Briefs

Accreditation board created for compounding WASHINGTON - A coalition of professional and regulatory pharmacy organizations announced in April the creation of a voluntary accreditation program for pharmacy compounding. The Pharmacy Compounding Accreditation Board (PCAB) was established to help improve the quality of compounding. An initial focus of the program is to develop standards of practice and to accredit pharmacy sites engaged in compounding at a designated level of complexity. The process will initially focus on sterile compounding, and will bring increase quality assurance to the practice. The program is expected to be developed within the coming months, and the first site will be accredited by the end of the year. Asthma epidemic credited to global warming, CO2 WASHINGTON - Poor and minority inner-city children will face a worsening “epidemic” of asthma linked to global warming and air pollution unless steps are taken to reduce fossil fuel burned by cars, trucks and buses, according to a warning from the American Public Health Association. Asthma rates in the United States have nearly tripled in the last two decades, resulting in particularly severe problems for urban youths. The culprits include climate change and increases in atmospheric CO2 (due largely to fossil fuel combustion) that are prompting the above-normal growth levels for molds and the production of ragweed pollen. New protocol advised for statin use by diabetics YARMOUTH, Maine - Experts now say no matter how low the cholesterol count, nearly all people with diabetes should take statins, or cholesterol-lowering drugs. This advice now is part of the official practice guidelines of the American College of Physicians. Previous guidelines had recommended statins only for patients with type 2 diabetes if their bad LDL level was more than 100 and if they had at least one risk factor for heart disease. The new guidelines say anyone with type 2 diabetes and one heart disease risk factor should be taking one of the drugs and should continue taking them no matter how low their cholesterol drops.