Happy New Year to our Charlton Family! We enter 2023 with much excitement as treatments for autoimmune diseases continue to expand making our ‘tool chest” bigger. Therapies marketed for psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis are being approved for inflammatory bowel diseases, and new technologies are being implemented to offer slow subcutaneous injections as an alternative to infused medications. Newly discovered mechanisms for treating autoimmune conditions will offer new classes of medication. Advances in COVID prevention and treatment have evolved over the last year with Evusheld and Paxlovid. Pharmacists in Ontario can also prescribe Paxlovid for eligible adults either based on age (people over 60) or high level of infection risk. The RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) vaccine is expected to be approved this year for adults. This comes after the release of the newest pneumonia vaccine, Prevnar 20, in August of 2022. Each year at national and international rheumatic disease, dermatology, and gastroenterology meetings, thousands of posters are presented showing research in these fields. It is inspiring!
As Health Canada approves new therapies, we will share this information with you through our blog series. Stay tuned for the exciting year ahead.
Carolyn Whiskin is the Pharmacy Manager for Charlton Health. Carolyn specializes in the treatment of autoimmune diseases, pharmaceutical compounding, women’s health, pain, and smoking cessation. Carolyn has won provincial and national awards for her commitment to patient care and public service.