Insights Newsletter: October 2022

Be Ready with Answers About Bivalent COVID-19 Boosters

• Pain Point: Pharmacy teams and prescribers need to be prepared to answer questions about the updated COVID-19 bivalent boosters.
• Solution: Our Pharmacist’s Letter, Pharmacist’s Letter Canada, Pharmacy Technician’s Letter, Pharmacy Technician’s Letter Canada, Hospital Pharmacist’s Letter, Hospital Pharmacy Technician’s Letter, and Prescriber’s Letter articles provide the answers that pharmacy teams and prescribers will need at their fingertips during this busy fall season. Guidance is provided about which patients should get a bivalent booster, the ideal timing for a booster, and whether it’s okay to coadminister COVID-19 boosters with other vaccines (flu, etc). Our resource, COVID-19 Vaccines, has a side-by-side comparison of approved ages, dosing, and storage requirements. This resource will be a critical tool to help prevent errors and confusion between products.

Does Psilocybin Reduce Heavy Drinking?

• Pain Point: Psychedelics have been making headlines this year, with some recent news reports suggesting they may be useful for alcohol use disorder. New research does suggest possible promise, but it should be interpreted with caution.
• Solution: These headlines refer to a new study that evaluated the use of psilocybin (the active chemical in magic mushrooms) in people with alcohol dependence. Our Natural Medicines article explains how the study found that taking two doses of psilocybin three weeks apart modestly reduced overall alcohol use when compared with diphenhydramine. Although these findings are encouraging, the study had multiple issues. For example, the patients in this study were able to accurately guess which treatment they received, introducing a possible placebo effect. We discuss this and other limitations in this article.

We also feature updates about recent abortifacient law changes, and our four helpful resource hubs. Don’t miss our new on-demand webinar, and be sure to checkout October’s most popular charts for our Letter products.

Read October’s issue of Insights Newsletter.