Friday, November 14, 2025

ASSOCIATION NEWS

As 2026 approaches, pharmacies face a rapidly evolving federal policy landscape that will significantly influence reimbursement, access, and operational strategy. The Texas Pharmacy Association hosted a members-only webinar yesterday to provide an in-depth overview of upcoming federal program changes, including Medicare Part D drug price negotiations, Medicaid updates, the new 340B rebate model, and the implementation of Most Favored Nation (MFN) pricing.

Participants gained practical insights into how these changes may impact pharmacy practice, business models, and patient care, along with strategies to prepare for successful adaptation in the year ahead. Our guest speaker was John M. Coster, Ph.D., R.Ph., former head of the Federal Medicaid Pharmacy Program and former Senior Advisor to the Medicare Drug Rebate and Negotiation Group at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

“We need a lifeline for Texas rural health care,” McEntire wrote. “As a pharmacist in the Panhandle and as a leader in the Texas Pharmacy Association, I see firsthand the vital role that pharmacies serve in working to bridge that health care gap to ensure our patients get the care they need. Whether it’s chronic disease management, patient education, or medication reconciliation, rural pharmacists are helping prevent costly ER visits and hospitalizations.”

TPA member Danny Vela of Lee’s Pharmacy in McAllen, appeared on KURV Radio last week in the Rio Grande Valley to discuss seasonal vaccines, but he also touched on how Texas pharmacies hope to be included in the CMS Rural Health Transformation Program. Watch the interview on Facebook, X (Twitter), or LinkedIn, beginning at 7:26.

Dust off your Rolodex (if you still have one), search through your contact list, scan your company directory, and reconnect with your fellow alumni.

Brownen is the first UNT Health student to have a service dog. She hopes the changes made in her time at the Fort Worth center can become commonplace across the pharmacy space. “I’ve seen so much success that I know that it can happen,” Brownen said. “It may be more difficult, but when is anything — when you’re disabled — easy.”

STATE NEWS

The University of the Incarnate Word shared news of the passing of Dr. Arcelia Johnson-Fannin, founding dean of the Feik School of Pharmacy (FSOP), on October 30. Affectionately known as “Dr. J,” Johnson-Fannin was a visionary leader, educator and mentor whose work transformed pharmacy education at UIW and beyond. As the founding dean, she played a central role in shaping FSOP’s mission and programs. She retired from UIW in 2017.

MeadowLawn Funeral Home

Several Texas State Board of Pharmacy Rules were adopted and proposed during the Board meeting on November 4. TSBP has published a summary of the adopted and proposed rules online for review. The next scheduled Board business meeting will be held February 3, in Austin.

Texas State Board of Pharmacy (November 12, 2025) Briggs, Eamon

The Texas Drug Utilization Review Board met Friday, Oct. 24, 2025, to recommend clinical prior authorizations and drugs on the Texas Medicaid Preferred Drug List. Preferred drugs are medications recommended by the board for their efficaciousness, clinical significance, safety, and cost-effectiveness. PDL recommendations are pending until the Texas HHSC executive commissioner publishes the final PDL decisions.

Texas Health and Human Services Commission (November 7, 2025) Vendor Drug Program

The 2026 Texas Drug Utilization Review (DUR) Board tentative drug class review schedule is now available. When the DUR Board reviews a new drug class, all drugs currently on the market are reviewed for the first time. New drugs to the market falling into one of the drug classes scheduled for review are reviewed under that class. Other drugs may be reviewed off-cycle. The board will review new drugs entering the market within 90 days of the meeting.

Texas Health and Human Services Commission (November 7, 2025) Vendor Drug Program

More than 3,500 cases of pertussis, or whooping cough, cases have been reported in Texas so far this year, already reaching a 11-year high even though two more highly infectious months are left in the year, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. The uptick in whooping cough, which is especially contagious in children, has coincided with a decline in vaccination rates for the illness.

Texas Tribune (November 11, 2025) Simpson, Stephen

HHSC has published the annual performance report for the Medicaid Prescription Drug Rebate Program, as required by Senate Bill 1 from this year’s 89th Legislature. The report details the outstanding prescription drug rebate balances for the Texas Medicaid Program, CHIP, and related programs. It also includes a separate prescription drug rebate collection report for each managed care and fee-for-service (FFS) rebate program.

Texas Health and Human Services Commission (November 7, 2025) Vendor Drug Program

Gov. Greg Abbott on Sunday launched his campaign for a fourth term as governor, framing his pitch to a crowd of hundreds in Houston as a means to maintain Texas as a “bastion of common sense in a country reeling from far-left, progressive insanity.” State Rep. Gina Hinojosa, D-Austin, businessman Andrew White and rancher Bobby Cole are running for the Democratic nomination to take on Abbott.

Texas Tribune (November 9, 2025) Guo, Kayla

NATIONAL NEWS

The FDA is initiating removal of broad “black box” warnings from hormone replacement therapy (HRT) products for menopause following a comprehensive review of the scientific literature, an expert panel in July, and a public comment period. The agency is working with companies to update language in product labeling to remove references to risks of cardiovascular disease, breast cancer, and probable dementia. The FDA is not seeking to remove the boxed warning for endometrial cancer for systemic estrogen-alone products.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (November 10, 2025)

CMS is launching a pilot program aimed at lowering prescription drug costs in Medicaid by aligning prices with those paid in other developed countries. The program is set to begin in January. “CMS is making a historic commitment to driving down the cost of drug prices and ensuring Americans have access to life-saving medications,” CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz, MD, said, adding that it will help ensure state Medicaid programs are paying a fair price.”

Becker’s Hospital Review (November 6, 2025) Condon, Alan

President Trump last week hailed his deal with pharma companies to cut the price of blockbuster weight loss drugs as a major win for his administration and for increasing drug affordability. The question is how big of a difference the agreement will make for patients. Novo and Lilly will sell their treatments to Medicare at reduced prices of around $250 a month, and beneficiaries would have a monthly copay of $50.

Stat (November 10, 2025) Chen, Elaine

NCPA submitted comments to Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) on their request for information on pharmacists providing chronic care. Among other things, NCPA asked Congress to advise CMS to provide compensation to pharmacists for MTM, diabetes self-management training, and other services. NCPA also asked that Congress advise CMS to formally recognize pharmacists as providers to claim reimbursement under Medicare Part B.

National Community Pharmacists Association (November 10, 2025) Postal, Steve

The Trump administration appears poised to extend a temporary, Covid-era rule allowing health providers to prescribe certain controlled substances, like ADHD medications and treatments for opioid addiction, via telemedicine. Under the current rules, providers can initiate prescriptions for drugs like Ritalin or Adderall for ADHD, or buprenorphine for opioid use disorder, without first examining the patient in-person.

Stat (November 11, 2025) Facher, Lev

In a surprise move, the FDA has named the longtime leader of its oncology department, Richard Pazdur, M.D., as the new director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, which oversees most prescription drugs. Pazdur takes over from George Tidmarsh, M.D., Ph.D., who resigned from the agency about a week ago amid an internal investigation into alleged misuse of his regulatory authority to act on a personal vendetta.

Fierce Pharma (November 11, 2025) Liu, Angus

The CDC is reviewing the childhood vaccine schedule, a move that has sparked debate among public health experts. While some support periodic assessments of vaccine schedules, others express concern that this review could undermine public confidence in vaccines. The scrutiny comes amid rising outbreaks of diseases like measles and whooping cough, attributed to declining immunization rates.

National Public Radio (November 7, 2025) Stein, Rob

Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said he does not want to take vaccines away from Americans. But at a closed-door meeting of Food and Drug Administration vaccine scientists in September, a top official suggested doing just that. Tracy Beth Høeg, a lieutenant to FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, laid out her plan to address her concerns about myocarditis, which she said had been censored before.

Stat (November 12, 2025) 

President Donald Trump has pardoned Tennessee Republican Rep. Diana Harshbarger’s husband, who pleaded guilty more than a decade ago to health care fraud and other crimes and served time in federal prison. Robert Harshbarger Jr. was a licensed pharmacist in 2013 when he admitted substituting a cheaper drug imported from China that was not approved by the FDA for the iron sucrose that the FDA had approved for kidney dialysis patients to use.

Associated Press (November 11, 2025) Superville, Darleneerved four years in prison.

Popular THC-infused drinks and edibles may disappear from store shelves in the next year as Congress is on the verge of passing a ban on nearly all hemp-derived THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, products. Tucked into the Senate-passed government funding bill is a provision that would recriminalize many of the intoxicating hemp-derived products that were legalized by the 2018 farm bill.

The Hill (November 12, 2025) Weixel, Nathaniel

TRENDING NEWS

Applications are now open for the NCPA Foundation's Rural Pharmacy Ownership Accelerator 2026 cohort. It's a comprehensive, free, 12-month virtual program designed to equip aspiring pharmacy owners with the knowledge, resources, and connections needed to successfully open and operate a pharmacy in a rural community within the next 3-5 years. Applications are due Nov. 30.

NCPA Foundation (November 6, 2025)

A new report found that generics from Cigna's subsidiary Quallent Pharmaceuticals were frequently priced near the top of the market, with their listings often 30-plus times costlier than the cheapest alternatives. "They are telling you they hate high prices, they are telling you they work to get the lowest prices. This data suggests the opposite is occurring," said Antonio Ciaccia, CEO of 46brooklyn. Cigna disputes the findings, citing flawed averages.

46brooklyn Research (November 7, 2025)

Merck, the company that introduced statins to the world nearly 40 years ago, has a new, intensely powerful pill that can slash levels of dangerous LDL cholesterol to levels almost never seen in adults. The new pill, enlicitide, blocks a liver protein, PCSK9, that slows the body’s ability to clear cholesterol. With most PCSK9 blocked, LDL levels plummet and rates of heart attacks and strokes in high risk patients fall by up to 20 percent in just the first year.

New York Times (November 8, 2025) Kolata, Gina

With a snip of a gene, doctors may one day permanently lower dangerously high cholesterol, possibly removing the need for medication, according to a new pilot study published Saturday in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study was extremely small. Preliminary results, however, showed nearly a 50% reduction in low-density lipoprotein, or LDL, the “bad” cholesterol.

CNN (November 8, 2025) LaMotte, Sandee

One of the largest studies ever conducted on the link between the shingles vaccine and brain health offers insight into how the disease increases dementia risk. People who experienced multiple episodes of shingles had a higher risk of dementia for several years after the second outbreak, the study found, compared with those who had it only once.

Washington Post (November 9, 2025) Johnson, Akilah

Two recent studies highlight the superior efficacy of high-dose influenza vaccines over standard doses, particularly for older adults. A study in The Lancet shows that high-dose vaccines are 40% more effective at preventing hospitalization for flu and pneumonia, while a study in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases shows 29% greater protection against infection.

CIDRAP (November 6, 2025) Van Beusekom, Mary

A pioneering patient-reported outcome tool has shown significant promise in predicting the risk of a patient with chronic conditions not following their treatment plan. While patients often cited practical reasons like forgetting a dosage or doubting a medicine's effectiveness, analysis revealed that social and psychological factors, which relate to the patient's identity, societal role, and a reluctance of being told what to do by a prescriber, had a powerful indirect impact.

Medical Xpress (November 5, 2025) Clark, Gaby

An umbrella review of nine systematic reviews published in BMJ shows no link between maternal acetaminophen use during pregnancy and autism or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children. The study involved a review of research published within the past 10 years to evaluate the quality and validity of the evidence and the strength of any association between the use of acetaminophen during pregnancy and the risks of autism and ADHD.

CIDRAP (November 10, 2025) Van Beusekom, Mary

File this under “unintended consequences.” Over the past few months, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has pursued new policies that its officials insist will preserve patents from unnecessary legal challenges and strengthen the system for protecting innovation.

Stat (November 13, 2025) Silverman, Ed

Walgreens is helping shape the future of pharmacy through the launch of its new Community Practice Shared Faculty program, a first-of-its-kind initiative that connects pharmacy students with Walgreens pharmacists serving as shared faculty members at colleges of pharmacy nationwide. The program underscores Walgreens’ ongoing commitment to rebuilding the talent pipeline and inspiring meaningful careers in community pharmacy.

Drug Store News (November 11, 2025) Levy, Sandra

Texas Pharmacy Today
Editor: Brian Sparks, Division Director, Communications and Marketing
(512) 615-9140 • bsparks@texaspharmacy.org

Texas Pharmacy Association
RoxAnn Dominguez, Pharm.D., Chief Executive Officer
(512) 615-9147