The VA's pharmacist-led anticoagulation units use diligent monitoring and constant overview of patient compliance to keep Warfarin patients’ International Normalized Ratio at a safe level. Despite that success, their future role may be in question because of a new class of medications that doesn’t require routine laboratory monitoring as well as a move toward home-monitoring for Warfarin.

New research suggests that early adoption of insulin can improve long-term outcomes in type 2 diabetes patients. Most practice guidelines, including the VA/DoD guideline, which was updated last summer, still call for oral medication, primarily metformin, as first-line treatment. Insulin currently is reserved for early-stage patients with contraindications or difficult-to-control symptoms, but the introduction of basal insulins, which allow patients to more safety and easily initiate insulin, could mean changes in practice in the near future.

Lack of treatment adherence is one of the biggest difficulties for health providers trying to manage HIV patients. Now, a new computerized assessment tool being rolled out by the VHA helps identify patients who are not taking their drugs as well as reasons for noncompliance.

Rates of herpes zoster have nearly doubled among veterans seeking care through the VA since 2000. The disease, also known as shingles, creates significant morbidity, especially when herpetic neuralgia, a painful complication, is involved. Yet, use of the vaccine, introduced in 2007, remains low at about 2% in both the VA and general populations.

Pharmacy today is an exciting, challenging profession, and Army Pharmacy is no exception. Uniformed and civilian Army pharmacists and technicians provide world-class pharmaceutical care to our soldiers past and present and their families. The level of care and compassion is superb.

WASHINGTON, DC—The president proposed a $672 billion budget for DoD for FY2012 that includes a base budget of $553 billion and $117.8 billion to support overseas contingency operations, primarily in Afghanistan and Iraq.

BETHESDA, MD—With the continuing rise in the rates of diabetes and obesity, researchers are exerting more and more effort to find a viable pharmaceutical treatment to combat weight gain. The pediatric population is especially at risk. Obesity in children and young adults is becoming more and more prevalent, but there is very scant data on pharmacotherapy for that age group.

The Pharmacy Consultant to the Air Force Surgeon General advises Air Force Medical Service (AFMS) leadership and staff regarding pharmacy related issues.

BETHESDA, MD—Even drugs that have been on the market for years, sometimes decades, are not immune from reexamination and relabeling brought about by new scientific discoveries. In the field of pharmacogenomics especially, new opportunities are presenting themselves to use new science to improve drug safety and dosing protocols.

BETHESDA, MD—To help advance research on how genes affect responses to medicines, NIH is spending $15 million over five years to expand the Pharmacogenomics Knowledge Base (PharmGKB).