Remote filling of prescriptions by CVS Health is examined in a Wall Street Journal report. The company touts the practice as a way of addressing a decreasing number of pharmacists and their preference for practicing in hospitals and other positions. While agreeing with the idea of “freeing up pharmacists to do more advanced clinical services,” Richard Dang, president of the California Pharmacists Association, expressed skepticism that “remote prescription verification will reduce pharmacists’ workload or improve patient care.… ‘Historically, the larger companies haven’t shown a dedication in increasing personnel,’ Mr. Dang said. ‘It really depends on how it will be built up and implemented. If you verify remotely, you’re losing tactile, in-person verification of the color of the pill, or the pill count. It leaves room for some error.’”
The role of compounding pharmacies in supplying semaglutide injections to dermatologists and medical spas is questioned in a Wall Street Journal article. Amid a shortage of the brand-name products (Ozempic and Wegovy) because of demand for the drug for weight loss, some people interviewed in the article expressed concern over how well the compounded products match the FDA-approved versions and how the pharmacies are obtaining the drug. A Michigan endocrinologist said, “It makes you wonder: How the heck are you guys getting this?”