Steve Anthony: True Canadian Pharmacy

The University of Alberta will establish a new doctorate of pharmacy degree, the first of its kind in Western Canada, in part to prepare practitioners for a growing slate of responsibilities in the health-care system.
Recent legislative changes in Alberta mean that pharmacists can now have the right to prescribe, and as part of a team they can help to manage a patient’s drug therapy, said Sharon Mitchell, the U of A’s assistant dean of pharmacy !–more– and pharmaceutical sciences.
The university currently offers a five-year bachelor’s degree program in pharmacy.
The new doctorate, which must still be approved by the province, will be six years long and feature a more intensive curriculum in subjects such as patient assessment and evidence-based medicine, Mitchell said.

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Tighter controls on over-the-counter codeine combinations will not address the problem of misuse of the products and will put significant pressure on pharmacists, say the profession’s peak bodies.
Both the Pharmacy Guild of Australia and the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) have expressed disappointment with the National Drugs and Poisons Schedule Committee (NDPSC) decision to upschedule OTC combination analgesics containing codeine (CACC) !–more– to Schedule 3 in a bid to address concerns of misuse and abuse of the products.
The Guild said the scheduling changes would only mask the problem and were unlikely to influence individual misuse behaviour.
It said it was regrettable that the committee rejected its proposal to adopt real-time monitoring and reporting of these products through its NotifyRx technology, calling it a missed opportunity.

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Planet Pharmacy, a Dubai-based pharmacy retailer, is set to launch 250 pharmacies across the UAE and over 500 in Saudi Arabia by 2012, making it the largest pharmacy chain in the Middle East.
The company, which is a joint venture between Julphar and the private equity division of Global Investment House, will open pharmacies in Dubai and Abu Dhabi by December this year.
The pharmacies, to be named Health First, will be launched with the objective !–more– of growing to be the market leader in the pharmaceutical retail business across the region.
John Makepeace, chief executive of Planet Pharmacy, said: #8220;Planet Pharmacy and its Health First stores have a vision of becoming the biggest and most trusted pharmacy brand in the Middle East within the next three years.#8221;

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Canada.com:
The first women’s only pharmacy in North America will open its doors Tuesday in Vancouver.
The pharmacy, located in the city’s troubled Downtown Eastside, is called Lu’s: A Pharmacy for Women, and is aimed at providing female-oriented services to clients.
Caryn Duncan, executive director of the Vancouver Women’s Health Collective, came up with the idea of opening a pharmacy for women in 2006.
She lives in the area and often saw !–more– queues of patrons spilling out of pharmacies onto sidewalks and having to speak to pharmacists through security glass.
They’re, I think, quite hostile places and women don’t feel safe, Duncan said. Women are walking distances to have prescriptions filled and we’re hoping that they will think to come to Lu’s.

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The province’s prescription drug plan is estimated to cost taxpayers about $313 million this year, according to the provincial budget. (CBC)The Saskatchewan government is keeping a wary eye on the manufacturers’ drug rebates being paid to pharmacies — an estimated $30 million to $40 million a year.
According to Health Ministry officials, the money — which the makers of generic prescription drugs routinely pay to pharmacy companies — (more…)

Waterloo (Ont.) Record:
Celebration was in the air as University of Waterloo officially opened its new school of pharmacy, the first to open in Canada in 20 years.
Hundreds of students, professors, politicians and donors crowded the bright, airy building, widely noted as an architectural gem, to mark what university president David Johnston called a “barn-raising at its best.”
“Ontario has a shortage of pharmacists, and this school is going (more…)

Health officials say the masks aren’t necessary in most cases. People on P. “They come in wanting boxes at a time. The dozen masks the Kirkwood Shoppers Drug Mart had went before last weekend. “The Public Health Agency of Canada does not recommend the use of masks by the general population as it is not proven to reduce the risk of infections,” said Morrison. “A lot of people are a little bit panicked, thinking that they should get some on hand,” (more…)

Women can bulk buy the morning-after pill over the internet from today – but critics claim it will promote promiscuity and encourage risky sex.
Visitors to Lloyds Pharmacy’s online store will be able to buy up to three emergency contraceptive tablets without seeing a doctor or pharmacist.
The company says the move will allow women to stockpile the drug at home to use when their normal contraception fails, or after they have had unplanned and unprotected (more…)

I am a bit unclear regarding what this means. Now that Qatar University has been accredited by the Canadian Council for Accreditation, will this make it easier for their grads to move to Canada? Is this a trend we can expect from other foreign universities?
Qatar University’s College of Pharmacy has been accredited by the Canadian Council for Accreditation of Pharmacy Programmes, it was announced yesterday.
“Qatar University is the (more…)

North Dakota pharmacists and defenders of the state’s small towns came out on top Friday in the biggest battle of the 2009 Legislature.
The House soundly defeated a proposed repeal of the state’s 40-year-old law that requires pharmacies in the state be majority-owned by a pharmacist. House Bill 1440 went down on a 57-35 vote after an hour-long debate that at times got emotional.
“Trust the people of North Dakota,” said (more…)