News You Can Use… Pete Koval, PharmD Laura Evington, PharmD candidate Cone Health Family Medicine November 2014

New Vaccine Approved Pfizer won FDA approval for Trumenba, a vaccination against meningitis B Serogroups B, C and Y cause disease in the US Current meningococcal vaccine (Menactra) protects against serogroups C, Y, A and W First vaccine approved in US to prevent meningitis B 10/30/2014 FDA Biologics Approvals

New Generic Available Olopatadine HCl (generic for Patanase) will be available soon. Olopatadine is a nasal antihistamine spray indicated for seasonal allergic rhinitis. It will be available as mg/spray metered nasal spray 10/8/2014 FDA Approved Drug Products

New Generic Coming Soon Breckenridge Pharm has received tentative approval for Armodafinil (generic for Nuvigil) for the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea/hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) The product will be available in early 2015 when Nuvigil no longer contains exclusivity rights 10/15/2014 FDA Approved Drug Products

New Black Box Warning Xylocaine 2% viscous solution now contains a BBW against its use in children <3 years old for relief of teething pain Case reports of seizures, cardiopulmonary arrest and death Chewing on a chilled teething ring or use of systemic analgesics is recommended 10/16/2014 MedWatch

Black Box Warning Chantix (varenicline) will keep its BBW for serious neuropsychiatric events including depression and suicidal ideation and attempts Pfizer asked FDA to remove warning due to lack of evidence 10/17/2014 Medscape

New Formulary Drug Linzess (linaclotide) has been added to the Cone Health Formulary It is a GI agent indicated for chronic idiopathic constipation (145 mcg once daily) and IBS (290 mcg once daily) It should not be used in patients <18 years old 10/15/2014 Cone Health P&T

Memantine for Headaches Memantine (Namenda) may be useful for the prevention of primary headache disorders Retrospective reports and prospective clinical trials demonstrated that doses of mg daily reduced the frequency and intensity of migraine headaches Consider use in patients who have failed other prophylactic therapies 10/13/2014 Annals of Pharmacotherapy

LAMA + LABA in COPD Spiriva HandiHaler (tiotropium) in combination with Striverdi Respimat (olodaterol) demonstrated effectiveness in COPD in the ANHELTO trials compared to Spiriva alone Significant improvements in lung function at week 12 No significant difference in the rate of adverse effects 10/27/2014 P&T Community

You may be asked… About the needle-free jet injection flu shot Available this year Indicated for patients 18 to 64 Non-inferior to traditional needle and syringe administration Not available everywhere 10/2/2014 CDC