Pfizer - Afrikan Heroes

Pfizer Recalls Another Hypertension Medication For Cancer Causing Agents

May 2, 2022

Global pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has recalled another high blood pressure drug. This is the second time in 30 days Pfizer is recalling its high blood pressure medication due to cancer causing agents. The following information is provided by the FDA website.

Pfizer is voluntarily recalling five (5) lots of Accupril (Quinapril HCl) tablets distributed by Pfizer to the patient (consumer/user) level due to the presence of a nitrosamine, Nnitroso-quinapril, observed in recent testing above the Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) level.

Nitrosamines are common in water and foods, including cured and grilled meats, dairy products and vegetables. Everyone is exposed to some level of nitrosamines. These impurities may increase the risk of cancer if people are exposed to them above acceptable levels over long periods of time.

Accupril is indicated for the treatment of hypertension, to lower blood pressure. Accupril is also indicated in the management of heart failure as adjunctive therapy when added to conventional therapy including diuretics and/or digitalis. Accupril has a safety profile that has been established over 30 years.

To date, Pfizer is not aware of reports of adverse events that have been assessed to be related to this recall. Pfizer believes the benefit/risk profile of the products remains positive based on currently available data.

Although long-term ingestion of Nnitroso-quinapril may be associated with a potential increased cancer risk in humans, there is no immediate risk to patients taking this medication. Patients currently taking the products should consult with their doctor or health care provider about alternative treatment options for them.

The product lots were distributed nationwide to wholesalers and distributors in the United States and Puerto Rico from December 2019 to April 2022.

Accupril® (Quinapril HCl Tablets), 10 mg

Accupril® (Quinapril HCl Tablets), 20 mg

Accupril® (Quinapril HCl Tablets), 40 mg

Pfizer places the utmost emphasis on patient safety and product quality at every step in the manufacturing and supply chain process. Pfizer has notified direct consignees by letter to arrange for return of any recalled product.

Wholesalers and distributors with an existing inventory of the lots, listed in the table above, should stop use and distribution and quarantine the product immediately.

If you have further distributed the recalled product, please notify any accounts or additional locations which may have received the recalled product from you. Please conduct a sub-recall to those accounts and communicate this recall information immediately. Please request they immediately cease distribution of the affected product and promptly contact Sedgwick at 888-345-0481 (Mon.-Fri. 8:00 am – 5:00 pm ET) to obtain a Business Reply Form (BRF) to initiate the return process.

If you received a free product through the Pfizer Patient Assistance Program (PAP) or the Pfizer Institutional Patient Assistance Program (IPAP), please check your stock immediately against the table above. If you have any of the affected product lots in your inventory, please follow the instructions above for returning the product to Sedgwick.

Additionally, if you are aware of any patients to whom you dispensed the affected lots who still may have the product in their possession, please ask them to return the product to you and then follow the instructions above for returning the product to Sedgwick. To request a replacement product for any Pfizer PAP or Pfizer IPAP product you return, please contact 833-203-2776 (Mon.-Fri. 8 am-6 pm ET).

Patients who are taking this product should consult with their healthcare provider or pharmacy to determine if they have the affected product.

Patients with the affected product should contact Sedgwick at 888-345-0481 (Mon.-Fri. 8:00 am – 5:00 pm ET) for instructions on how to return their product and obtain reimbursement for their cost.

Healthcare Professionals with questions regarding this recall can contact Pfizer using the below information.

Adverse reactions or quality problems experienced with the use of this product may be reported to the FDA’s MedWatch Adverse Event Reporting program either online, by regular mail or by fax.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

Public-Private Collaboration to Accelerate Access to Health Services for about 2 Million People in Africa

January 17, 2020

The world’s leading pharmaceutical and personal healthcare manufacturing Giants such as Johnson & Johnson , Lilly, Novartis , Pfizer , GSK and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have joined forces with Philanthropic organisations like the Last Mile Health and Living Goods to increase access to community-based primary healthcare for nearly 1.7 million people in up to six African countries.

This laudable initiative is part of their shared commitment to accelerate universal health coverage. The Health Worker Training Initiative is a three-year investment, generously matched by The Audacious Project, and totals USD $18 million.

Harnessing the synergy of cross-industry collaboration is key to advancing universal health coverage. Living Goods and Last Mile Health have pioneered the community health worker model and are continually exploring novel approaches to training and retaining community health workers. By teaming up with Johnson & Johnson, Lilly, Novartis, Pfizer, GSK and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, precious resources and acumen can be maximized. All are united by the belief that community health workers play a catalytic role, and all share a commitment towards advancing universal health coverage.

Leveraging the unique expertise of each organization will drive tech innovation and deepen impact. In addition to financial contributions, industry partners will contribute disease-specific expertise and experience in the discovery and development of new tools, which will supplement the community health worker models pioneered by Last Mile Health and Living Goods, in partnership with government.

Investing in community health workers produces some of the best returns in health. Community health workers can yield a 10:1 return on investment, due to a healthier population, increased employment, and lower odds of health crises. In addition, community health workers can help primary healthcare systems serve the majority of a population’s health needs, which means community health workers are one of the most efficient and effective ways to achieve universal health coverage. This partnership is a response to the growing call to action globally to advance universal health coverage and Sustainable Development Goal 3.

“Focused investment in community health workers can accelerate progress to make universal health coverage a reality,” said Dave Ricks, chairman and CEO of Lilly and president of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations. “Public-private collaboration is critical to help governments lower barriers to quality care and innovative medicines that save and improve people’s lives.”

“Community health workers are the critical frontline to sustainably impact the health of communities in resource poor settings,” said Vas Narasimhan, CEO of Novartis. “Novartis is committed to strengthening healthcare systems and is proud to be part of this coalition to use digital technologies to reimagine the future of community health delivery.”

The three-year investment will cover three areas mainly; supporting the training and deployment of 2,500 digitally-enabled community health workers, reaching nearly 1.7 million people by 2022. Community health workers will be trained and deployed in Liberia, Kenya, Uganda, Malawi and up to two additional countries.S

Supporting Last Mile Health’s Community Health Academy, which is an open source, digital learning platform for community health workers and health systems leaders used worldwide. Training curricula for community health workers initially focuses on diarrheal diseases, family planning, malaria and pneumonia, with further modules expected to address non-communicable diseases, such as diabetes and hypertension.

And the last would be to contribute expertise and personnel to Living Goods’ new Kenya Performance Lab to develop mobile-based tech innovations that will improve community health worker productivity, strengthen supply chains and better identify obstacles to coverage.

The Lab will leverage the knowledge and assets of partners in areas including data science, behavior change, performance management, analytics and technical health expertise. Innovations would be introduced in Kenya and then scaled to other countries within the broader initiative.

Together, these pieces of the investment aim to scale up access to life-saving primary healthcare while building stronger, tech-enabled community health programs for the future.

“Well-trained community health workers play an integral role in providing quality care in low-resource settings,” said Andrin Oswald, Co-chair of the CEO Roundtable Executive Council and Director of Life Sciences Partnerships at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “The Gates Foundation is committed to working with partners across sectors to achieve universal health coverage, which is necessary to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and reducing the burden of diseases that disproportionately affect pregnant women and young children. We thank the companies involved in this initiative for their efforts to increase data-driven solutions to train and deploy effective community health workers.”

“This partnership will play a critical role in helping to scale and empower the world’s most promising health resource—community health workers—so that they can thrive and effectively save lives,” said Dr. Jane Aceng, Uganda’s Minister of Health. “Ensuring community health workers have the right training, digital technology, medical equipment and supervision is critical for ensuring they can help transform health outcomes, no matter where people live.”

Each of the six investors will contribute USD $1.5 million total over the next three years. This funding will be matched by the Audacious Project through an existing USD $50 million matching commitment to scale community health workers in Africa, resulting in an USD $18 million total investment.

This investment will also support the sustainability of community health worker programs. Living Goods and Last Mile Health partner with governments to deploy digitally-empowered community health workers. Not only will this partnership support community health workers to reach more patients, but the curricula and tools developed through the investment will support improved community health worker performance for years to come.

“We are inspired that healthcare companies are taking collective action to strengthen community health systems in the public sector across sub-Saharan Africa to advance universal health coverage,” said Liz Jarman, CEO of Living Goods, and Dr. Raj Panjabi, CEO of Last Mile Health.

“This partnership is much more than a financial commitment; it joins a growing movement of philanthropists, companies, and governments that have committed to scale digitally-empowered community health workers and build stronger primary healthcare systems across Africa to ultimately save more lives”, he added.

Kelechi Deca