Buzz Newsletter 03/05/26

Welcome to the March 5 edition of the GPhA Buzz Newsletter.

 

This weekly round up of pharmacy news and information is a member benefit, and if you are having difficulty receiving all GPhA emails, please whitelist our domain as well as glueup.com. You can find instructions for that on our website here.

 

The grace period for our membership ended on February 28, but if you're receiving this email, you have already renewed, and we thank you! The same may not be true for your colleagues and friends. Take a second and forward this email to your pharmacy friends and colleagues and ask them to make sure they are a member and receiving GPhA emails. Help us to help you and all our pharmacy community access all this great information.

The FDA is continuing to crack down on the online providers of compounded GLP-1s, sending 30 warning letters to telehealth companies this week under the guise of "false or misleading claims." While FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary was clear to say that compounded drugs are an important part of the medication system, the FDA is concerned with some of these online pharmacies going around FDA approval mechanisms. 

 

Speaking of drug approvals, Makary also announced last week that the FDA will start giving out bonuses to drug reviewers who get their work done ahead of schedule. It's a pilot program that will reward reviewers quarterly, but raises a few concerns about speeding up reviews and interfering with drug safety and efficacy. 

 

Oh, look, more measles news. Quelle surprise. 

 

Amid all the outbreaks, the U.S. has been poised to lose its measles elimination status, as administered by the World Health Organization (WHO). We seem to have been given a reprieve for now, as the meeting to determine that status has been postponed to November. The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), an office of the WHO that determines the status in the Americas, delayed the meeting to give countries more time to submit detailed reports. 

 

In the meantime, an immigrant detention camp in El Paso, Texas, has been closed to all visitors, including immigration attorneys, due to a measles outbreak. It is scheduled to reopen by March 20. The cases of measles across the U.S. keep pouring in, with 1136 cases reported to the CDC as of February 26, with 10 new outbreaks. 

 

Last week we reported on a school in Georgia that had closed to all unvaccinated students and faculty. This week it's a school in Colorado. 

New Drug for Achondroplasia 

Late last week, the FDA approved navepegritide for children ages two and up with achondroplasia, the most common type of dwarfism. The C-type natriuretic peptide is a once-weekly treatment to increase growth in children with the condition. 

 

Diacerein, a plant extract, showed promise in early trials at reducing inflammation in patients with OA. However, further trials showed no difference in pain levels among patients in the trial, but it did give them unpleasant GI side effects. 

 

Sanofi's acoziborole was approved by European drug regulators for treating sleeping sickness (African trypanosomiasis), bringing us closer to eliminating the disease altogether. Sleeping sickness is transmitted by the tsetse fly and is fatal if left untreated. It would be the first time a disease was eliminated worldwide without the use of a vaccine. 

 

Phase 3 trials of Roche's fenebrutinib hit the main goal of the trial in patients with relapsing multiple sclerosis, but the drug manufacturer is reporting at least one case of liver enzyme elevations, which can lead to severe liver disease, in one of the patients in the trial. 

A team in South Carolina is working on therapy that could one day eliminate Type I diabetes by teaming up two sets of lab-made cells. The dynamic duo diabetes crime fighters are insulin producing cells partnered with engineered immune cells that act as their protectors. The breakthrough could eliminate the need for immunosuppressant drugs and change how we treat Type I diabetes. 

The 2026 Georgia Pharmacy Convention brings together hardworking pharmacists, pharmacy owners, technicians, and decision makers looking to expand their knowledge and improve their practice of pharmacy. 

 

Join 300+ of your colleagues and friends for a week full of insightful CE courses, lunches, and networking on beautiful Amelia Island. Early bird registration ends March 31, so make sure to get your GPhA Member Exclusive discount on registration today! 

There's a lot going on at GPhA! Here's a look at what's happening at the Association. 

 

Did you know you can access archived Buzz Newsletters on our website? You can find them here. The weekly Legislative Update is also archived online, and you can find it here. If you are not receiving both email newsletters, please let us know. You may have to "whitelist" our domain on your email server. 

 

Register today for a two-part business goal planning series led by GPhA Board member Mollie Durham and sponsored by the Academy of Employee Pharmacists. Part I on March 31 teaches attendees the art of the SWOT analysis, and Part II on April 19 teaches SMART goal setting. Take your career to the next level with these informative programs. 

 

 

Our new member referral program is up and running. See more details here, and make sure you invite your non-member colleagues to join GPhA in 2026.