By: Tasnima Nabi, Copy Editor [Content-Focused] – Social media is a powerful platform, allowing for the quick and easy exchange of ideas. Although the Internet has facilitated universal access, for many, it can be difficult to find reliable information. By combining the power of the Internet with his dedication to the pharmacy profession, Eric Christianson,…

By: Jacqueline Meaney, PharmD Candidate c/o 2015, University at Buffalo: School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences — Psychotropic medications are typically used in conjunction with cognitive behavioral therapy to treat behavioral problems that affect children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Symptoms of ASD typically include a need for routines (change intolerance), difficulty with verbal and…

By: Melissa Roy Co-Copy Editor [Graphics focused] — Many people do not realize the opportunities that are available to pharmacists. Joanne Bollhofer-White has taken the path less traveled by entering into the Air Force. Her position in the military has allowed her to travel all over the country while serving her country. The Air Force…

By: Andrew Leong, Staff Writer — This year, the FDA approved three new antibiotics to treat acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections (ABSSSI) caused by Staphylococcus aureus, including MRSA. They are dalbavancin (DalvanceTM), tedizolid phosphate (SivextroTM), and oritavancin (OrbactivTM). Dalbavancin was approved on May 23, 2014 and is administered intravenously in two doses (1000…

By: Kevin Lin, PharmD Candidate c/o 2015 — The FDA recently completed an observational cohort study that compared Pradaxa® (dabigatran) to warfarin for rates of ischemic stroke, intracranial hemorrhage, major gastrointestinal bleed, myocardial infarction, and death. The study enrolled more than 134,000 patients, with 64% over the age of 65 and found a lower risk…

By: Elissa Tam, PharmD Candidate c/o 2015 – Patients with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes who cannot control their glucose levels simply by taking oral medications have to inject insulin daily. They also have to measure their glucose levels by using strips and lancets on a regular basis. For patients, especially elderly ones, the…

By: Elissa Tam PharmD Candidate c/o 2015 – HIV/AIDS continues to be a persistent problem in the United States and in various countries around the world. In 2010 alone, there were around 47,500 new HIV infections in the United States with about 1.1 million Americans living with HIV at the end of 2010.1 When left…

By: Anthony Botte and Tyler Valente, PharmD Candidates c/o 2016 – Diseases which are prevalent within the pediatric population require distinct protocols for treatment accompanied by the utmost care and precision. Pediatric hypertension (HTN) is one disease state in particular that has come to the forefront of medical practice in the United States over the…

By: Davidta Brown, Senior Staff Editor – A new therapeutic device has seemingly leapt from the pages of a science fiction novel and into the hands of migraine sufferers around the world. Worn over the forehead and sending electromagnetic stimulation directly into the supraorbital trigeminal nerves, the cranial nerve stimulator offered by Belgian biotechnology company…

By: Jenny Park PharmD Candidate c/o 2015 – A series of broad HIV specific monoclonal antibodies (mAb) have been isolated and been shown to bind to CD4 binding sites, V1/V2 loops, V3/V4 loops, glycans, and proximal external regions. It has been shown that administration of a “cocktail” of HIV-1 specific monoclonal antibodies along with single…

By: Kevin Lin, PharmD Candidate c/o 2015 – This April, the FDA approved three sublingual immunotherapies for pollen induced allergic rhinitis: Grastek® (Timothy Grass Pollen Allergen Extract), Oralair® (Grass Pollen Allergen Extract), and Ragwitek® (Short Ragweed Pollen Allergen Extract). Formulated by Merck, Grastek® is Timothy grass pollen allergen extract. It is approved for patients ages…

By: Ada Seldin, Staff Editor – Intrathecal baclofen (ITB) is indicated for the treatment of intractable spasticity caused by spinal cord injury, multiple sclerosis, spinal ischemia or tumor, transverse myelitis, cervical spondylosis, cerebral palsy, and degenerative myelopathy.1 Baclofen inhibits both monosynaptic and polysynaptic reflexes at the spinal cord level by decreasing excitatory neurotransmitter release from…

By: Katharine Cimmino, Editor-in-Chief – Pressure ulcers can be a painful condition decreasing the quality of life of patients and prolonging hospital stays.1 About 10% of hospital inpatients and 26% of hospice admissions have pressure sores.2 Pressure ulcers are injuries that occur when pressure is applied for prolonged periods of time over bony prominences.1 There…

By: Hayeon Na, Co-Copy Editor (Content Focused) – On February 26th, 2014, pharmacists, clinical faculty, and pharmacy students from St. John’s University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences gathered at the Freeport Memorial Library for a “Brown Bag,” one of the yearly calendar events at the public library. This event was conducted through the joint…

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: Fatema Elias, Staff Writer – With the New Year and everyone committing to their New Year resolutions, more and more patients are coming into the pharmacy asking for recommendations, particularly for weight loss dietary supplements. I hesitate to recommend an over-the-counter dietary supplement for weight loss. However, we as pharmacists and pharmacy students have…

By: James Schurr, PharmD Candidate c/o 2014 and Jennifer Miao, PharmD Candidate c/o 2014 With very special thanks to Jessica Melore and Jennifer McDermott, PharmD, BCPS of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital – Jessica Melore was 16 years old, a senior in high school, and co-captain of the tennis team when her life took a drastic turn. While…

By: Caitie Stehling, PharmD Candidate c/o 2015 – St. John’s University is grounded in its Catholic, Vincentian, and Metropolitan mission. Students from all different colleges take pride in being able to give back to society. This year, Phi Lambda Sigma, the Pharmacy Leadership Society (PLS), participated in the Alzheimer’s Walk at Corona Park in Queens.…

By: Jenny Park, Pharm. D. Candidate c/o 2015 – As the Affordable Care Act brings health care to many people who are currently uninsured, healthcare providers should expect an increase in the number of patients who don’t understand their plan, disease states, and medications. Health literacy is defined as “the degree to which individuals have…

By: Sang Hyo Kim, Staff Editor – For the brand new year, we present an interview with Sherif Guorgui, the current Vice-President of Pharmacy at the Ontario Pharmacists Association and the former 2011-2012 President of the Ontario College of Pharmacists in Canada. Mr. Guorgui graduated in 1998 from the Faculty of Pharmacy at the University…

By: Aleena Cherian, Co-Copy Editor [Graphics-Focused] and Jenny Prakash, PharmD Candidate c/o 2014 – Starting your rotations in 5th year usually brings mixed emotions. On one hand, it’s a relief to finally be finished with labs and D&Ds…imagine, a whole year without any exams! But on the other hand, now you have to test how…

By: Jenny Park, PharmD Candidate c/o 2015 – On July 12, 2013, the FDA approved afatinib (GilotrifTM) as a new first-line treatment for patients with late-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), a type of carcinoma where specific types of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene mutations are expressed.1 The drug afatinib irreversibly blocks EGFR, also…

By: Ada Seldin, Staff Editor – On November 22, 2013, simeprevir (Olysio®), a new agent to treat chronic hepatitis C, received approval under the FDA’s priority review program. Simeprevir is an NS3/4A protease inhibitor that blocks the replication of the hepatitis C virus. Two other drugs from the same class, boceprevir and telaprevir, which were…

By: Neal Shah, PharmD, MD/PhD Student c/o 2021, West Virginia University School of Medicine – Methadone is a powerful long-acting mu-opioid agonist that has been traditionally used in the management of chronic pain, treatment of pain refractory to certain opioid agents, and maintenance of opioid addiction.1-5 While neuropathic pain is not traditionally linked to mu-opioid…

By: Katharine Cimmino, Editor-in-Chief – Marijuana, also known as “grass,” “pot,” “joint,” “weed,” “reefer,” “hashish,” and “Mary Jane,” is a very popular illicit drug.1 According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, “In 2012, 5.4 million persons aged 12 or older used marijuana on a daily or almost daily basis in the past 12…

By: Rebecca Gilene, PharmD Candidate c/o 2014, St. Louis College of Pharmacy – The FDA approved macitentan (Opsumit®) on October 18, 2013 for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension.1 Pulmonary arterial hypertension, often referred to as PAH, is a disease characterized by high blood pressure in the arteries between the heart and lungs. An increase…

By: Sherine Jaison, PharmD Candidate c/o 2015 –  The leukemia chemotherapy drug ponatinib (Iclusig) has just been taken off the market. The drug was under investigation by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) following several reports of serious and life threatening blood clots and narrowing of the blood vessels.1 Ponatinib is a BCR-ABL tyrosine kinase…

By: Ramya Mathew, PharmD Candidate c/o 2015 – Vertex Pharmaceuticals, an American biotechnology company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has been researching a new “nuke” for the treatment of Hepatitis C called VX-135. This nucleotide polymerase inhibitor is currently undergoing clinical trials, but the FDA has put the research on a partial hold due to findings…

By: Jenny Park, PharmD Candidate c/o 2015 – Lung cancer takes away the lives of about 160,000 individuals annually, which is more than a quarter of all cancer deaths.1 The U.S Preventive Service Task Force is now recommending lung cancer screenings for heavy smokers which could save up to 20,000 lives a year (or about 13%…

By: Hayeon Na, Co-Copy Editor and Sang Hyo Kim, Staff Editor – In Volume 1 Issue1 of the Rho Chi Post, we were honored to have an interview with Sandra Leal, PharmD, MPH, FAPhA, CDE, and Director of Clinical Pharmacy at El Rio Health Center in Tucson, Arizona. She had started a petition to support…

By: Nathan Trustman, PharmD Candidate c/o 2014, AMSCOP at LIU – The antibiotic class known as the fluoroquinolones is widely used in both outpatient and inpatient settings. They provide bactericidal effects by inhibiting DNA gyrase and topoisomerase IV enzymes in bacteria. The systemic agents that are most commonly used in clinical practice include ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin,…

By: Ada Seldin, Staff Editor – On August 12,2013, a new weapon against HIV-1 infection was added to the existing armada. Dolutegravir, the third integrase strand transfer inhibitor to attain FDA approval, targets a protein essential to HIV replication. HIV-1 is the predominant type of HIV virus, the other being HIV-2, which is endogenous to…

By: Sang Hyo Kim, Staff Editor – On March 29th 2013, the U.S Food and Drug Administration approved canagliflozin (Invokana®), a new form of a diabetic drug for patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.1 Canagliflozin is in a new class of medications called sodium glucose co-transporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors and is the only oral, once-daily…

By: Sang Hyo Kim, Staff Editor – There is a new invention called “i-limb ultra revolution,” which allows amputees to control their prosthetic hands with an Apple® app called “Bioism.” Designed by Touch Bionics in the United Kingdom, the new prosthetic hand has five individually powered fingers, including a powered rotating thumb and an auto-grasp…

By Omar Khalid Pharm.D. Candidate c/o 2014 – The outpour of a multitude of new oral anticoagulants in recent years has health care professionals questioning whether they should switch the patients over, and what new agents should be used. With the recent addition of dabigatran (Pradaxa®) in October 2010, rivaroxaban (Xarelto®) in November 2011, and…

By: Nathan Trustman, PharmD Candidate c/o 2013, AMSCOP at LIU – Obesity is defined as having a body mass index (BMI) of 30 kg/m2 or greater. It is thought to be the result of an imbalance between energy intake and energy expenditure, possibly due to a number of genetic and environmental factors.1 It is estimated…

By: Tamara Yunusova, Senior Staff Editor – Approximately 3.2 million Americans have chronic hepatitis C infection.1 While acute cases are not common, rates of chronic hepatitis C continue to surge due to the recent discovery of the virus in 1989 and consequently, the establishment of a test screening for HCV antibodies in 1992.1 HCV has…

Davidta Brown, PharmD Candidate c/o 2017 –      The debate on the nature of compounding practice and the extent to which it ought to be regulated has come to the forefront of public attention.  Those who regularly follow American news and politics are familiar with the series of events that have led to the present…

By: Andy Zhang, PharmD Candidate c/o 2015 – On March 28, 2013, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced the approval of Tecfidera™ (dimethyl fumarate) for the treatment of relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS) in adults.1 Tecfidera™ (dimethyl fumarate) will be the third oral drug used for the treatment of MS. The manufacturer Biogen…

By: Ada Seldin – An impending storm is threatening to stagger the health care system and the nation at large. Alzheimer’s disease, which now affects as many as 5.1 million Americans, is projected to triple its toll by 2050, to 13.8 million Americans.1 These sky-rocketing rates can be attributed to aging of the ‘baby boomers.’2…

By: Erica Dimitropoulos, Senior Staff Editor – Rheumatoid arthritis is a painful and often debilitating autoimmune disease characterized by symmetric polyarthritis, most commonly of the proximal interphalangeal and metacarpophalangeal joints, elbows, knees, ankles, and spine.1 Its clinical manifestations vary, from a slowly progressing onset of fatigue and musculoskeletal discomfort to a sudden and worsening destruction…

By: Bhavini Shah, PharmD Candidate c/o 2013  – Fycompa® (perampanel) has received the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for the adjunctive treatment of partial-onset seizures with or without secondarily generalized seizures in patients with epilepsy aged 12 years and older.1  The drug, manufactured by Eisai Inc., is already approved for use in Iceland,…

By: Bethsy Jacob, PharmD Candidate 2014 – On January 18, 2013, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced a new approval for Botox, generically known as OnabotulinumtoxinA. Patients diagnosed with urinary incontinence due to an overactive bladder can be prescribed Botox, if they are unable to take or are unresponsive to anticholinergic medications.  This…

By:  Lila Ahmed, PharmD Candidate c/o 2013 – In the past, numerous research efforts have attempted to prove the benefits and risks of calcium and multivitamin supplements with little success. Most of the studies performed were inconclusive and did not provide us with significant data; while some studies have found that calcium is beneficial for…

By:  Miriam Maltz, PharmD Candidate c/o 2013, AMSCOP, Long Island University – Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a metabolic disorder characterized by hyperglycemia that is pursuant to insulin resistance, defects in insulin secretion, or both1. Chronic hyperglycemia is associated with detrimental effects on various organ systems that can increase mortality and impact the patient’s…

By: Tamara Yunusova – On Wednesday, July 25th a petition signed by the reform group Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing (PROP) called on the FDA to implement opioid label changes that would restrict Chronic Non-Cancer (CNCP) opioid treatment for patients with severe pain only.  It wasn’t too long before another petition signed by PROP’s adversary,…

By: Alexandra Alleva, PharmD candidate c/o 2013 – As of December 28th, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Pfizer’s brand name oral anticoagulant, Eliquis® (apixaban), attained FDA approval.1  This occurred one month after its approval in  Europe and Canada, following longer than expected waits in the US due to further investigation requests by the FDA.2 The much-anticipated anticoagulant is…

By: Elsa Thomas, PharmD Candidate c/o 2013 – Atropine is an anticholinergic used to treat various conditions, such as bradycardia, neuromuscular blockade, mydriasis, nerve agent poisoning, and salivary hypersecretion.1,2  Pharmacologically, it inhibits smooth muscle and glands innervated by postganglionic cholinergic nerves.1,2  It also has functions in the central nervous system (CNS); it could stimulate or…

By: Jessica Lee, PharmD Candidate c/o 2013 – Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks healthy tissue, causing inflammation of the joints and potential harm to other organs.1  It affects 0.5-1% of the adult population and is more prevalent in the seventh decade of life.1  These patients tend to…