerships, and strong parent and community engagement, we aim to empower all students to become academic achievers and lifelong learners who are motivated and prepared to compete and succeed beyond high school graduation in 21st Century global markets.

DEA National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day Set for April 28

Count It! Lock It! Drop It!® (CLD) is encouraging Tennesseans to participate in the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day on Saturday, April 28. More than 150 take-back events will be held across the state from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., when residents will have the opportunity to safely dispose of their unneeded or expired medications.
To help maintain record-setting numbers, community members are encouraged to stop by their nearest take-back location to drop off their unused or old medications, especially pain relievers and other prescription drugs. Pharmacists and law enforcement officers will be on hand to accept the medications and safely dispose of them, no questions asked.“Count It! Lock It! Drop It!® is a comprehensive community initiative funded by the BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee Health Foundation that is focused on three easy steps anyone can take to prevent others from accessing their drugs: Count their pills, keep them locked up, and safely dispose of them at a take-back event or in a permanent drop box,” said Kristina Clark, project manager of the initiative. “CLD will be hosting a number of take-back locations to make it as easy and convenient as possible for people to rid their homes of medications they no longer use or need.” “Fifty-three percent of Americans who use prescription drugs recreationally got them from a friend or relative, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. A survey conducted for BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee in 2016 also found that 64 percent of Tennesseans know someone who has become addicted to prescription pain medication,” said Dr. Andrea Willis, senior vice president and chief medical officer at BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee. “National Prescription Drug Take-Back Days are a safe and easy way to protect your loved ones and to get these drugs out of your home.” Take-back events in Tennessee can be found at http://countitlockitdropit.org/drop-box-finder/. According to the DEA, Tennessee collected 54,294 pounds of medications statewide during two Take-Back Days in 2017. If you can’t make it to a take-back event, visit http://www.countitlockitdropit.org to find a drop box in your community. Drop boxes are available in all 95 Tennessee counties.

Proposed AstraZeneca Megamerger a “Complementary Fit” with Pfizer Thanks to Potential Pipeline Gains, says GlobalData

LONDON, UK (GlobalData) As Pfizer’s potential takeover of AstraZeneca looms closer, the success in its bid for consolidation with AstraZeneca would result in promising pipeline gains and more than solidify its position as the world’s largest pharmaceutical company, at a time when Swiss giants Novartis and F. Hoffman-La-Roche are closing in on its historical leadership, says research and consulting firm GlobalData.Joshua Owide, GlobalData’s Director of Healthcare Industry Dynamics, states that this deal would be unlike any other in Pfizer’s corporate evolution to date, as the majority of value involved in the merger attempt would come from Pfizer’s ability to nurture ongoing research and development (R&D) activities at AstraZeneca.GlobalData also believes that a Pfizer/AstraZeneca megamerger could create an R&D juggernaut, with aggregate expenditure of over $11 billion, surpassing current R&D spending leaders Novartis and Roche. Additionally, this consolidation would create a pipeline with overall projected sales of $10.8 billion in 2019.Owide says: “The proposed purchase of AstraZeneca appears to be a very complementary fit with Pfizer, especially given the latter’s plans to spin off some of the mature components of its prescription pharmaceutical business.“AstraZeneca’s expiring drugs would meld into Pfizer’s Established Products division, and the former’s promising pipeline would bolster the other two Pfizer business units, which focus on new medications and consumer health, making them prime candidates for divestment.”  Pfizer and AstraZeneca both have complementary areas in R&D, and a merger would give Pfizer a much larger oncology pipeline in particular, thanks to the fold-in of AstraZeneca’s late-stage, anti-cancer agents. These include moxetumomab, olaparib and tremelimumab, which is a candidate developed by Pfizer and licensed to MedImmune.Indeed, with Roche having launched its latest generation of oncology antibody therapies in 2013, AstraZeneca now boasts the most promising oncology pipeline in the industry, with projected 2019 revenues of $4.7 billion, ahead of Merck & Co. and Bristol-Myers Squibb. Furthermore, AstraZeneca is currently investigating compounds in 60 oncology indications across Phase I and Phase II trials, representing a significant strategic opportunity for Pfizer.Owide states that the implications of this are significant. The branded oncology market is forecast to grow by annual sales of $76.7 billion between 2013 and 2019, making it the largest disease market by a sizable margin and also the fastest-growing one, with a CAGR of 10.5%.He continues: “The potential gain that Pfizer could extract from AstraZeneca’s pipeline, in relation to other components of the combined business, shows that any value from its deal with AstraZeneca would be heavily tied to its ability to nurture the UK giant’s emerging pipeline.“Of course, such a deal would carry a high level of risk, and Pfizer will look to argue this point as it attempts to convince AstraZeneca’s management and shareholders to relinquish their control for a fair price,” Owide concludes.