HIV Boot Camp: Background and Pathophysiology

Editor's note: To date, our most reader requested topic has been HIV. We've written a guest post at MedEd101 to cover the most NAPLEX-worthy testing points. But we thought we'd dig in a little further here. Over the next few weeks, we're posting a series called HIV Boot Camp. We'll shore up your HIV fundamentals. Then we'll breakdown each drug class piece by piece to highlight what you need to know. For convenience, we'll link each part of the series here.

Background

HIV is a bastard. Let's just start right out with that

New FDA Approval: Nuplazid

Drug

Pimavenserin [Nuplazid]

Indication

The treatment of hallucinations and delusions associated with psychosis in Parkinson's Disease

New FDA Approval: Cinqair

Drug

Reslizumab [Cinqair]

Indication

It's yet another monoclonal antibody (YAMA? #YAMA?) approved for the treatment of severe asthma that is poorly controlled.

FDA Approval, Clinical, PracticeSamuel OhApril 27, 2016cinqair, reslizumab, -mab, Monoclonal Antibodies, asthma, IL-5

Antibiotics: A Quick and Dirty Guide

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a doctor in possession of a cellulitis patient, must be in want of an antibiotic recommendation from pharmacy....

Once, a medical resident called me to ask about a patient on the floor I was covering. The patient was 23, and in good health. He showed up to the ED overnight because of a worsening red/swollen wound he received doing construction work a few days prior. He was afebrile.

The overnight team admitted him to the hospital and started on Vanc and Zosyn (I like to call it "ZoVan").

New FDA Approval: Inflectra

Drug

Infliximab-dyyb [Inflectra]

Indication

It’s a biosimilar to infliximab [Remicade], so it has the same indications. Primarily, you’re going to see it used for Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, and rheumatoid arthritis. But you’ll also see it occasionaly used for ankylosing spondylitis and psoriasis.

FDA Approval, Clinical, PracticeBrandon DysonApril 12, 2016Inflectra, Infliximab, Biosimilar, Remicade

The Top 5 HIV Clinical Pearls for the NAPLEX

Hello Everyone! Just a quick note to mention that we wrote a guest post over at the very awesome www.meded101.com

The post goes through some HIV wisdom for the NAPLEX....which is fast approaching if you're a P4. You can check it out here:

https://www.meded101.com/top-5-hiv-clinical-pearls-naplex/

How to Outsmart Big Pharma - Part II

tl;dr - Assume that everything you read about a drug is somewhere between slightly misleading and complete bullshit.

Practice, ProfessionalBrandon DysonApril 8, 2016Big Pharma, Advertorials, Ghostwriting, Free Book, Contest, Clickbait

New FDA Approval: Descovy

Drug

Emtricitabine + Tenofovir alafenamide [Descovy]

Indication

Hepatitis C Treatment 101

Hepatitis C has been in the news a lot recently. On one hand, the advances in research have some touting the disease on the verge of being "cured." On the other hand, the "Because We Can, That's Why" $1000 per pill regimens are coming under scrutiny from congress.

Many of us try to avoid Hepatitis C (HCV) because so much of the therapeutics are new and "foreign" to us. Also, the HCV treatment guidelines have changed at least twice in the time it's taken you to read this far. But HCV isn't going away. And you know it's going to be on the NAPLEX. So let's dig in, and see if we can't make some sense of this ever-evolving disease.

Clinical, Pharmacy School, Residency, PracticeSamuel OhMarch 31, 2016HepC, Hepatitis C, HCV, Harvoni, Zepatier, Viekira Pak, Sovaldi, Daklinza

How to Outsmart Big Pharma - Part I

As a health care professional, one of your duties is to evaluate literature and make clinical decisions for your patients. What? I didn't say it was an easy part of your job. Maybe not even a fun part. You've got to be able to separate the wheat from the chaff. To read between the lines and see through the BS. To arrive at that happy place where sound evidence-based decisions come from.

This special tl;dr two-part post will help you see some of Big Pharma's tricks--so you'll be better prepared when you read up on that new drug approved by the FDA.

Part I is like a mini journal club. We'll focus on a recent secondary analysis of the ARISTOTLE trial.

Part II will take a broader look at the other marketing practices of Big Pharma.

Practice, ProfessionalBrandon DysonMarch 30, 2016Big Pharma, Journal Club, Statistics, Data, Clinical Trials

Fluid Management: Essentials for Pharmacists

Here's the scene. I'm a new PGY1 resident. I'm still a little nervous with the whole "residency" thing. I'm on my first rotation, covering is an IMC unit (which has patients less sick than an ICU, but more sick than a regular medicine floor). It's still early in the residency, and I'm already tired. Rounds start at 9am, but I arrived hours before to work up my patients. And I woke up hours before that because I hadn't yet lost my motivation for exercise and general health and wellness.

The Official Warfarin "Oh Shit" Drug Interaction List

If you are a future (or current) pharmacist, you need to know warfarin. You don't need me to tell you that. Every teacher and preceptor you've had since you started school has been drilling that into your head.

However you've probably also noticed that few will actually tell you how to dose warfarin. Sure, you learn about purple toes and birth defects, but that doesn't tell you what to do when your patient's INR is 5.6.

Clinical, Pharmacy School, Practice, ResidencyBrandon DysonMarch 10, 2016Warfarin, Drug Interactions, Coumadin, VKA, NAPLEX