Some write that they could contact their institutional or in- house pharmacist with questions. Would these pharmacists know about all new off-label uses of new medications? Would their be a special pharmacist to contact or are all equally able to discuss such topics.
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Psychopharmacologic Approaches to Treatment
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Psychopharmacologic Approaches to Treatment
Institutional or in-house pharmacists can answer questions about off-label uses of new medications. They have a wide knowledge of various medications available in their pharmacy and their uses (Ladanie et al., 2018). Pharmacists are also aware of the drugs that are yet to receive approval of the FDA. It is thus possible to get the right answers from such professionals on the safety and efficiency of off-label drugs. Mukattash et al. (2018), one of the reasons why pharmacists can answer the questions is that the prescription of off-label drugs is legal. Therefore, it is not a privilege of specialized and few health practitioners in the healthcare system. For example, pediatricians also prescribe off-label drugs if there is sufficient evidence to support the efficiency of a drug.
Statistics indicate that up to one-fifth of all drug prescriptions in the United States healthcare system are off-label drugs. The prescriptions occur in pediatricians, psychiatrists, and among elderly patients (Kwon et al., 2018). Therefore, in-house pharmacists can know the safety and efficiency of off-label drugs.
However, according to Grein et al. (2020), in the case of new off-label drugs with ongoing trials such as Remdesivir or Hydroxychloroquine for treatment of coronavirus patients, institutional pharmacists may not provide clear information. The reason is that they also depend on reliable information and multiple trials to approve the efficacy of a drug. If there is insufficient information, they may await clarifications (Kwon et al., 2018). For example, pediatricians can confidently prescribe off-label drugs only if there is sufficient information that a certain drug is a safe and efficient alternative. Therefore, patients can call their in-house pharmacists to discuss the safety of off-label drugs that have been backed by sufficient data and research.
References
Grein, J., Ohmagari, N., Shin, D., Diaz, G., Asperges, E., Castagna, A., … & Nicastri, E. (2020). Compassionate use of Remdesivir for patients with severe Covid-19. New England Journal of Medicine. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2007016
Kwon, J. H., Kim, M. J., Bruera, S., Park, M., Bruera, E., & Hui, D. (2017). Off-label medication use in the inpatient palliative care unit. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 54(1), 46-54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2017.03.014
Ladanie, A., Ioannidis, J. P., Stafford, R. S., Ewald, H., Bucher, H. C., & Hemkens, L. G. (2018). Homework help – Write an essay on Off-label treatments were not consistently better or worse than approved drug treatments in randomized trials. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 94, 35-45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2017.11.006
Mukattash, T. L., Alzoubi, K. H., Abuirjie, A. M., Jarab, A. S., Farha, R. K. A., Nusair, M. B., & McElnay, J. C. (2018). Perceptions and attitudes towards off-label dispensing for pediatric patients, a study of hospital-based pharmacists in Jordan. Saudi Pharmaceutical Journal, 26(1), 20-24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsps.2017.11.004
