The price of methadone tripled: this weekend.

From Friday to Monday the wholesale cost per bottle tripled.

The last reasonably priced pain medicine is getting sucked into the hidden-hyper-inflationary vortex of the post "affordable health care act" "health care system." 

This whole cholesterol guideline shift has been a long time coming.  An admission that the numbers don't add up is really that.  Linus Pauling and colleagues suggested decades ago that LDL was a substitute for low antioxidants and that was the actual MOA of Statins benefit.
So many examples of where the pharmaceutical industry FDA marriage has got it wrong: Atenolol turned out to be BID after decades of QD dosing.  More...

As a pharmacist I attempt to answer the phone with a succinct and friendly greeting.

"Thanks for calling, how can I help you?"

Yesterday morning my perky greeting was shouted down with a rapid fire staccato name of a person and medication.

I paused..."I am sorry...that was not a complete sentence...I don't understand...how can I help you?"

Loud crash of phone into its cradle.

I am still amazed after 20 years how rude people can be to those who attempt serve them.

Ordering Vaccines

A pediatrician asked a pharmacist to order some vaccines....
Sounds like the start of a good joke.  But it is not.

The drug wholesaler's (and there are three) websites and search engines for finding products are almost useful.

Example:

Nearly all healthcare workers refer to the Measles Mumps Rubella vaccine as "MMR."
Yet a search for that drug in a prominent wholesaler order database comes up empty.  EM-TEE.

To order an MMR one has to enter "M-M-R II" as there is no boolean option, no list of common vaccines, no amazon style "other health care providers who shopped for vaccines bought..."

You just have to know.  Or spend a half hour on the phone to find out.  And then you know.

"W-T-F-!!"