FDA issues Emergency Authorization Use for Peramivir IV

The Surgeon General’s office advised all health care providers — including PAs — that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for the use of the investigational antiviral drug Peramivir intravenous (IV) in certain adult and pediatric patients with confirmed or suspected 2009 H1N1 influenza infection who are admitted to a hospital.

Specifically, Peramivir IV is authorized only for hospitalized adult and pediatric patients for whom therapy with an IV drug is clinically appropriate, based on one or more of the following reasons: the patient is not responding to either oral or inhaled antiviral therapy, when drug delivery by a route other than an intravenous route -- e.g., enteral (absorbed by the intestines) or inhaled — is not expected to be dependable or feasible; or for adults only, when the PA judges IV therapy is appropriate due to other circumstances.

AMA Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement Meeting Looks at EHRs

AAPA recently attended the American Medical Association (AMA) Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement (PCPI) meeting in Washington, D.C.

The two main objectives of the meeting were to engage the PCPI membership in discussions regarding national activities related to the integration of quality measures into electronic health records (EHRs). Secondly, to inform the PCPI membership of proposed pathways to ensure physicians across all specialties, have access to clinically relevant measures ready for integration into EHRs.

Also, a representative of The American College of Surgeons (ACS) spoke about the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP) which is the first nationally validated, risk-adjusted, outcomes-based program to measure and improve the quality of surgical care.

AAPA is a member of the AMA-PCPI.

Further information about the AMA-PCPI can be found online. Information about NSQIP can be found here.

Doug Scott, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice Examines Vaccines

AAPA was in attendance at the October 2009 meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice (ACIP), which looked a number of important issues relating to vaccines.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) licensed a bivalent HPV vaccine for use in females 10-25 years, bringing two products — Cervarix® (GlaxoSmithKline) and Gardasil® (Merck & Co.) — on the market. Although ACIP did recommend the routine use of the bivalent vaccine in girls 11-12 years and catch up for those ages 13-25 who were not previously vaccinated, they did not indicate a preference for either product.  Instead, they highlighted the difference in the vaccines, leaving it to the practitioner to decide which product to use.

Can Cervical Cancer be Eradicated?

This month, AAPA was in attendance at the fall meeting of the Partnership to End Cervical Cancer (PECC) to explore and discuss the four main challenges to eliminating cervical cancer — prevention of HPV (human papillomavirus) infection, lack of Pap smear screening, Pap smear screening errors, and lack of proper follow-up of abnormal Pap smear screening.

Attendees discussed the fact that the current HPV vaccination is underused in the recommended age group (ages 11-26) but has the potential to prevent 70 percent of cervical cancers. The group also noted that over 50 percent of newly diagnosed invasive cancers were in women who have never had a Pap smear or were not recently screened. Barriers to screening include limited access to health care, lack of insurance coverage, and low socio-economic status. Because a Pap smear can miss some women with high grade pre-cancerous lesions, the advent of DNA HPV tests and liquid based cytology was found to increase the likelihood of sensitivity in testing.

In conclusion, PECC outlined recommended messages and communication strategies aimed at various target groups (professional organizations, parents, patients and policy makers).

PECC is a broad-based coalition of professional organizations — including AAPA — and medical and public health experts whose mission is to include vaccination along with cervical cancer screening as part of routine preventive care for all US women.

For more information on the PECC, click here.

Doug Scott, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it