Shifting Strategy, Roche Partners With Kite, J&J To Expand Cancer Drug’s Potential

Bloomberg News (3/23, Koch) reports that Roche “is opening the door to more external partnerships as its latest and most promising tumor-fighting treatment heads for approval this year.” In the past week, Roche has partnered with Kite Pharma Inc. and Johnson & Johnson “to explore combinations using its experimental drug atezolizumab.” The “partnerships with Kite and J&J mark a small shift in Roche’s strategy, which has emphasized using its own, large pool of potential compounds and medicines to find new cancer-drug combinations.” 

This is great news for cancer treatment progress. Try IMI's Chemo-Vent™ needles when reconstituting and withdrawing cytotoxic anti-neoplastic agents. We take pride in helping to supply the tools needed to save lives. 

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US Drug Spending For Insured Americans Rose By 5% In 2015 Specialty Medications Rise Almost 18%, Express Scripts Says.

The AP (3/14, Johnson) reports that “spending on prescription drugs for insured Americans rose about 5 percent last year,” according to a report by Express Scripts Holding Co. The AP points out, however, that “the increase was half the rate in 2014, which saw the biggest price jump since 2003.” Express Scripts projects that drug spending to increase between 6-8% each year between 2016 and 2018.

        STAT (3/14, Silverman) reports that “most of the increased spending was for specialty medications,” which rose almost 18%, “compared with a 0.1 percent drop for traditional drugs for chronic conditions, such as high cholesterol and high blood pressure.” Also covering the story are Reuters (3/14, Humer) and the NPR (3/14, Kodjak) “Shots” blog.

Please click here to visit our website at www.imiweb.com and see how IMI’s innovative sterile products can help you in with your all of your specialty medication compounding needs.

Compounded Sterile Preparations Can Be At Risk for Tampering and Misuse. IMI's Tamper Evident Caps are the Perfect Solution.

Compounded Sterile Preparations Can Be At Risk for Tampering and Misuse.

Compounded sterile preparations (CSP’s) are at their greatest risk when they leave the custody of the pharmacy. The IMI Prep-LockTamper Evident IV Syringe Cap greatly reduces the risk of the CSP being compromised either accidentally or intentionally. It insures that product integrity is maintained from the time it leaves the sterile hood until it is administered by an authorized clinician. 

Installation of the Prep-Lock Tamper Evident IV Syringe Cap in the pharmacy environment is highly efficient. Each sterile tray of 10 caps offers a unique “keyed” feature allowing the pharmacist the ability to quickly install the cap with a simple twist of the syringe. This helps to maintain aseptic technique and saves time when compounding several syringes at once.

Cap Installation is easy and efficient.

Administering a syringe is very easy for the authorized clinician. Simply pull-off the outer sleeve of the tamper evident cap, unscrew the remaining luer-lock cap and dispose of the components. This is a far better solution than sticky, brittle tamper evident tape or cumbersome shrink wrap.

A choice of 4 different colored caps allows the pharmacy the ability to color code either specific drug classes or processes.

For more information, visit www.imiweb.com.