news in brief
ACPE Update: ACPE Releases Standards 2007 Guidelines 2.0 The Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) released Guidelines 2.0 for ACPE Standards 2007 (S2007). S2007 Guidelines 2.0 serves as an interim update of guidelines supporting current program accreditation standards through a new mechanism established within S2007. The Accreditation Standards for the Professional Program in Pharmacy Leading to the Doctor of Pharmacy Degree remain the same, and these updated guidelines are published in response to stakeholder feedback seeking clarification and/or quality improvement additions and to reflect policy decisions by the ACPE Board of Directors. S2007 Guidelines 2.0 provides additional clarity on important issues such as interprofessional education, assessment and evaluation of the pharmacy degree program, active learning and introductory pharmacy practice experiences (IPPE). In response to the U.S. Department of Education and the Council on Higher Education Accreditation placing increased emphasis on programmatic performance outcomes, particularly student learning outcomes, S2007 Guidelines 2.0 provides additional focus on competencies, outcomes and the need for assessment and evaluation of these outcomes.
tamin D, calcium and fish oil. Other topics discussed were drugs with special requirements such as “blood thinners” and how to read food labels. Brown Bag Day events allow the students and faculty to fulfill the mission and vision of the college and provide students with hands-on innovative examples of community service outreach initiatives focused on improving the health and well-being of the citizens they serve. Year after year, this event makes a lasting impression on patients and students alike.
UGA Researchers Find Possible New Treatment Strategies for Pancreatic Cancer New University of Georgia (UGA) research has identified a protein that can be modified to improve the effectiveness of one of the most common drugs used to treat pancreatic cancer. The research, published in the March edition of the journal Cancer Research, found that a cell-surface protein called CNT1, which transports cancer-killing drugs into tumor cells, was reduced in function in two-thirds of pancreatic tumors. By improving the function of CNT1, the researchers increased the effectiveness of the cancer-killing drugs in pancreatic tumor cells derived from human patients, said lead-author Dr. Raj Govindarajan, assistant professor of pharmaceutical and biomedical sciences in the UGA College of Pharmacy.
ACPE has also established an International Services Program intended to bolster its ability to assist international stakeholders who seek guidance related to quality assurance and advancement of pharmacy education. ACPE’s new international “The transporter was failing to take up the drug, so there were a program will provide consultancy and training upon request bunch of different drug-resistant tumor cells,” said Govindaraand develop quality criteria that may be voluntarily implement- jan. “Therapies that restore CNT1 could increase the effectiveed by degree programs in pharmacy and providers of continu- ness of the drug by helping carry the drug into the cell.” ing pharmacy education outside of the United States. The drug most commonly used to treat pancreatic cancer is called gemcitabine and works by entering into the DNA of cancer cells and stopping replication. Many pancreatic tumor cells Appalachian College of Pharmacy are resistant to gemcitabine, which makes the disease very difStudents and Faculty Participate in ficult to treat, explained Govindarajan.
Annual Community Service Day
Each fall the Appalachian College of Pharmacy partners with the Appalachian Agency for Senior Citizens (AASC) and Mountain Empire Older Citizens, Inc. to provide medication reviews, counseling and education. The event was held on Sept. 27, 2010 and is commonly referred to as “Brown Bag Day” as the elderly often bring in their medications in brown paper bags. More than 50 students and eight faculty members participated at six sites throughout southwest Virginia to review and counsel patients about their medications, over-the-counter (OTC) products, vitamins, herbs and minerals such as Vi-
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The researchers identified different methods to enhance CNT1 function and slow growth of the tumor cells. They found that by using additional drugs that inhibit pathways that degrade CNT1, they could partially restore its normal function and transport more gemcitabine into the tumor cells to prevent proliferation of the tumor.