Staying #Up2Date 🚨

1: Can Vitamin K Put the Brakes on Coronary Calcification?

A randomized clinical trial measured the effect of menaquinone-7, a vitamin K homologue, on coronary artery calcification (CAC) in 180 adults. Compared with placebo, those taking menaquinone-7 for 2 years had lower CAC scores and calcium mass measurements on CT/CTA, suggesting the supplement slowed progression of coronary artery calcification, mainly in noncalcified plaques. While these findings appear promising for patients with symptomatic coronary artery disease, larger-scale research is needed to determine the clinical significance of menaquinone-7.

2: Mirtazapine for Methamphetamine Dependence

A Phase 3 randomized controlled trial published in JAMA Psychiatry provides the 1st robust evidence that a generic antidepressant can curb methamphetamine dependence. The study evaluated 344 adults with moderate-to-severe stimulant use disorder, finding that mirtazapine 30 mg daily significantly reduced drug-use days over 12 weeks compared to a placebo. Although participants in the treatment group reported drowsiness and weight gain, there were no unexpected adverse events that would compromise mirtazapine use for this population. The RCT confirms that this generic antidepressant may be used to reduce methamphetamine use among patients with moderate-to-severe methamphetamine use disorder.

3: Oral Contraceptives Linked to Emotional Eating

A longitudinal study of 422 women published in JAMA Network Open found a link between combined oral contraceptives and binge-eating behaviours. Tracking participants over 49 consecutive days, researchers found that women experienced significantly higher levels of emotional eating during active hormone-pill days compared to inactive placebo days. This risk remained consistent regardless of mood shifts and was particularly pronounced in women with a history of clinical binge eating. Interestingly, daily self-monitoring and logging symptoms significantly mitigated this risk.

Shelf Watch 🏥

Drug Shortages ⚠️

Climara

• Company: Bayer

• Drug Class: Estrogens

• DIN: 02247499

• Strengths affected: 25 mcg

• Shortage status: Anticipated shortage

• Reason for Shortage: Demand increase for the drug.

• Start date: 2026-06-15

• Estimated end date: 2026-08-15

Biphentin

• Company: Elvium Life Sciences
  Drug Class: Psychostimulants and nootropics
  DIN: 02277158
  Strengths affected: 20 MG
  Shortage status: Actual shortage
  Reason for Shortage: Delay in shipping of the drug
  Start date: 06/15/26
  Estimated end date: 06/30/26

Newly Approved Drugs ✨

Exdensur: treatment of severe asthma and chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps

• NOC date: 2026-06-02

• Submission type: New Drug Submission (NDS)

• Submission class: New Active Substance (NAS)

• Manufacturer: GSK 

• Product type: DepeMokimab (100 mg/mL)

• DIN: 02568926 

• Dosage form: Solution for injection (subcutaneous)

Health Canada Fast-Tracks Biosimilars

A massive regulatory shakeup just quietly re-wrote the rules for how biologic drugs come to market in Canada. 

What happened: On May 19, Health Canada finalized its highly anticipated, modernized Guidance on Information and Submission Requirements for Biosimilar Biologic Drugs. The landmark shift? Health Canada has officially eliminated the default requirement for Phase III comparative clinical efficacy trials for biosimilar submissions.

Instead, the regulator is shifting to an analytical-comparability framework. Because structural, functional, and stability testing are now scientifically recognized as more sensitive at detecting minor differences than massive patient trials, clinical requirements will generally be limited to a comparative pharmacokinetic trial to prove safe processing and immunogenicity. Furthermore, once analytical similarity is proven, manufacturers can now claim all indications of the reference biologic “without further justification,” dropping the old requirement to write separate scientific rationales for every single pediatric or adult indication.

Why it matters: This pivots Canada into alignment with progressive international standards set by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the US FDA, which have similarly recognized that repetitive Phase III trials for well-characterized biologics are an expensive, ethically redundant hoop.

By removing the multi-million dollar, multi-year clinical trial burden, Canada has drastically lowered the barrier to entry for smaller manufacturers, which may significantly reduce development costs and sharply accelerate how quickly affordable alternatives to high-cost biologics reach the market.

But: This rapid acceleration compresses the timeline for innovative pharmaceutical companies to prepare for patent litigation. It means pharmacists should brace for a highly crowded marketplace. Instead of 1 or 2 dominant biosimilar competitors sliding onto the market over a decade, pharmacy teams may soon navigate a high number of concurrent generic and biosimilar challengers arriving simultaneously.

Bottom line: The science of proving biosimilarity has moved out of the clinic and entirely into the analytical lab. For pharmacy teams, this regulatory modernization means inventory management, provincial substitution policies, and brand-to-biosimilar switching conversations at the counter are about to become a much faster, higher-volume part of daily practice.

Hot Off The Press 🗞️

1: 🧠 For patients asking whether fish oil can help protect their memory, the advice just got more complicated. A new 24-month trial gave 365 older adults at risk for dementia high-dose DHA, an omega-3 found in fish and algae supplements, to see whether it could protect memory or brain structure. In one sense, it worked: DHA levels rose in the blood and cerebrospinal fluid. But compared with placebo, it did not improve memory, cognition, hippocampal volume, or brain structure. Translation: this isn’t a blanket ruling on salmon, EPA, or every omega-3 use. It’s a hit to the idea that a DHA capsule alone can buy brain protection.

2:🫀 A heart drug built for one kind of damage is showing promise in another. AD-NP1, an experimental drug designed to help prevent heart failure after a heart attack, works by blocking ENPP1 — a protein that appears to interfere with tissue repair. When UCLA researchers examined kidney biopsies from people with chronic kidney disease, they found the same protein at higher levels than in healthy tissue. In mice with kidney damage, AD-NP1 improved kidney function and signs of healing after just a week. The caveat: the drug is moving into early human testing for heart repair, but its kidney potential is still mouse-stage. A heart drug has not become a kidney drug yet — but the repair pathway suddenly looks a lot less organ-specific.

3: ⚽ FIFA’s solution to dealing with searing temperatures this year somehow made things hotter. The organization introduced 3-minute hydration breaks midway through each half to protect players from summer heat across North American host cities. But England coach Thomas Tuchel says the pauses interrupt momentum and make matches feel closer to 4 quarters than 2 halves. Critics argue the breaks also give broadcasters more than 2 minutes for commercials, which gets harder to ignore when they’re mandated even in cooler games.

RxBriefly Picks 💊

🥩 Make: This garlic-mustard grilled flap steak paired with a crunchy romaine salad. It’s tossed in a rich, whipped feta dressing and topped with an ultimate multi-seed umami crunch. It’s a meal so good it’ll temporarily make you forget how much you spent on groceries this week.

📖 Read: The New Yorker’s review of why everyone is talking about Widow’s Bay. This sleeper hit on Apple TV+ masterfully threads the needle between farce and fright, setting a brilliant new high bar for the horror-comedy genre.

🛒 Save: on household essentials and personal tech upgrades during Amazon’s Prime Day event. This guide cuts through the algorithm noise to highlight the genuine, verified price drops worth sorting through before inventory runs low. 

✈️ Navigate: Toronto Pearson Airport without the usual pre-flight stress. This practical airport breakdown covers everything from where to grab a rapid post-security massage to the exact location of the high-end boutiques, making your next inevitable terminal delay feel a lot less like a chore.

👀 Watch: the creative way some pharmacists are sneaking a peek at the World Cup matches behind the dispensary counter.

Questions of the Week ❓

Relax 🧩

First clue: What Zepbound may make you

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Need a rematch? We’ve got you covered. Check out our Crossword Archive to find every puzzle we’ve ever made, all in one place.

Think you crushed it? Challenge your pharmacist friends to beat your time.

Meme Of The Week 😂

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