Drug Topics

06/13/2026

Community pharmacists play a vital role in distinguishing overlapping symptoms of seasonal allergies, cold, flu, and COVID-19 through targeted patient questioning. As clinical experts, they offer essential strategies for optimizing allergic rhinitis management while addressing broader systemic challenges like chronic drug shortages and health disparities in cardiometabolic care.

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Pharmacists lead respiratory triage amid overlapping allergy, cold, flu, and COVID-19 symptoms and tackle drug shortages and cardiometabolic care gaps.

06/13/2026

Topline phase 3 data from the ISLEND-1 and ISLEND-2 trials reveal that an investigational once-weekly oral combination of islatravir and lenacapavir successfully achieved statistical noninferiority in maintaining viral suppression compared with standard daily antiretroviral regimens. This novel dual-mechanism approach could soon bridge the gap between daily pills and provider-administered injections, offering pharmacy teams a powerful tool to simplify adherence and give patients greater lifestyle flexibility.

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Phase 3 data show a once-weekly HIV pill maintains viral suppression like daily therapy, hinting at simpler long-acting care.

06/12/2026

In part 2 of our interview, NCPDP Executive Vice President Julia Vu, PharmD, explores how standardized data-exchange protocols are creating interoperable AI to seamlessly orchestrate automated prior authorizations between EHR vendors and payers. She also highlights how the $50 billion federal Rural Health Transformation Program is leveraging standards-based tech to connect pharmacies to broader public health initiatives.

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In part 2 of our interview with Julia Vu, PharmD, she delves into the AI space within pharmacy practice while touching on the industry’s role in boosting rural health outcomes.

06/12/2026

In a deep-dive interview, Digital Apothecary founder Timothy Aungst, PharmD, and Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drugs executive Erin Albert, PharmD, JD, DASPL, explore how AI is actively reshaping workflows from dispensing automation to prior authorization.

Although these tools can effectively offload administrative burdens to give pharmacists more patient-facing time, Aungst cautions against automation bias and "deskilling," emphasizing the critical need for robust state-level regulations and updated pharmacy education to ensure AI clinical guardrails are safely maintained.

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AI reshapes everyday tasks in the community pharmacy from refill automation to documentation.

06/12/2026

The dangerous rise of unapproved obesity therapies: A recent investigation exposed a surging gray market where over 50 US clinics and 120 websites are prescribing and selling retatrutide—a powerful, investigational triple agonist—long before its anticipated FDA review.

Clinical and legal experts warn that distributing this unapproved drug poses severe public health hazards, as evidenced by a 265% spike in poison control exposures.

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Reports state that everyone from “shadowy online vendors” to physicians and nurses is illegally promoting the drug before it receives proper FDA approval.

06/11/2026

A historic milestone in sun protection: For the first time in over 2 decades, the FDA has expanded the nation’s over-the-counter sunscreen monograph by officially approving the broad-spectrum, highly photostable active ingredient bemotrizinol. Utilizing the streamlined CARES Act administrative order process, this landmark modernization offers pharmacy teams an innovative, oil-soluble chemical UV filter that leaves no chalky white residue on darker skin tones and provides an irritation-free alternative for patients with sensitive skin.

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The decision represents the first new sunscreen ingredient permitted in the United States since the late 1990s.

06/11/2026

Menopause is a full-body physiological transition, yet it is too often treated as a series of isolated symptoms managed by separate specialists. Without someone looking at the big picture, women frequently end up with conflicting advice and multiple prescriptions instead of a cohesive, clear care plan.

Learn more from a recent episode of the Over the Counter podcast: https://hubs.li/Q04l1mQb0

06/11/2026

In the latest episode of Dispensing Leadership, hosts Shawn Bjorndal, PharmD, RPh, and Jesse McCullough, PharmD, dive into the heavy hidden costs of building a vision in pharmacy, warning that partial commitment inevitably compromises long-term success. Reframing what it means to "win," they urge pharmacy leaders to move past perfectionist mindsets and embrace small, daily survival victories to avoid burnout.

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This episode explores the true price of commitment to a dream or vision, explaining how anything less than full dedication can lead to failure and why small wins are essential for perseverance.

06/11/2026

Real-world data from over 26,000 adults presented at the ADA’s 2026 Scientific Sessions reveals that GLP-1 receptor agonists significantly reduce venous thromboembolism, pulmonary embolism, and all-cause mortality in high-risk patients with both obesity and autoimmune disease. This study underscores a powerful cardiovascular survival benefit extending far beyond weight loss, spotlighting the crucial role of pharmacists in preventing "metabolic whiplash" and maintaining continuous therapy.

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Based on data from the ADA’s 2026 Scientific Sessions, glucagon-like peptide-1s are continuing to revolutionize the cardiometabolic disease landscape.