Michael R. Page, PharmD, RPh

Richard Mullvain, RPh, BCPS (AQC), CCCC, a cardiovascular clinical pharmacist and expert in cardiovascular care at the Essentia Health Heart & Vascular Center in Duluth, Minnesota, delivered a focused clinical review on the topic of the PCSK9 inhibitor Repatha (evolocumab), and its impact on low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C).

At the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado, Kevin C. Maki, PhD, CLS, FNLA, FTOS, FACN, of Midwest Biomedical Research/Center for Metabolic and Cardiovascular Health in Chicago, Illinois, discussed methods of quantifying treatment effects in cardiovascular outcomes trials.

The study now includes 494 patients, and will be complete when 503 are enrolled. Of the participants, 60% required anticoagulant reversal to undergo surgery.

Presenters noted that this was an important but unusual trial, because it examined drugs not in isolation but how they are used in combination.

Poster presentations at the American Diabetes Association Scientific Sessions compared canagliflozin, an SGLT2 inhibitor, to sitagliptin, a popular DPP-4 inhibitor, using claims data.

Speakers at the 76th Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association discussed current donor transplant successes and engineering challenges of efforts to generate islet cells in the laboratory.

At the 57th annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology, oncologists discussed trial data evaluating combination therapies for multiple myeloma and lymphoma.

Results from a subgroup analysis of the phase 3 ENDEAVOR study and a phase 2 study in diffuse large B cell lymphoma patients were presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology.

In a session at the Fall Managed Care Forum 2015, in Las Vegas, Nevada, cardiology expert Harold Bays MD, FTOS, FACC, FACE, FNLA, emphasized the importance of greater adherence to evidence-based practice guidelines, and the relevance of treatment with omega-3 fatty acids in hypertriglyceridemia.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is characterized by nonspecific symptoms, which can lead to a delay in diagnosis. Without treatment, patients with PAH have a poor prognosis, but development and availability of PAH-specific therapies have improved the overall prognosis of the disease.

A look at effective anticoagulation strategies for stroke prevention in patients with atrial fibrillation.

An overview of mechanism of action, dosing, interactions, and precautions for evolocumab, which faces an FDA deadline for review August 27, 2015.

The latest Joint National Committee guidelines are based on 27 large clinical trials concerning hypertension management. These trials are often discussed in isolation, but their data have never been aggregated into a single source.