FALLS CHURCH – Staff from RASMAS will attend the upcoming Pharma Biotech Internal Audit Summit. The summit is set for Sept. 14, 15 at the Hyatt at the Bellevue, Philadelphia.

The Pharma/Biotech Internal Audit Summit, a conference of the Center for Business Intelligence, explores best practices and emerging strategies for enterprise governance and risk management for financial activities, sales and marketing and external relationships with suppliers.

RASMAS staff regularly attends top healthcare shows; we would love to meet you there. To find out more, please contact RASMASSales@noblis.org.

To find out more about the show, see www.cbireg.com

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WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is today warning consumers about a counterfeit and potentially harmful version of the weight loss drug Alli sold in 60 mg capsules (120 count refill kit).

Preliminary laboratory tests conducted by GlaxoSmithKline — the maker of the FDA approved over-the-counter weight-loss product— revealed that the counterfeit version did not contain orlistat, the active ingredient in Alli. Instead, the counterfeit bottles contained the controlled substance sibutramine. (more…)

Fort Washington, Penn. – In consultation with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, McNeil Consumer Healthcare, Division of McNEIL-PPC, Inc., is expanding its voluntary recall to include all available product lots of TYLENOL Arthritis Pain Caplet 100 count bottles, with a red EZ-open cap. (more…)

CHICAGO – Medco Health Solutions, Inc., which manages pharmacy benefits for the state of Illinois’ employees, retirees and their families, will as part of its administration of the state’s pharmacy plan identify patients that may not be following their doctor’s orders.

Medco said in a press release to P.R. Newswire that it will collaborate with the State of Illinois, the Illinois Pharmacists Association, the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy and Mirixa Corporation to complete the checks. (more…)

GENEVA - The World Heath Organization reports that cases of the H1N1 flu have peaked in the U.S. Disease activity is declining in North America and has either recently peaked or is currently peaking in much of western and northern Europe. See WHO Pandemic Update Number 77.

Other news of interest in the world of health safety and recall: (more…)

RICHMOND – It seems backwards, testing a drug for safety after it has been approved. But some researchers now are beginning to see the benefits.

“Everyone is looking at how can we study drugs post-marketing,” says Jürgen Venitz, MD, Ph.D. and Associate Professor, Department of Pharmaceutics, School of Pharmacy at Virginia Commonwealth University / Medical College of Virginia. (more…)

NATICK, Mass. – Boston Scientific Corporation said that it has received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to market its WallFlex Fully Covered Esophageal Stent for the treatment of malignant esophageal obstructions caused by tumors.

The stent is part of the WallFlex Stent family of self-expanding metal stents which will be available for hands-on demonstration at the GASTRO 2009 conference, to be held November 21-25 in London.

Other news includes:

• Cardinal Health and Patient Safety Technologies today announced that they have entered into a five-year distribution agreement to co-market the SurgiCount Safety-Sponge. The sponge has a counting system to help insure that sponges are not left in patients during surgery.
• New York-based Medco Health Solutions, Inc has a new method patient-centric model that includes training pharmacists to counsel patients and coordinate care.
• Teen singer and actress Demi Lovato is the lastest to be featured in the “Got Milk” campaign by the Milk Processor Education Program. The  “Got Milk” campaign is best known for adults, but the addition of Disney actress (and former Barney star) Lovato signals the program is concerned about milk usage in the teen and pre-teen markets.

TORONTO – Come visit us at the Health Achieve Canada trade show. (more…)