Research Projects Page

Pharmacists at health system-based specialty pharmacies have the opportunity to improve patient care by providing comprehensive medication management for patients prescribed specialty medication. This manuscript describes how Vanderbilt Specialty Pharmacy integrated pharmacy services into existing outpatient specialty disease clinics at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, which improved patient access to therapy and continuity of care.

The objective of this study was to identify factors associated with movement through the HCV CoC after referral to a multidisciplinary ID clinic to sustained virologic response (SVR), including both general and historically difficult to treat populations.

Given the shortage of suitable donor hearts for cardiac transplantation, and the favorable safety and efficacy of current agents used to treat hepatitis C virus(HCV), our institution recently piloted transplantation of select patients using HCV-positive donors. In the era of highly effective DAAs, the use of HCV-positive donors represents a potential approach to safely expand the donor pool.

Based on recent clinical trial data, most patients who fail HCV treatment with direct acting antiviral agents now have excellent retreatment options. In this article, we review the current state of the evidence for HCV retreatment after DAA failure.

In this study, we explored factors related to teriparatide completion. We found that patients utilizing VSP services were 62% more likely to complete teriparatide and 49% less likely to drop out of treatment after completing 12 months of teriparatide compared to non-VSP patients. Additionally, most patients (64%) required the use a financial assistance program only available to VSP patients. Smoking status also significantly impacted teriparatide completion.

This study describes a real world cohort of HIV/HCV co-infected patients in an outpatient infectious diseases clinic with a focus on the frequency and impact of HIV antiretroviral adjustments required prior to HCV direct acting antiviral initiation.

Prior to the release of sofosbuvir/velpatasvir/voxilaprevir, few options for retreating patients failing HCV direct acting antiviral (DAA) therapy. This study evaluated the effectiveness of sofosbuvir + simeprevir + ribavirin for 24 weeks in retreating patients who previously failed HCV treatment containing an NS5A inhibitor.

This study demonstrated the benefits of pharmacist integration into an interdisciplinary to treatment patients with chronic HCV. Pharmacist integration resulted in improved patient engagement, reduced provider burden, and increased rate of HCV treatment.

While historical treatments combining interferon and ribavirin were less efficacious in HIV/HCV coinfection, modern direct-acting antiviral (DAA) therapies have shown similar clinical efficacy in HIV/HCV coinfection as in HCV monoinfection. In light of these findings, HIV/HCVcoinfected patients may benefit even more from new HCV treatment approaches. This article reviews the many therapeutic options for HIV/HCV coinfected patients with emphasis on avoiding drug-drug interactions.

This study was among the first to evaluate patient outcomes to all-oral, sofosbuvir (SOF)-based, HCV therapies in a real world setting and assess the impact of a clinic-integrated specialty pharmacy on therapy completion. We found higher completion rates in patients filling through VSP (97%) compared to outside pharmacies (93%), and a 100% medication access rate.