This has been a post in the Pharmanotes series, which seeks to educate the public on the “Top 200” most prescribed medications. The contents within this post are scholarly and do not constitute as medical advice.
Pharmanotes: Lisinopril
Compounding Pharmacies Offer Alternatives in Medical Diagnostics
Hospitals are beginning to explore and use alternatives to two manufactured radiotracers that both saw major price increases earlier this year.
Canadian radiopharmaceutical firm Jubilant DraxImage announced at the end of February that it was increasing the prices of macroaggregated albumin (MAA) and diethylenetriamine pentaacetate (DTPA), which are used for ventilation/perfusion (V/Q) scans to diagnose or rule out a pulmonary embolism.
The company, which had announced a shortage of MAA last September, said the previous prices had not covered production costs or allowed for any manufacturing improvements, putting the long-term availability of MAA and DTPA at risk. Some facilities are investigating custom MAA vials from compounding pharmacies, which work directly with prescribers to prepare personalized medications for patients, at a lower cost than the commercial kits. AnazaoHealth Corp., a specialty pharmacy headquartered in Tampa, Fla., that serves the nuclear medicine market, has seen more interest in the product.
Late Night Grab Bag: Asthma Cigarettes
thepharmaphile 