By: Ada Seldin, Staff Editor – CVS, the largest chain pharmacy in the United States, has announced that it will stop selling cigarettes and other tobacco products in its 7,600 retail stores on October 1, 2014. As such, CVS will be the first chain pharmacy in the U.S to remove tobacco products from its shelves.In…

By: Davidta Brown, Senior Staff Editor – As the world of healthcare and its provision evolves, laws which organize and oversee the ways that patients receive health services must develop at the same pace. Last November, a new bill establishing clearer protocol for the compounding and tracking of medications became national law. The Drug Quality…

By: Daniel Mathan, PharmD Candidate c/o 2016, Anita Kachappilly, PharmD Candidate c/o 2016, & Amrita Singh, PharmD Candidate c/o 2015 – Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a debilitating autoimmune disease that affects multiple organs in the body and can potentially become life threatening.1 The incidence of SLE is about 50 cases for every 100,000 people; it…

By: Hayeon Na, Co-Copy Editor [Content-Focused] – On October 8th of 2013, Bayer’s new drug riociguat (Adempas®) was approved for the treatment of patients whose pulmonary hypertension (PH) belongs in WHO groups 1 and 4.1 Riociguat (Adempas®) is a soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC) stimulator, and currently the only one of its kind on the market.…

By: Beatrisa Popovitz, Senior Staff Editor – On January 31st 2014, the FDA announced the release of a revolutionary new drug, tasimelteon (Hetlioz®). Tasimeleton is the first developed treatment of non-24-hour sleep-wake cycle syndrome in blind individuals.1 Formulated by Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc., this melatonin receptor agonist works by binding to and activating the MT1 and…

By: Tasnima Nabi, Co-Copy Editor [Content-focused] – On January 23rd, St. John’s University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences inducted the 2014 Beta Delta Chapter members of Rho Chi Society. The annual induction ceremony took place at the Hillcrest Jewish Center. The inductees include 4th year Pharm.D. students in the top 20% of their class…

By: Ada Seldin, Staff Editor – Since the first release of the Surgeon General’s Report on smoking 50 years ago, it has become clear that smoking results in premature death and a myriad of diseases, affecting almost every organ system. Public health initiatives to increase awareness, prevent initiation, and promote smoking cessation have been marginally…