​From efficacy to safety, uncertainty to interchangeability, we explore eight issues regarding the awareness of biosimilar medications.

​With the recent US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of a fourth biosimilar medication, these compounds remain a hot topic in many areas of medicine, including nephrology,[1] oncology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, and rheumatology, as attested by the several biosimilar trials presented at the recent American College of Rheumatology Annual Meeting.

www.medscape.com/viewarticle/872115?src=WNL_infoc_161127_MSCPEDIT_TEMP2&uac=151849FY&impID=1240771&faf=1

On November 13, the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) released the final recommendations and evidence summary for the use of statins for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in adults.

The recommendations are available online at www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org

​Main points of the recommendations are as follows:

• Low- to moderate-dose statins in adults aged 40 to 75 years who do not have a history of CVD but who do have one or more CVD risk factors (dyslipidemia, diabetes, hypertension, or smoking) and who have a 10% or greater risk of having a CVD event (myocardial infarction or stroke) over the next 10 years (B recommendation).
• On the basis of a discussion with patients, clinicians should selectively offer low- to moderate-dose statins to adults aged 40 to 75 years who do not have a history of CVD but who have one or more CVD risk factors and a 7.5% to 10% risk for a CVD event in the next 10 years (C recommendation).
• Evidence is insufficient for the benefits and harms of starting statins in adults 76 years and older (I statement).

In a series of editorials, experts weighed in about the new recommendations. Their responses reveal the contentious debate about statins for CVD prevention and emphasize persisting gaps in the evidence base.
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http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/871837?nlid=110752_1983&src=WNL_mdplsnews_161118_mscpedit_fmed&uac=151849FY&spon=34&impID=1237367&faf=1

Research has already shown this test does not help beyond normal care. The NHS must stop wasting money on inadequately tested but popular political policies

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/nov/15/sore-throats-pharmacies-nhs

Sore throat sufferers will visit their pharmacist instead of their GP for an on-the-spot test to see if they need antibiotics under a new NHS initiative.

​https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/nov/12/sore-throat-test-pharmacists-instead-of-gps-under-nhs-move
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Use of prescription opioids in Canada has risen steadily over the past 20 years, with skyrocketing misuse, disorders and deaths, say experts who call for enforceable guidelines and a national strategy to address overprescribing.​

Today's Canadian cannabis industry is extremely confused. The Trudeau Government is in the midst of constructing regulations to be rolled out next year for recreational -- or, more accurately, adult non-medicinal purpose -- cannabis.
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"We have applied to be a licensed producer strictly for the purposes of distributing medical marijuana," Shoppers Drug Mart spokeswoman Tammy Smitham told CBC News in an email Tuesday.
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On a year-to-year basis, viral infections such as Middle East respiratory syndrome, severe acute respiratory syndrome, pandemic H1N1 "swine flu," and H7N9 "avian influenza" garner considerable attention from the general public and infection control specialists.
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