Friday, February 13, 2026

ASSOCIATION NEWS

This Valentine's Day weekend, we share the story of TPA board member Chris Alvarado and his wife, Stephanie, and their commitment to San Antonio’s University of the Incarnate Word and the UIW Feik School of Pharmacy. In 2021, the Alvarados launched their first endowed scholarship, the Chris and Stephanie Alvarado Pharmacy Scholarship for $25,000. The scholarship was developed with advocacy at its core, and they hoped their scholarship would invite students to get involved not only in the classroom, but with local organizations and community members. This endowed scholarship at FSOP is the first of its kind, supporting aspiring pharmacy professionals. 

Texas Pharmacy Association President Jason Davis, Treasurer Casey Nicholas, and CEO RoxAnn Dominguez represented the Texas Pharmacy Association this week at the quarterly meeting of the Texas Pharmacy Congress. The University of Texas at Tyler College of Pharmacy hosted the group, which includes leaders from Texas pharmacy schools as well as TPA, the Texas State Board of Pharmacy (TSBP), The Texas Society of Health-System Pharmacists (TSHP), and the Texas Federation of Drug Stores (TFDS). 

Much has happened recently at the federal level regarding drug pricing, PBMs, and other initiatives related to pharmacy. If you practice in community pharmacy, hospital, or long-term care, you will want to know how this affects you and your practice.

Join us Wednesday, February 25, at 6:30 p.m. for a one-hour virtual town hall. We'll provide an update on federal legislation and regulation that affects pharmacy practice relating to Medicare Part B, Medicare Part D and Medicaid.

Our guest speaker will be 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.

“I always enjoy talking to young student pharmacist and sharing with them the reality of what is happening in our profession,” Davis said.

"Taking bold steps has meant stepping into spaces where my voice could make an impact," he said. "Engaging in advocacy at the Texas Capitol with the Texas Pharmacy Association and in Washington, DC, with APhA ... required confidence and intentional leadership. These experiences strengthened my sense of purpose and reinforced the importance of representation and leadership within the pharmacy profession."

There are three components to the certificate training program:

The live portion of the immunization certificate course will be held VIRTUALLY on Friday, February 20, via Zoom. Price: $295 for TPA members; $395 for non-members.

Charlie, TPA's “interim receptionist,” has been looking for love in all the wrong places. He needs a date for tomorrow. Will you be his valentine?

STATE NEWS

Several Texas State Board of Pharmacy Rules were adopted and proposed during the Board meeting on February 3. TSBP has published a summary of the adopted and proposed rules online for review. The next scheduled Board business meeting will be held May 5 in Austin.

Texas State Board of Pharmacy (February 10) Briggs, Eamon

The Texas Drug Utilization Review Board met January 23 to recommend clinical prior authorizations and drugs on the Texas Medicaid Preferred Drug List. Information now available includes the meeting webcast; approved minutes from the Oct. 24, 2025, meeting; a summary of clinical prior authorization, preferred drug list, and retrospective drug utilization recommendations; and the PDL drug class review schedule for the April 24 meeting.

Texas Health and Human Services Commission (February 6, 2026) Vendor Drug Program

“You have a situation where the big pharmacy benefit managers are owned by insurance companies. They negotiate prices with the government for Medicare and Medicaid, they set prices at the counter, and there’s no transparency,” U.S. Rep. August Pfluger said. “PBMs are incentivized to make insurance companies rich and take advantage of those that don’t know what’s going on.”

Midland Reporter-Telegram (February 6, 2026) Hawes, Trevor

NATIONAL NEWS

Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) are out to “break up big medicine.” The lawmakers introduced legislation to crack down on health care conglomerates that own multiple parts of the industry — including pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and pharmacies themselves. The “Break Up Big Medicine Act” proposes prohibiting parent companies from owning a medical provider or management services organization and a PBM or insurer.

The Hill (February 10, 2026) Rego, Max

Testifying Wednesday in a House Energy and Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Health hearing, National Community Pharmacists Association CEO B. Douglas Hoey, outlined numerous ways large pharmacy benefit managers and their largely unregulated role in the supply chain have harmed patients and their access to pharmacy care and urge Congress to halt and dissolve the horizontal and vertical consolidation that has overtaken health care.

National Community Pharmacists Association (February 11, 2026) Hoey, Doug, 

Dr. Mehmet Oz is calling on Americans to get the measles vaccine as cases spread across the United States. "Take the vaccine, please. We have a solution for our problem. Not all illnesses are equally dangerous, and not all people are equally susceptible to those illnesses. But measles is one you should get your vaccine (for)," Oz, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator, said Sunday on CNN.

USA Today (February 9, 2026) Moniuszko, Sara

Members of the federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices are setting their sights on the next targets: the mRNA Covid shots, and vaccines offered to pregnant women. The panel already has imposed some limits on access to Covid vaccines and has rescinded recommendations for some routine childhood shots. Several of the panelists have said — contrary to scientific consensus — that they believe the Covid shots are dangerous.

New York Times (February 6, 2026) Mandavilli, Apporva

The most recent FluView report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows an additional eight pediatric deaths last week, raising the season’s total to 60 pediatric deaths from flu complications. Approximately 90% of the 60 children were not fully vaccinated against influenza. The CDC estimates there have been at least 22,000,000 illnesses, 280,000 hospitalizations, and 12,000 deaths from flu so far this season.

CIDRAP (February 9, 2026) Soucheray, Stephanie

The Health and Human Services Department has agreed to scrap a contentious 340B Drug Pricing Program rebate model and go back to the drawing board. The pilot would have allowed pharmaceutical manufacturers to give post-sales rebates to providers on some drugs, in lieu of upfront discounts—a major departure from the traditional 340B model.

Healthcare Dive (February 6, 2026) Olsen, Emily

In the weeks after the Trump administration reduced the number of recommended childhood vaccines for routine use, the public’s trust in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) remains at its lowest point, a new KFF Poll on Health Information and Trust finds. Fewer than half (47%) now say that they trust the agency at least “a fair amount” to provide reliable vaccine information, down more than 10 percentage points.

KFF (February 6, 2026) 

President Donald Trump’s unconventional plan to lower prescription drug prices is being met with a skeptical eye from Republicans as Congress places a greater focus on drug pricing ahead of the midterm elections. Trump’s plan is to establish “most favored nation” pricing to bring U.S. prescription drug pricing more in line with what other countries pay. Now he wants Congress to codify what he’s done.

Roll Call (February 9, 2026) DeGroot, Lia

The Food and Drug Administration refused to review Moderna’s application for a new influenza vaccine, the company said Tuesday, a surprise decision that could raise concerns about the agency’s posture toward drug companies and the Trump administration’s policies on vaccines. At the heart of the dispute is what existing influenza vaccine Moderna should have used as a control when testing the efficacy of its new shot, which uses mRNA technology.

Stat (February 10, 2026) Herper, Matthew and Branswell, Helen

The American Medical Association has launched its own “evidence-based review process” of vaccine safety and efficacy for the next respiratory viral season, an apparent tacit rebuke of the federal government’s current regulations. The AMA’s evaluation process will be conducted in collaboration with the Vaccine Integrity Project at the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota, focusing on flu, COVID-19 and RSV.

The Hill (December 10, 2026) Choi, Joseph

TRENDING NEWS

Novo Nordisk sued Hims and Hers Health on Monday over patent infringement after the telehealth firm launched, then cancelled, a $49 copy of Novo's weight-loss pill Wegovy following backlash from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Novo's shares jumped nearly 7% on Monday, while Hims sank 20% in early trading. Shares of Novo and rival Eli Lilly had tumbled last week after Hims introduced the cut-price pill.

Reuters (February 9, 2026) Jasobsen, Stine and Fick, Maggie

Telehealth companies and compounding pharmacies that continue to make copycat versions of Novo Nordisk’s obesity drug Wegovy “should be very, very much on notice,” the company’s chief counsel says. Compounding pharmacies raced to make copycat GLP-1s when the brand-name drugs were in shortage, but when the shortage ended, companies like Hims continued to market compounded products, claiming they were making “personalized” versions.

Stat (February 9, 2026) Chen, Elaine and Silverman, Ed

As the popularity of weight loss drugs has increased, so have calls to poison control as people, including children, overdose on the medications. GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Zepbound are designed to be injected, typically once a week. That means the medications are set to remain in the body for that long, which can have devastating consequences if a child gets their hands on the medicine.

The Hill (February 5, 2026) Whiteside, Steph

Novo Nordisk A/S aims to start selling its weight-loss blockbuster Wegovy in vials, its latest move to win over customers it’s lost to rival Eli Lilly & Co. Currently Novo sells the drug in plastic injector pens. Lilly launched vials nearly two years ago to offer a lower-priced version of its shot and alleviate shortages. It’s unclear what Novo will charge for vials, but the company already has been aggressively discounting its obesity drugs to compete.

Bloomberg (February 11, 2026) Kresge, Naomi and Muller, Madison

Amazon Pharmacy announced it will expand same-day prescription delivery to 4,500 cities and towns across the United States by the end of 2026—adding nearly 2,000 new communities over the course of the year. The expansion will offer fast and reliable medication delivery to more customers nationwide, including those in newly served states such as Idaho and Massachusetts. The expansion helps address growing medication access challenges.

Amazon News (February 11, 2026) Greenwalt, Tyler

The National Cancer Institute, the federal research agency charged with leading the war against the nation’s second-largest killer, is studying ivermectin as a potential cancer treatment, according to its top official who said there are enough reports of it and enough interest in it, that NCI engaged in a better preclinical study of ivermectin's properties and its ability to kill cancer cells.

KFF Health News (February 10, 2026) Pradhan, Rachana

Billing mistakes. Stigma. Doctors who aren’t keeping up with the latest research. Those are just some of the hurdles that keep HIV prevention medication out of reach for many Americans. The CDC estimates more than 2 million Americans could benefit from PrEP, but only a quarter of them are getting a form of the drug. Zach Dyer appeared on WAMU’s “Health Hub” to share tips patients can use to avoid those pitfalls and find a doctor who knows more about PrEP.

KFF Health News (February 6, 2026) Dyer, Zach

Years after the introduction of a new class of blood thinners, designed to reduce adverse events such as bleeding, about 300,000 people in the US who take anticoagulants still are seen in hospital emergency departments with bleeds. Hospitals now are using predictive modeling to help weigh patient risks with the drugs, and studies are looking at next-gen Factor XIa inhibitors, which could reduce the risks of bleeds.

NBC News (February 5, 2026) Cox, David

Far fewer people who could benefit from statins actually take the cholesterol-lowering drugs now. Many who start taking them stop. The long list of side effects, detailed in fine print on package inserts and discussed in exam rooms over the years, pose barriers to many patients, doctors say. A new meta-analysis hopes to set the record straight on one of the most widely used, low-cost doses of cardiovascular disease prevention available.

Stat (February 5, 2026) Cooney, Elizabeth

Incremental changes to the current workplace design and workflow in pharmacy will not achieve the objective of managing cognitive load, reducing interruptions and supporting better outcomes for patients. Instead, a fundamental rethink and redesign of space and workflow is required—one that considers the expanding scope of the profession, new technologies, and the negative consequences of multitasking on patient safety and the mental health of staff.

The Pharmaceutical Journal (February 3, 2026) Austin, Zubin

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

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