Regulatory and Washington

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The National Association of Chain Drug Stores and National Community Pharmacists Association announced that they have sent joint letters to the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction and the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, encouraging the rejection of an Obama administration proposal that would “saddle Tricare beneficiaries with higher prices and penalize their utilization of community pharmacists.”

SILVER SPRING, Md. — A drug widely used to treat breast cancer is not safe or effective, the Food and Drug Administration said Friday.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The National Association of Chain Drug Stores has announced that the dates of the 2012 NACDS RxImpact Day on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., have been changed because of an alteration in the 2012 congressional calendar. The new dates for the two-day pharmacy advocacy event will be March 21 and 22, 2012.

The event was previously scheduled for the prior week in March, which now falls during a congressional district work period in which members of Congress will be in their home states and districts.   


SILVER SPRING, Md. — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new drug for treating a rare bone marrow disease, the agency said Wednesday.

SAN DIEGO — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new insulin-delivery system for Type 1 diabetes made by Tandem Diabetes Care, the company said Wednesday.

Tandem announced the approval of the T:slim, a pump that the company said is the first to have a color touch screen and is the smallest insulin pump system available, in addition to being one of the first to be approved under the FDA's new Infusion Pump Improvement initiative.

NEW YORK — When its blockbuster cholesterol drug Lipitor loses patent protection this month, Pfizer is hoping that pharmacy benefit managers will not dispense a generic version of the drug to its customers, according to published reports.

Pharmacy benefit managers Medco and Catalyst have agreed to block generic versions of Lipitor from reaching their customers until the end of May 2012, according to Bloomberg. Additionally, the company reportedly is in talks with Express Scripts to have the PBM also block generic versions from reaching customers as well.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The National Association of Chain Drug Stores has hired healthcare policy reporter Ben Moscovitch to serve as communications manager.

WASHINGTON — The generic drug lobby is stepping up its efforts to persuade the congressional super committee to avoid adopting rules that would ban some patent settlements between branded and generic drug makers.