Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Commons^™

Pharmacy Newsletter : September 2025, Pharmacy Department

Department of Pharmacy Archives

• Pharmacy Newsletter provides information regarding the decisions of P&TC, current concepts in drug therapy, warnings and cautions issued by various regulatory agencies, drug interactions, ADRs, and matters related to drug usage.
• AKUH Clinical Pharmacy Accolades
• Beyond Weight Loss: GLP-1 Receptor Agonists as a Cardiometabolic Paradigm Shift in Type 2 Diabetes
• Key Insights | Drug & Poison Information Center
• Carbamazepine Intoxication Management
• TOX TOK: General Treatment Approach To Unknown Poisoning - Coma Cocktail
• Pharmacy & Therapeutics Committee: Ensuring Safe & Effective Medication Use! Progress & Reports
• Dexamethasone Induced Psychosis: Exploring Steroid Impact on Mental Health
• ASHP Residency Program: Leading Pharmacy Training …

Knowledge, Attitudes, And Practices Regarding Antimicrobial Resistance And Antimicrobial Stewardship Among Healthcare Workers In Outpatient Medical Centers In Kenya: A Qualitative Study, Mary Kaniu, Wahu Gitakah, Rupali Jain, Ann Munyare, Rodney Adam, Aliza Monroe Wise

Paediatrics and Child Health, East Africa

Objective: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major global health threat with a projected 10 million deaths globally by 2050. Antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) programs are coordinated efforts involving doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and other healthcare providers. Understanding knowledge, attitudes, and practices of health providers is pivotal for implementing strategies to curb the spread of AMR. The aim of this study was to evaluate knowledge, attitudes, and practices surrounding AMR and AMS among healthcare workers in Kenya.

Design: A qualitative study using in-depth semi-structured interviews

Setting: 12 private outpatient clinics in Kenya.

Participants: Healthcare workers including administrators and clinicians. …

Strengthening The Paediatric Clinical Trial Ecosystem To Better Inform Policy And Programmes, James A. Berkley, Judd L. Walson, Glenda Gray, Fiona Russell, Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta, Per Ashorn, Shane A. Norris, Ebunoluwa A. Adejuyigbe, Rebecca Grais, Bernhards Ogutu

Institute for Global Health and Development

The first WHO Global Clinical Trials Forum was convened in November, 2023 to develop a shared vision of an effective global clinical trial infrastructure. The Paediatric Clinical Trials Working Group was formed to provide perspectives, identify challenges, and propose solutions to strengthen the paediatric clinical trials ecosystem. Participants represented paediatric disciplines, including infectious diseases, nutrition, neonatology, pharmacology, oncology, neurodevelopment, public health, and policy. Childhood diseases have profound lifelong effects on health, livelihoods, and societies. Investment in early childhood results in highly cost-effective changes to lifelong health, productivity, and human capital returns. Yet, there remain substantial gaps in knowledge on the …

Pharmacy Newsletter : October 2024, Pharmacy Department

Department of Pharmacy Archives

• Pharmacy Newsletter provides information regarding the decisions of P&TC, current concepts in drug therapy, warnings and cautions issued by various regulatory agencies, drug interactions, ADRs, and matters related to drug usage.
• AKUH Clinical Pharmacy Accolades
• Treatment & Management Guidelines for Rodenticide Poisonings
• Drug & Poison Information Center
• Levetiracetam & Clobazam linked to Drug Reaction with Eosinophilia & Systemic Symptoms (DRESS)
• AKUH Antimicrobial Stewardship Committee (ASP)
• World Pharmacists Day 2024 at AKUH | “Pharmacists: Meeting global health needs”
• Clinical Pharmacists in Multidisciplinary Rounds

Access To Medicines For Parkinson's Disease In Kenya: A Qualitative Exploration, Natasha Fothergill-Misbah, Juzar Hooker, Judith Kwasa, Richard Walker

Internal Medicine, East Africa

Background: The accessibility of Parkinson’s disease medicines is limited across sub-Saharan Africa,which can have negative health, social and financial consequences for people with Parkinson’s disease andtheir families. However, there is a stark gap in the literature regarding the impact of poor access to medicineson individuals.

Objectives: The study objective was to understand the accessibility of Parkinson’s disease medicines in Kenyafrom the perspective of people with Parkinson’s disease, their caregivers and neurologists.MethodsMethods: In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with 55 people with Parkinson’s disease, 23 caregiversand 8 neurologists to understand their experience regarding challenges with accessing Parkinson’s diseasemedicines and the health, social …

Pharmacy Newsletter : August 2023, Pharmacy Department, Aga Khan University

Department of Pharmacy Archives

• Therapeutic Drug Monitoring of Digoxin – What You Need to Know?
• Composition of Common Poisons/Household Items
• Dexamethasone Induced Psychosis
• TOX TOK! Cement Ingestion
• Thromboprophylaxis in Critical Care Patients
• AKUH – Adverse Drug Reactions Reporting Trend – Q1 2023
• AKUH - Antimicrobial Stewardship Program Report - Q1 & Q2 2023
• AKUH - Pharmacists’ Intervention Statistics - Q1 2023
• Clinical Pharmacists in Multidisciplinary Rounds - Dashboard - Q1 2023

Lessons From Canada’S Notice Of Compliance With Conditions Policy For The Life-Cycle Regulation Of Drugs, Melanie Mcphail, Howard Zhang, Zohra Bhimani, Tania M. Bubela

Office of the Provost

Innovative health technologies are not well regulated under current pathways, leading regulators to adopt contextual, life-cycle regulatory models, which authorize drugs based on earlier clinical evidence subject to the conduct of post-market trials that confirm clinical benefit and safety. In this paper, we evaluate all drugs authorized in Canada under the Notice of Compliance with conditions (NOC/c) policy from 1998 to 2021 to analyze its function, identify challenges and areas for improvement, and make recommendations to inform Health Canada's regulatory reforms. We analyzed a sample of 148 drugs authorized between 1998 and 2021, including characteristics about the pre- and post-market …

Pharmacy Newsletter : April 2023, Pharmacy Department

Department of Pharmacy Archives

• Changes in Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) Report
• TOX-TOK: Sulfonylurea Overdose
• Difference Between Parenteral Iron Products
• Drug-Drug Interactions Impacting the Treatment of HIV-TB Co-Infection
• Conversion Between Different Corticosteroid Preparations
• Use of Analgesics in Adult Patients with Cirrhosis

Evaluation Of Pharmaceutically Compounded Oral Caffeine On The Impact Of Medication Adherence And Risk Of Readmission Among Preterm Neonates: A Single-Center Quasi-Experimental Study, Gul Ambreen, Manoj Kumar, Amin Ali, Syed Akbar Ali Shah, Syed Muzaffar Saleem, Ayesha Tahir, Muhammad Sohail Salat, Muhammad Shahzad Aslam, Kashif Hussain

Department of Biological & Biomedical Sciences

Background: Caffeine is available in an ampoule, used via parenteral and enteral routes in preterm neonates to treat apnea of prematurity (AOP) in neonates of gestational age ≥ 35-40 weeks. A longer duration of therapy has a higher risk of medication non-adherence due to higher costs and inappropriate dosage forms. Pharmaceutically compounded oral caffeine (PCC) could be an appropriate alternate dosage form. The researchers aimed to determine the impact of PCC on medication-related factors influencing medication adherence (MA) and the frequency of hospital readmission with apnea (HRA) in preterm neonates.
Methods: We conducted a single-center quasi-experimental study for this quality …

Impact Of A Multifaceted Intervention On Physicians' Knowledge, Attitudes And Practices In Relation To Pharmaceutical Incentivisation: Protocol For A Randomised Control Trial, Muhammad Naveed Noor, Mishal Khan, Afifah Rahman-Shepherd, Amna Rehana Siddiqui, Sabeen Sharif Khan, Iqbal Azam, Sadia Shakoor, Rumina Hasan

Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Introduction: In settings where the private sector constitutes a larger part of the health system, profit-gathering can take primacy over patients' well-being. In their interactions with pharmaceutical companies, private general practitioners (GPs) can experience the conflict of interest (COI), a situation whereby the impartiality of GPs' professional decision making may be influenced by secondary interests such as financial gains from prescribing specific pharmaceutical brands.
Methods and analysis: This study is a randomised controlled trial to assess the impact of a multifaceted intervention on GPs' medical practice. The study sample consists of 419 registered GPs who own/work in private clinics and …

Pharmacy Newsletter : November 2022, Pharmacy Department

Department of Pharmacy Archives

• Flood Borne Diseases - Current Situation & Its Impact
• Prevention & Management
• Prevent Uncontrolled, Rapid Infusion Rates: Confirm the Infusions are Connected to Pumps Before Opening the Clamp
• Colistin Induced Paresthesia
• Colistin Induced Paresthesia
• TOX TOK: General Treatment Approach To Unknown Poisoning - Coma Cocktail
• Dengue Fever
• Improving the patient safety and quality through Pharmacy Interventions at AKHW&C, Kharadar (Secondary Hospital)
• Food Allergy

Pharmacy Newsletter : July 2022, Pharmacy Department

Department of Pharmacy Archives

Content:

• TOX TOK! Liquid Nicotine Used in E-Cigarettes can Harm Children
• Monkey Pox FAQs
• Clinical Understanding of Different Formulations of Tenofovir: TDF Versus TAF
• Fluids And Electrolytes Maintenance Calculation In Pediatric Patients
• A NEW Warning : FDA recommends thyroid monitoring in babies and young children who receive injections of iodine-containing contrast media(ICM) for medical imaging.
• CHOLERA
• The 2 Million Dollar Injection
• Retinoic Acid Preparations & their Differ

Chloroquine-Susceptible And -Resistant Plasmodium Falciparum Strains Survive High Chloroquine Concentrations By Becoming Dormant But Are Eliminated By Prolonged Exposure, Johan Ursing, Rasmus Johns, Berit Aydin-Schmidt, Carla Calçada, Poul-Erik Kofoed, Najia Karim Ghanchi, Maria Isabel Veiga, Lars Rombo

Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Background: Plasmodium falciparum strains that are resistant to standard-dose chloroquine can be treated by higher chloroquine concentrations maintained for a longer time in vivo.
Objectives: To determine the relative importance of chloroquine concentrations versus exposure time for elimination of chloroquine-susceptible and -resistant P. falciparum in vitro.
Methods: Chloroquine-susceptible (3D7) and -resistant (FCR3) strains were exposed in vitro to 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 or 32 times their respective 90% inhibitory chloroquine concentrations for 3, 5, 7 or 14 days and then followed until recrudescence, or not, by 42 days after the end of exposure.
Results: Exposure to chloroquine appeared to …

Pharmacy Newsletter: March 2022, Pharmacy Department

Department of Pharmacy Archives

Content:

• Inhalers & Global emissions:
• Impact of Anticoagulation Management Clinics (AMC) at AKUH
• TOX TOK! A Poisonous Candy for the children: Mothballs (Phenyl ki Goli)
• Warfarin – A High Alert Drug

Variants Associated With Bedaquiline (Bdq) Resistance Identified In Rv0678 And Efflux Pump Genes In Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Isolates From Bdq Naïve Tb Patients In Pakistan, Dania Khalid Saeed, Sadia Shakoor, Safina Abdul Razzak, Zahra Hasan, Saba Faraz Sabzwari, Zahida Azizullah, Akber Kanji, Asghar Nasir, Samreen Shafiq, Najia Karim Ghanchi, Rumina Hasan

Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Background: Mutations in the Rv0678, pepQ and atpE genes of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) have been reported to be associated with reduced antimycobacterial susceptibility to bedaquiline (BDQ). Resistance conferring mutations in treatment naïve MTB strains is likely to have implications for BDQ based new drug regimen that aim to shorten treatment duration. We therefore investigated the genetic basis of resistance to BDQ in MTB clinical isolates from BDQ naïve TB patients from Pakistan. In addition, mutations in genes associated with efflux pumps were investigated as an alternate mechanism of resistance.
Methods: Based on convenience sampling, we studied 48 MTB clinical isolates …

Conditional Drug Approval As A Path To Market For Oncology Drugs In Canada: Challenges And Recommendations For Assessing Eligibility And Regulatory Responsiveness, Melanie Mcphail, Emma Weiss, Tania M. Bubela

Office of the Provost

International drug regulators use conditional drug approval mechanisms to facilitate faster patient access to drugs based on a lower evidentiary standard typically required of drug approvals. Faster and earlier access is justified by limiting eligibility to drugs intended for serious and life-threatening diseases and by requiring post-market evidence collection to confirm clinical benefit. One such mechanism in Canada, the Notice of Compliance with Conditions (NOC/c) policy, was introduced in 1998. Today, most of the drugs approved under the NOC/c policy are for oncology indications. We analyze oncology drugs approvals under the NOC/c policy to inform discussions of two tradeoffs applied …

Pharmacy Newsletter : June 2021, Pharmacy Department

Department of Pharmacy Archives

Content:

• Role of Pharmacist to Overcome the Challenges related to COVID-19 Vaccines
• Myths & Facts about COVID-19 Vaccine
• Medication Loss in the Tubing while Administration
• One Pill can kill | Advancing your knowledge of Paediatric Toxicology
• Chronic Therapy Medications During the Perioperative Period: To Continue or Discontinue?

Meropenem-Induced Pancytopenia In A Preterm Neonate: A Case Report, Kashif Hussain, Muhammad Sohail Salat, Naureen Mohammad, Ambreen Mughal, Sidra Idrees, Javaid Iqbal, Gul Ambreen

Department of Biological & Biomedical Sciences

Background: A post-marketing surveillance study has reported an association between meropenem use and the incidence of hematologic abnormalities, including leukopenia, thrombocytopenia, hemolysis, and neutropenia, but the precise incidence in neonates is unknown. Here, we report meropenem-induced pancytopenia in a preterm neonate.
Case presentation: A preterm newborn Pakistani received intravenous meropenem 40 mg/kg every 8 hours to treat Klebsiella pneumoniae in blood cultures and suspected meningitis. The baby developed severe thrombocytopenia, with a platelet count of 22 × 10³ cells/mm³, low hemoglobin level of 9.7 g/dl, and low absolute neutrophil count (ANC) of 816 cells/mm³ on days …

Open Drug Discovery Of Anti-Virals Critical For Canada’S Pandemic Strategy, Tania M. Bubela, E. Richard Gold, Vivek Goel, Max Morgan, Karen Mossman, Jason Nickerson, David Patrick, Aled Edwards

Office of the Provost

In the event of the current COVID-19 pandemic and in preparation for future pandemics, open science can support mission-oriented research and development, as well as commercialization. Open science shares skills and resources across sectors; avoids duplication and provides the basis for rapid and effective validation due to full transparency. It is a strategy that can adjust quickly to reflect changing incentives and priorities, because it does not rely on any one actor or sector. While eschewing patents, it can ensure high-quality drugs, low pricing, and access through existing regulatory mechanisms. Open science practices and partnerships decrease transaction costs, increase diversity …

An Artificial Intelligence-Based, Personalized Smartphone App To Improve Childhood Immunization Coverage And Timelines Among Children In Pakistan: Protocol For A Randomized Controlled Trial, Abdul Momin Kazi, Saad Ahmed Qazi, Sadori Khawaja, Nazia Ahsan, Rao Moueed Ahmed, Muhammad Ayub Khan Mughal, Hussain Kalimuddin, Yasir Rauf, Mehreen Raza, Saima Jamal

Department of Paediatrics and Child Health

Background: The immunization uptake rates in Pakistan are much lower than desired. Major reasons include lack of awareness, parental forgetfulness regarding schedules, and misinformation regarding vaccines. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic and distancing measures, routine childhood immunization (RCI) coverage has been adversely affected, as caregivers avoid tertiary care hospitals or primary health centers. Innovative and cost-effective measures must be taken to understand and deal with the issue of low immunization rates. However, only a few smartphone-based interventions have been carried out in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to improve RCI.
Objective: The primary objectives of this study are to …

Pharmacy Newsletter : December 2020, Pharmacy Department

Department of Pharmacy Archives

Content:

• COVID-19 Pandemic & the Vaccines trial | Global progress
• ToxTok | Hand Sanitizer, How poisonous they are
• Drugs Safety & Management in Lactation
• Amiodarone Induced Thyrotoxicosis (AIT) | A Case
• Myths & Reality | Flu Vaccine

Pharmacy Newsletter : October 2020, Pharmacy Department

Department of Pharmacy Archives

Content:

• Medication Reconciliation – Call for Focus
• Medication Errors | Look alike
• Drug Interaction Corner: Benzodiazepine & Opioids
• What Do We Need to Know about Remdesivir
• A Question From Toxicology| American Academy of Clinical Toxicology
• COVID-19 Pandemic, It’s Time to get back on track with Children’s Immunization

Repeatedly Heated Mix Vegetable Oils-Induced Atherosclerosis And Effects Of Murraya Koenigii, Gul Ambreen, Afshan Siddiq, Kashif Hussain, Abdul Saboor Hussain, Zara Naz

Department of Biological & Biomedical Sciences

Background: Statins are considered as standard drugs to control cholesterol levels, but their use is also associated with renal hypertrophy, hemorrhagic stroke, hepatomegaly, and myopathy. Murraya koenigii is an herb that is used in traditional cuisine and as a medicine in South Asia. Here we assessed the antidyslipidemic and antiatherosclerotic effects of this spice in repeated heated mix vegetable oils (RHMVO)-induced atherosclerotic models.
Methods: Aqueous extract of M. koenigii leaves (Mk LE) was prepared and its phytoconstituents were determined. Rabbits were divided into 5 groups (n = 10). Except for the control group, all the other four groups were treated …

Association Of Long-Term Consumption Of Repeatedly Heated Mix Vegetable Oils In Different Doses And Hepatic Toxicity Through Fat Accumulation, Gul Ambreen, Afshan Siddiq, Kashif Hussain

Department of Biological & Biomedical Sciences

Background: Hepatic diseases are one of the chief reasons for worldwide morbidity and mortality. The increased incidence in Asian countries is driving researchers to explore preventive ways from nature. It is more practical to go with healthy routine edibles like vegetable oils to avoid environmental and chemical hepatic injuries. With the use of thermally oxidized oils overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) with overwhelmed cellular antioxidants defense system results in oxidative stress, the known cause of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), cancers and neurodegenerative disorders. Little is investigated about the effect of daily used oxidized cooking oils on hepatic function changes with …

Pharmacy Newsletter : March 2020, Pharmacy Department

Department of Pharmacy Archives

Content:

• Roles of Pharmacist during the COVID‐19 Pandemic
• Drug Interaction Update
• ToxTalk | Bleach Ingestion
• COVID-19- Recommended Practice
• Drug Induced Nutrient & Vitamin Deficiency

Pharmacy Newsletter : December 2019, Pharmacy Department

Department of Pharmacy Archives

Content:

• FDA Safety Alert | Ranitidine Recall & AKUH Approaches
• Truth About Patients with Penicillin Allergies
• House Hold Poisoning | How to Keep Your Child Safe
• Protective effect of Co-Enzyme Q10 administration on propofol infusion syndrome (PRIS)
• Antibiotic Prophylaxis in Animal Bite
• Role of Vitamin E In Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

Pharmacy Newsletter : August 2019, Pharmacy Department

Department of Pharmacy Archives

Content:

• Vancomycin Dosing in ESRD with Intermittent Hemodialysis (IHD)
• Increased Risk of Ventricular Arrhythmias with Domperidone
• Drug Induced Esinophilic Pneumonia
• An Insight on aspirin; ASCEND, ARRIVE and ASPREE Trial
• Drugs Administeration Through Nasogastric Tube (Advantages and Its Restrictions)
• Medications to Be Avoided or Used with Caution in Parkinson’s Disease

Pharmacy Newsletter : April 2019, Pharmacy Department

Department of Pharmacy Archives

Content:

• New Dosing Recommendations for Safe Use of Colistin
• Fournier’s Gangrene reported with SGLT2 Inhibitors for Diabetes
• Drug Use : The Three Dosage form of Fosfomycin
• Losartan, An Effective Alternative Approach in Managing Marfan Syndrome
• Pediatric Dose Calculation when no Pediatric Dose Available?

Pharmacy Newsletter : December 2018, Pharmacy Department

Department of Pharmacy Archives

Content:

• Seizure Prophylaxis in Adult Traumatic Brain Injury
• Tizanidine and Ciprofloxacin – Serious Drug Interaction
• Seasonal Flu and Influenza Vaccine in Healthcare Workers
• Raised Concerns on Quinolones for Hypoglycemia and Psychiatric Adverse Effect
• Rabies Immunization: Recommendations WHO 2018

Pharmacy Newsletter : September 2018, Pharmacy Department

Department of Pharmacy Archives

Content:

• Stress Ulcer Prophylaxis
• New Update: Direct Oral Anti-Coagulants (DOACs)
• Case Study: Use of Cholestyramine for Management Of Digoxin Toxicity
• Updates : Use of Doxycycline in Children
• Serotonin Syndrome – Myths & Misconceptions