Search

Objective: To describe nontraditional roles for Certified Pharmacy Technicians (CPhTs) within pharmaceutical industry., Setting: Drug information department within a large biotechnology/pharmaceutical organization., Practice Description: The Medical Communications department within Genentech uses a skills-mix staffing model in which employees with varying educational and training backgrounds work as a team on meeting the informational needs of consumers and health professionals who contact the company. One position within the department is that of Medical Communications Associate, responsible primarily for managing product inquiries., Practice Innovation: Medical Communications Associates have degrees in life sciences or an equivalent combination of education and experience, including a minimum of 2 years of related experience in the health care industry. Currently, four of the seven Medical Communications Associates in the department are CPhTs., Interventions: Not applicable., Main Outcome Measure: Ability to recruit CPhTs for Medical Communications Associate positions, and job satisfaction of those hired into these positions., Results: Critical basic skills needed for the Medical Communications Associate position include strong computer literacy, ability to multitask, and ability to work in an environment with frequent interruptions. Strong oral and written communications skills, customer service skills, ability to deal with stressful situations, product-specific knowledge, ability to work on a daily basis with Medical Communications Pharmacists, and knowledge of medical terminology are also important. The skills set of CPhTs matches these requirements, as evidenced by the experiences of the four staff members who have worked in the department for a total of 17 person-years., Conclusion: This nontraditional role for CPhTs can be rewarding and beneficial to all, affording an unique opportunity within the pharmaceutical industry. The skill set and experience of CPhTs can be used in the nontraditional pharmacy practice setting of drug information.

Individuals who consume cocaine illegally have long since adopted or explored the nasal route of administration. This study was designed to determine in an animal model whether nasally applied cocaine could be transported directly from the nasal cavity to the central nervous system. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were used in the study. The nasal cavity was isolated to prevent drainage of nasally applied dosing solution to nonnasal regions. Cocaine was then administered, either by intranasal (in) administration or by intravenous (iv) injection. At different times post dose, blood and tissues from different regions of the brain were collected. Cocaine concentrations in plasma and tissue samples were analyzed by HPLC. After iv administration, similar cocaine contents in different brain regions were observed. Following in administration, cocaine content in samples collected within 60 min post dose were found to differ considerably in different brain regions. The highest content was observed in the olfactory bulb, followed by the olfactory tract and then the remaining part of the brain. To allow comparison of brain cocaine content after iv and in administration, brain cocaine contents were normalized by plasma cocaine concentrations. The ratios of the area under the cocaine concentration-time curve (AUC) between the olfactory bulb and plasma at early times following in administration were significantly higher than those obtained after the iv dose (13.4 +/- 5.56 vs 6.16 +/- 0.94, p < 0.05, for AUC ratio up to 2 min post dose; 9.39 +/- 1.47 vs 7.34 +/- 0.59, p < 0.05, for AUC ratio up to 4 min post dose). At 1 min post dose, the olfactory bulb-to-plasma cocaine concentration ratios following in administration was three times those obtained after iv administration. After 1 min, the olfactory bulb-to-plasma concentration ratios following in administration were found to be similar to or smaller than those obtained after iv administration. The tissue-to-plasma concentration ratios in other brain regions following in administration were found to be smaller than those obtained following iv dosing. We conclude that nasally administered cocaine was transported directly from the nasal cavity to the brain but that only a very small fraction of the dose was transported via the direct pathway.

A case of Pneumocystis carinii (P. carinii) choroidopathy is reported. The patient was a 17-year-old man with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) who developed bilateral, multifocal, yellow-white, round, flat choroidal lesions ranging in size from 1/8 to 1/6 of the disc diameter while undergoing treatment for cytomegalovirus retinitis. He had had P. carinii pneumonia 43 months previously, and received inhaled pentamidine as suppressive therapy. Over a 4-week period of observation, the choroidal lesions appeared to enlarge slowly and increased in number in the posterior pole, with no clinical evidence of intraocular inflammation and retinal involvement. He was diagnosed as having P. carinii choroidopathy and treated with intravenous pentamidine. Three months after systemic pentamidine therapy was begun the choroidal lesions disappeared. Despite the fact that P. carinii choroidopathy is a rare opportunistic ocular infection, ophthalmic manifestations may be an important initial marker of extrapulmonary disseminated infection in some patients. Therefore we recommend ophthalmologic examinations in patients with AIDS who receive long-term aerosolized pentamidine prophylaxis for pneumonia.

The presence of superoxide generated by polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) was demonstrated in an experimental autoimmune uveoretinitis (EAU) model. Histopathological examination of the eyes, enucleated sequentially after the onset of EAU, and determination of retinal lipid peroxidation (LPO) revealed an increase in LPO products with progressive retinal tissue damage. In addition, histopathological changes, predominantly degeneration of the retinal outer segments, and increased retinal LPO were confirmed in vitro by culturing naive neural retina with activated PMNs. This increased LPO was inhibited by superoxide dismutase (SOD). These data suggest that lipid peroxidation reaction involving superoxide may play an important role in the pathogenesis of retinal tissue damage in ocular inflammatory disease characterized by the infiltration of PMNs.

The drug of choice in the treatment of chloroquine-resistant Plasmodium falciparum malaria is parenteral quinine dihydrochloride. Due to limited use, the drug is not commercially available in the U.S. and must be obtained through the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia. As an alternative, the CDC has developed a protocol to treat P. falciparum malaria with parenteral quinidine gluconate. Following this protocol, a 10 mg/kg loading dose of quinidine gluconate followed by a 0.02 mg/kg/min continuous infusion was administered to a 53-year-old man with severe life-threatening chloroquine-resistant P. falciparum malaria. Although the patient described did not survive, the use of parenteral quinidine gluconate still appears to be a viable alternative to parenteral quinine dihydrochloride in the treatment of severe chloroquine-resistant P. falciparum malaria.