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Introduction Previous drug survival studies of dupilumab in atopic dermatitis (AD) show that many patients continue treatment through 1 year, suggesting that patients experience clinically relevant benefits with long-term treatment. Methods This post hoc analysis included data through week 100 from 391 adult patients from the dupilumab open-label extension (OLE) study who had not achieved the endpoints of at least 75% improvement from baseline in the Eczema Area and Severity Index (EASI-75) or an Investigator’s Global Assessment (IGA) score of 0 or 1 with short-term (16 weeks, 300 mg qw or q2w) dupilumab treatment in the parent SOLO 1 or 2 studies. All patients received dupilumab 300 mg qw in the OLE study, irrespective of whether they received qw or 2qw dosing in the parent study. Results Among those who had not achieved EASI-75 or IGA 0/1 during the 16-week parent study, the proportion of patients achieving EASI-75 by week 100 was 91%. The proportion achieving IGA 0 or 1 at week 100 was 45% for patients initially on q2w week dosing and 49% for those on initial qw dosing. Conclusion Long-term dupilumab treatment may be associated with improvement in AD in patients with suboptimal responses during the initial 16 weeks of treatment. Clinical Trial Registration LIBERTY AD SOLO 1: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT02277743; EudraCT 2014-001198-15. LIBERTY AD SOLO 2: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT02277769; EudraCT 2014-002619-40. LIBERTY AD OLE: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT01949311; EudraCT 2013-001449-15. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13555-021-00643-4.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether clinically acceptable, less expensive medications may have been appropriate for patients prescribed a fluoroquinolone for uncomplicated acute cystitis. DESIGN: Fluoroquinolone overuse for treating lower, acute, uncomplicated urinary tract infections (acute cystitis) was measured through a drug-use evaluation study. According to recent guidelines developed for managed care organizations, trimethoprim/ sulfamethoxazole (TMP/SMX) is the primary preferred agent and nitrofurantoin the secondarily preferred agent for treatment of acute cystitis. The DUE method consisted of reviewing randomly selected charts of women patients prescribed a fluoroquinolone to treat acute cystitis during a six-month timeframe. Patient charts were reviewed to validate the diagnosis of acute cystitis and to determine whether use of either TMP/SMX or nitrofurantoin was contraindicated. SETTING: A 63,000-member, staff-model healthmaintainance organization in Maryland. RESULT: A search of the pharmacy and...

Factors that influence pharmacy students to pursue residency and fellowship training were studied. Directors of 514 residency or fellowship programs were asked to distribute to their residents or fellows a survey concerning factors that influenced their decision to enter a residency or fellowship. Deans of the 75 U.S. pharmacy schools were sent a related survey and asked to forward it to the faculty or staff member who was most involved in promoting residencies and fellowships to students. This survey asked about methods for promoting the programs and the faculty member's opinion on why students chose to become residents and fellows. Residents and fellows cited "to gain knowledge and experience," "recognition of new and challenging roles," and "desire for specialized training" as their leading reasons for entering their programs. The pharmacy school representatives also cited "to gain knowledge and experience" and "desire for specialized training" as leading reasons. The residents and fellows thought instruction on residencies and fellowships should occur earlier in the pharmacy degree programs than it was being provided. The pharmacy school respondents considered the largest barriers to entering such programs "financial" and "a job was available upon graduation from pharmacy school." The pharmacy school survey results were broken into two groups: the 9 schools that produced the most students who went on to residencies and fellowships, and the rest of the schools. The former group was more likely to offer the Pharm.D. degree and to involve preceptors, residents, and fellows in didactic and clerkship teaching. Two factors--"to gain knowledge and experience" and "desire for specialized training"--were cited most frequently by survey respondents as important factors in students' decisions to pursue residencies and fellowships, and schools that produce more residents and fellows tended to involve preceptors, residents, and fellows in didactic and clerkship training.