November 1 Week in Review: Early Screening Suggested for Fathers Using Assisted-Reproduction Techniques; Cosentyx Prescription for Patients with Plaque Psoriasis

Nicole Grassano, Host:Hello and welcome to the Pharmacy Times News Network. I’m Nicole Grassano your host for our Pharmacy Week in Review.

Pharmacy Times® and Parata Systems celebrated the winners of the 2019 Next-Generation Pharmacist® Awards on Friday night at a ceremony held at the beautiful Hotel Del Coronado, concurrently with the 2019 National Community Pharmacists Association Annual Meeting in San Diego, California. More than 160 people attended the awards ceremony.

Daniel S. Fuchs, RPh, pharmacist and owner of Fuchs Family Pharmacies, received the 2019 Next-Generation Pharmacist of the Year an Entrepreneur 2019 award.

Now in its 10th year, the Next-Generation Pharmacist® Awards is a national program that salutes pharmacy professionals who are defining the industry’s future.

Pharmacy Times® and Parata Systems, cofounders of this prestigious awards program, recognized pharmacy leaders across a wide range of practice settings who embody the innovation and inspiration in pharmacy and the future vision of the profession.

Amazon has acquired Health Navigator, a Chicago-based start-up that provides online symptom checking and that triages tools to companies looking to route patients to the right health care organization. Amazon will add Health Navigator to the company’s Amazon Care group,Contemporary Clinicreported.

According to its website, Health Navigator boasts “a one-of-a-kind, digital, diagnostic system” which “improves the eHealth experience by providing accurate and efficient symptom checking” using care advice, clinical documentation, diagnosis, natural language, and more.

Amazon Care is set to serve as a medical benefit for employees and to help provide care virtually, through a video visit and with home visits if additional care is needed. The company is also beginning its plans to build out clinics in its headquarters in Seattle, Washington.

The report follows Amazon’s other health-related acquisition, known as PillPack, which it bought for $753 million in June 2018.

Men who became fathers through assisted-reproduction techniques may have a higher risk of prostate cancer and early onset of the disease than men achieving fatherhood naturally, suggesting that these men may benefit from early screening and long-term monitoring for prostate cancer,Specialty Pharmacy Timesreported.

The study’s researchers analyzed data from national registers for more than 1 million children born in Sweden between 1994 and 2014 to the same number of fathers. Men were grouped according to fertility status by mode of conception: 97% by natural conception, 1.3% by sperm injection, and 1.7% by in vitro fertilization.

Among men achieving fatherhood naturally, about 3000 were diagnosed as having prostate cancer, compared with 77 in the in vitro fertilization group and 63 in the sperm injection group. The risk of early onset prostate cancer, defined as a diagnosis before 55 years of age, was also high for men fathering children through sperm injection.

The study authors noted that the nature of the observational study means that they cannot establish cause. However, they concluded that men who achieved fatherhood through assisted-reproduction techniques, particularly through sperm injection, are at high risk for early-onset prostate cancer and thus constitute a risk group in which testing and careful long-term follow-up for prostate cancer may be beneficial.

Pharmacists may get more questions about Cosentyx if patients have seen a recent commercial for the prescription medication.

In the spot, called “See Me.” Musician Cyndi Lauper explains that she was afraid to show her skin and how painful her psoriasis was. With the help of Cosentyx, she has been clear for more than 4 years and does not really think about her skin condition anymore.

According to the commercial, Cosentyx is a prescribed medical injection that is intended to treat those who have been diagnosed with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis when taken regularly as ordered.

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Thanks for watching our Pharmacy Week in Review. I’m Nicole Grassano at the Pharmacy Times News Network.