Specialty Pharmacy

WASHINGTON — The Pharmacy Compounding Accreditation Board is looking for a new executive director following the departure of Joe Cabaleiro, the group said Wednesday.

The formal search will start in January, and the new executive director will oversee accreditation programs for compounding pharmacies and lead compounding initiatives to enhance patient care and improve quality practices. Interested parties may contact National Community Pharmacists Association chief of staff Beverly Martin.

PETALUMA, Calif. — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new topical drug for treating scars made by Oculus Innovative Sciences, the drug maker said Wednesday.

The FDA has approved Microcyn scar-management hydrogel, used to treat scars resulting from burns, surgery and trauma wounds. Oculus and a partnering company, Quinnova Pharmaceuticals, intend to start selling the drug in the first half of next year.

CAMP HILL, Pa. — Rite Aid has appointed healthcare executive Myrtle Potter to its board of directors, the retail pharmacy chain said Tuesday.

Potter is currently CEO of Myrtle Potter & Co., a Silicon Valley-based consulting firm focused on life sciences and health care, as well as the head of consumer healthcare content company Myrtle Potter Media. She previous served as president of commercial operations and COO at Genentech and has worked at companies like Bristol-Myers Squibb and Merck.

HAYWARD, Calif. — Impax Labs has settled a patent-infringement suit filed by Purdue Pharma concerning the opioid painkiller OxyContin, Impax said Tuesday.

NEW YORK — Officials in Rhode Island may set up a registry that would allow doctors and pharmacists to track patients who have problems with drug abuse, according to published reports.

The Associated Press reported that the proposed registry would track prescriptions for drugs that are controlled substance and allow healthcare professionals to track their usage, similar to a monitoring program set up in New York this year. A task force that includes state lawmakers, health officials and healthcare professionals met Monday to look at the idea.

WASHINGTON — Elderly and disabled people nationwide have saved almost $9 billion on prescription drugs thanks to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, according to a new study by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

JERUSALEM — The Food and Drug Administration has designated a drug made by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries as an orphan drug, the company said.

Teva said the drug, Treanda (bendamustine hydrochloride), received the designation for indolent B-cell non-Hodgkins lymphoma through October 2015 that has progressed during or within six months of treatment with a regimen containing Rituxan (rituximab), marketed by Genentech and Biogen Idec. The FDA gives orphan drug designation to treatments for diseases affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the United States.

MALVERN, Pa. — Shionogi and Egalet have entered a deal worth up to $425 million for the development of abuse-deterrent opioid painkillers, Egalet said.

The deal centers on the development and potential commercialization of experimental drugs containing the opioid painkiller hydrocodone.