Licensing

LAS VEGAS — Among the highlights of this year’s Retail Clinician Education Congress, currently taking place here in Las Vegas, was a CEO/Leadership Panel and the Clinician Awards for Excellence.

 The 2013 RCEC conference, which is hosted by the Drug Store News Group in conjunction with the Convenient Care Association and Partners in Healthcare Education, is being held at the Planet Hollywood Resort in Las Vegas. It runs from May 14 to May 16.

TAMPA, Fla. — The Specialty Pharmacy Certification Board has appointed Terri Smith Moore as the education director, the group said Friday.

Moore is the senior manager for product development at healthcare accreditation organization URAC, where she manages the group's accreditation programs and revisions and maintenance of related accreditation documentation.

The Specialty Pharmacy Certification Board will begin certifying specialty pharmacists who pass a comprehensive exam in October. The exam is designed to cover the entire specialty pharmacy process, including intake, clinical management, fulfillment and outcomes. 

WASHINGTON — One of the difficulties that federal regulators ran into during the nationwide scandal surrounding the New England Compounding Center — the Massachusetts-based pharmacy blamed for a nationwide fungal meningitis epidemic that has sickened hundreds and killed dozens — was the issue of when such pharmacies cross the line from compounding to manufacturing.

TAMPA, Fla. — The outline of an exam that will be used to certify pharmacists working in the specialty channel has received approval from the Specialty Pharmacy Certification Board, the group said Tuesday.

SILVER SPRING, Md. — A Food and Drug Administration staffer who has led implementation of the Generic Drug User Fee Act has been named to a new director position at the agency, the FDA said Monday.

The FDA announced that it had appointed Mary Beth Clarke as permanent director of the Office of Executive Programs. Clarke had previously served as the OEP's executive director.

CHAUMBURG, Ill., and SOPHIA ANTIPOLIS, France — Galderma, whose brands include Cetaphil, and The American Academy of Dermatology have announced the creation of the American Academy of Dermatology Translational Biotechnology Fellowship.

WASHINGTON — A coalition of consumers, businesses and pharmacists is promoting greater access to immunizations to mark World Immunization Week, which started Wednesday and lasts until next Tuesday.

Pharmacy Choice and Access Now said it was encouraging states to expand the types of vaccines that pharmacists can administer.