Medication Management Systems’ Assurance System™ Stands Ready to Meet New FDA Labeling Changes and Testing Guidelines
MINNEAPOLIS, MN (August 17, 2007) | Approximately 2 million Americans every year begin a prescribed regimen of the oral anticoagulant drug warfarin, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Marketed under a variety of brand labels, including Coumadin® and Jantoven®, this drug therapy treatment is prescribed to prevent blood clots and reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
Yesterday the FDA announced labeling changes for all warfarin products—the first widely used drug for which the FDA has made such a recommendation. The agency also issued guidelines for healthcare providers, encouraging the use of genetic tests to determine the appropriate starting dose of warfarin for each individual patient.
Medication Management Systems, Inc. (MMS) recently brought to market a revolutionary warfarin dosing product that is already proving effective in meeting the FDA’s new requirements and guidelines. The company’s Assurance System™ uses genetic testing results to assist health care practitioners in determining a safe and effective dose of warfarin to prescribe on a per-patient basis.
MMS has been at the forefront of an industry-wide effort to utilize dosing methodologies in order to individualize medication plans and manage complex drug therapies. The company’s Assurance System™ product is currently in use by medication therapy management physicians, pharmacists, and nurses across the country.
“Our warfarin management customers have had the ability to utilize this genetic information since January of this year, when testing became available.” says Michael Frakes, Pharm.D., Director of the Warfarin Management Project at Medication Management Systems. “The ability to make initial adjustments to starting doses for this drug, based on genetic information and other individual patient characteristics identified in the medical literature, will help to make warfarin safer and more effective for the patients to whom our customers provide care,” he continues. “We are working on additional genetic markers that will become important for therapies on the horizon.”
About Medication Management Systems
Medication Management Systems (MMS) is a Minnesota-based company whose technology-based system delivers the support and resources pharmacy providers need to be reimbursed for medication therapy management services when providing pharmaceutical care to patients. The company’s Assurance System™ includes a comprehensive documentation process that automatically generates billing information in the required format, provides practitioner training, practice management and computer system support, practice outcomes reporting, and secure 24-hour online access. For more information, visit www.medsmanagement.com or contact Tom Albers at 952-746-8185.