Research Projects Page

Post-transplant patients require complex medication regimens to ensure the survival of the transplanted organ and patient overall well-being. These regimens are frequently adjusted, initiated, or discontinued within soon after transplant. Pharmacist expertise can be utilized to optimize post-transplant medication use. This study describes the creation and corresponding outcomes of a CPPA between pharmacists and physicians within a renal transplant clinic.

Most institutions utilize a Pharmacy and Therapeutics (P&T) Committee to create a formulary for inpatient administered medications that promotes cost effective treatment options to reduce hospital related drug costs. Due to their high cost, most specialty therapies are omitted from inpatient formularies. We describe the non-formulary process developed at our institution to expedite and overcome challenges created by inpatient administered specialty medications.

Because of the growing focus on outcomes research within Vanderbilt Specialty Pharmacy (VSP) and the need for more student research opportunities, VSP developed a longitudinal student research training program. This report describes the development and outcomes of that program as of June 2021.

This report describes VSP's development of an ASHP-accredited community based residency program in the health-system specialty pharmacy setting.

This descriptive report details the development and early results of the VSP Health Outcomes and Research Program. Started as an initiative for pharmacists to evaluate and convey the benefits they provide to patients, providers, and the health system, the Program has pioneered outcomes research among HSSPs nationwide and has proven valuable to specialty pharmacists, the health system, and key specialty pharmacy stakeholders.

This study compared patient access to dalfampridine before versus after Vanderbilt Specialty Pharmacy obtained access to dispense the drug. Findings highlight that VSP can help more patients start treatment and start faster when limited distribution networks are removed.

The objective of this study was to assess the efficacy of abatacept, adalimumab, and etanercept in pediatric JIA patients through changes in the Physician’s Global Assessment (PGA). We found that the majority of patients saw an improvement in their PGA score. Adverse events were similar across all three biologics, and the most common reason for biologic discontinuation was lack of response to therapy.

This study demonstrated high medication adherence rates and low patient out-of-pocket costs for patients in an integrated clinic and specialty pharmacy. Adherence measured using mean proportion of days covered was 0.89 and 80% of patients were adherent (PDC≥0.80). Rates of financial assistance were high and low out-of-pocket costs were associated with higher adherence.

Rates of persistent viremia (PV), defined as a detectable hepatitis c (HCV) viral load after 4 weeks of direct-acting antiviral (DAA) therapy, were low (5.7%) in a real-world cohort of 983 patients. High sustained virologic response (SVR) rates were achieved both in patients with PV (92.9%) and those with rapid virologic response (RVR) (96.5%), without significant differences.

This report describes a health-system pharmacy department’s response to recovering from a natural disaster and preparing for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). By detailing our experience and efforts, we hope to help other institutions who are or will be in a similar crisis-response mode.