This retrospective cohort study aimed to evaluate the utility of the family pharmacist system using administrative claims data. The eligible cohort was detected from the JMDC claims database; it was divided into two groups-those using the system (users) and those not using the system but receiving general pharmaceutical management (non-users) in health insurance pharmacies. The calculation of chouhukutouyaku-sougosayoutou-boushi-kasan-which consisted of the calculation other than the adjustment of leftover drugs and the calculation related to the adjustment of leftover drugs-was considered an indicator of the system’s utility. This indicator was compared between the two groups from April 2018 to March 2020, and a generalized linear model (link, identity; distribution, binomial) was developed to estimate the adjusted absolute risk differences (ARDs) and 95％ confidence intervals (CIs). A total of 162,340 patients were included in the eligible cohort (users [n = 1,214]; non-users [n = 161,126]). Chouhukutouyaku-sougosayoutou-boushi-kasan was examined among 177 participants (14.6％) of users and 9,052 (5.6％) of non-users (adjusted ARD, 5.1; 95％ CI, 3.2 to 7.1). Furthermore, the adjusted ARD was 3.1 (95％ CI, 1.6 to 4.7) and 2.4 (95％ CI, 1.0 to 3.7), for the calculation other than the adjustment of leftover drugs and the calculation related to the adjustment of leftover drugs, respectively. The current study reported that the family pharmacist system was related to the increase in the calculation of chouhukutouyaku-sougosayoutou-boushi-kasan. Therefore, it is suggested that the system was useful for facilitating pharmaceutical management in health insurance pharmacies.

In this study, we evaluated the effect of risk minimization activities in a risk management plan (RMP) formulated for sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors using both the Japanese Adverse Drug Event Report database (JADER) and real-world clinical data. We extracted data from the JADER, which is maintained by the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency, from the first quarter of 2004 to the second quarter of 2020. We also used real-world clinical data of the patients who took SGLT2 inhibitors among those who visited or were admitted to Gifu Municipal Hospital from June 2014 to January 2018. We conducted a comparison before and after implementing the risk minimization activities. We compared the reported rate of clinical trials with the reported rate after marketing using the JADER. In addition, we compared the prevalence rate of the clinical trials of SGLT2 inhibitors with that in real clinical data. Furthermore, we compared the onset of side effects (in days) reported in clinical trials recorded in the JADER with that in real clinical data. The pre/post comparison showed a significant increase in the reported rates of increased ketone body, volume depletion, urinary tract infections, and genital infections. A significant decrease in the prevalence rates for hypoglycemia and increased ketone body was also observed. Moreover, the time to onset of side effects was significantly shortened in volume depletion. In conclusion, the risk minimization activities in RMP would contribute to the increased reported rate, decreased prevalence rate, and early detection of side effects.

The Cubixx^® system seamlessly monitors the storage status of medicines by using wireless networks, enabling the return and lot exchange of medicines stored under non-room temperature conditions, which was generally impossible previously. To evaluate the availability of the Cubixx^® system, we surveyed recent trends in the Japanese pharmaceutical market, status of pharmaceutical purchases, and status of the use of the Cubixx^® system in Yokohama City University Hospital.

The Japanese pharmaceutical market continued to grow from 2007 to 2019 (P < 0.001). There are 11 pharmaceutical therapeutic categories (hereinafter referred to as “correlated categories”) that have a statistically positive correlation with the expansion of the total output (P < 0.001). In the targeted period, most medicines newly listed on the NIH price list (67.9％) belong to correlated categories, and the ratio of injection medicines stored at non-room temperature which are expensive has increased. 96.7％ of A-ranked medicines with ABC analysis in Yokohama City University Hospital are injection medicines, which tend to be expensive and stored at non-room temperature. 85％ of A-ranked items belong to correlated categories. Due to the use of the Cubixx^® system, the targeted medicines were never discarded during the targeted period. The total amount of returned medicines during the period accounted for 62.3％ of the total.

The recent Japanese pharmaceutical market has continued to grow, with the increase in newly released injection medications which belong to correlated categories, are stored at non-room temperature, and expensive. The Cubixx^® system may be useful in the inventory management of these medicines.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) reported in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, has expanded in Japan, and has had a significant impact on patient consultation behavior and medical treatment. In particular, cancer patients are more susceptible to infections because of the immunosuppressive state caused by both surgery and anticancer treatments. Therefore, discontinuation, postponement, or change of the regimen of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy is being considered. Thus, we investigated how the outbreak of COVID-19 actually affects the implementation of adjuvant chemotherapy in our hospital. We retrospectively investigated patients undergoing surgery for colorectal cancer, and compared the result for one year before and after January 2020, when COVID-19 initially occurred in Tokyo. As a result, there was a negative correlation between the ratio of surgeries for colorectal cancer to the number of hospitalized patients at the surgical department and the infection status of COVID-19 in Tokyo (r = -0.431), However, there was no significant difference in the number of patients classified as High risk Stage II or Stage III for postoperative diagnosis before and after the outbreak (P = 0.882). Although some patients were concerned about the risk of infection, there was no change in the rate of adjuvant chemotherapy (P = 0.321) and its regimen (P = 0.678) before and after the outbreak. Based on this survey, despite the absence of sufficient evidence for treatment under the COVID-19 epidemic, these findings suggest that adjuvant chemotherapy could be performed as usual by ensuring risk management such as securing beds and manpower.

At Tokyo’s Ebara Hospital, infectious disease physicians have led interventions among patients with positive blood cultures. However, pharmacists began to lead such interventions from April 2020 triggered by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and the reduction in the number of infectious disease physicians. Therefore, this study aims to compare the effects of physician-led and pharmacist-led interventions among patients with positive blood cultures. We divided the study period into a physician-led period (April 2019 to October 2019) and pharmacist-led period (April 2020 to October 2020). We retrospectively investigated the patients’ characteristics, number of blood cultures, blood culture positivity rates, sources of infections, and the types of bacteria detected. We set the primary endpoints as a 30-day mortality and in-hospital mortality, and the secondary endpoint as days of therapy (DOT) per 1,000 patients with broad-spectrum antimicrobial agents, anti-MRSA agents, and all intravenous antimicrobial agents. During the study period, 68 and 63 patients received interventions during the physician-led and pharmacist-led periods, respectively. During the pharmacist-led period, malignancies and blood culture positivity rates were found to be high in patients, and the number of DOT with anti-MRSA agents increased. However, no significant differences were observed in the 30-day mortality and in-hospital mortality. The study results demonstrated that pharmacist-led interventions may not be significantly different from physician-led interventions implemented among patients with positive blood cultures. However, as the study was conducted under the special situation of the COVID-19 pandemic, the effect of these conditions must be considered.

In this study, we conducted a questionnaire survey of healthcare professionals and general consumers about the problems of popularizing "Child-Resistant packaging" for storing medicines for the purpose of preventing accidental ingestion.

While more than half of the healthcare professionals and general consumers evaluated it as difficult for children to open, the percentage of people who want to use it is low, and it should be improved in size and strength. In addition, there is an opinion that even adults cannot open the container, and there is concern that compliance and the container usage rate may decrease due to the troublesome opening. Therefore, from the results of this study, it was found that the improvement of Child-Resistant packaging that is both difficult to open for children and easy for parents to use is desired. Furthermore, it was considered necessary to further understand the risk of accidental ingestion in order to disseminate it.

This study aimed to clarify whether the performance levels of pharmaceutical students could be measured by a rubric-based performance evaluation, which consists of a four-point score, during pharmacy practice experiences (PPEs) at both community and hospital pharmacies on a revised model core curriculum for pharmaceutical education in Japan. We assessed the changes in performance evaluation by mentors and students during PPEs, the correlation of their total scores, and those between community pharmacies and hospitals. Data from the electronic records of fifth-year students of the Keio University Faculty of Pharmacy, who did PPEs in 2019, were retrospectively analyzed. A total of 144 students were included in this study. The median scores of performance evaluation by mentors and students in all tasks significantly increased from the commencement to the end of training in community pharmacies and hospitals (P < 0.05). Consequently, there was a significant association of total scores of performance evaluation between mentors and students in the community pharmacies (ρ = 0.755) or hospitals (ρ = 0.724). In contrast, there was a poor association of total scores of performance evaluation by mentors between community pharmacies or hospitals (ρ = 0.209) and those between community pharmacies and hospitals (ρ = 0.409). In conclusion, these findings suggest that performance evaluation by mentors and students reflects the latter’s performance level and can measure their growth in the PPEs at a community pharmacy and a hospital.