In the US, 82% of adults and up to 24% of kids under the age of 18 take at least one prescription medication each month. But as a pharmacy technician, you know all too well that the process from getting a diagnosis to picking up a prescription is often complicated. First, patients have to choose…

Medicines are often approved by the FDA under different strengths, formulations and uses. Advil comes as both a tablet and capsule, for example; Singulair is approved for asthma and allergic rhinitis; and antibiotic cephalexin comes in 250 mg, 500 mg and 750 mg capsules. But some medicines have approved uses that depend on a specific…

Did you know that there are certain medications out there that can cause forms of kidney damage? Don’t get me wrong. These medications can be life-altering and even life-saving—but they are known to directly affect kidney function. Medications that can damage the kidneys are known as “nephrotoxic medications.” These drugs can cause direct toxicity to the…

In 2000, measles was finally declared eradicated from the US thanks to a mass vaccination campaign. Vaccinations were up and measles cases were down by 99%. Now, the opposite trend is occurring. Vaccination rates are declining, and measles outbreaks have happened as recently as 2015. There are two vaccines available in the US that protect…

Newer classes of medications have transformed diabetes care and cancer treatment, but is newer always better? Patients often ask me if there is something “newer” than their current medication and if they should switch. My answer? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Here are 11 medications that have been around forever (and I’m talking some from the…

Treatments for hepatitis C are notoriously expensive, and the price for Harvoni is no different. Patients typically take Harvoni for 12 weeks, and the list price for a one-month supply runs at $31,500 for 28 tablets—or $1,125 per tablet—making Harvoni the ninth most expensive drug in the United States. We’re not kidding. Harvoni’s manufacturer, Gilead,…

You’re not imagining things—you really are paying more for your healthcare. In fact, employees are taking on an ever larger share of their medical costs, according to a new report released by Kaiser Family Foundation. In 2018, premiums and deductibles increased faster than wages, and nearly 50% of those covered by their employers pay high…

For a really cheap and safe medication, spironolactone has many uses. From heart health to hair growth, this potassium-sparing diuretic is safe and effective. How does spironolactone work for so many conditions? When it comes to the heart, lowering blood pressure, and helping relieve edema, spironolactone works by competing with aldosterone for receptor sites in…

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Both metformin and metformin ER (extended release) treat type 2 diabetes by improving patients’ blood sugar control—but they are quite different and are not interchangeable. How well do they work? How are they dosed? And what side effects do they cause? We’ll answer those questions below. What are metformin and metformin ER? Metformin, metformin ER,…