The pharmaceuticals industry has come under heavy scrutiny in recent years for soaring prices, though much of the attention has focused on name-brand drugs with no or minimal competition. However, multiple news reports now claim that some generic drug companies could soon face federal criminal charges over allegations that they colluded on price. [More]
Pharma Medicine
Opioid Poisonings In Toddlers & Teens Tripled Over 15-Year Period
By 10.31.16
We’ve already seen how the opioid epidemic has spread like wildfire in the U.S. since the late ’90s, but a new study shows how children of every age group are increasingly being exposed (and exposing themselves) to dangerous levels of these painkillers. [More]
Is Migraine Relief Worth $83 Per Pill To You?
By 10.31.16
While you might pay any amount of money for relief in the middle of a migraine headache, patients and insurance companies alike have their ceilings. That’s why it’s a problem when drug companies take old components and combine them into a “new” drug that isn’t so new at all… if you had just bought those pills separately. [More]
Report: Defense Department Overpaid $54 Million For EpiPens
By 10.28.16
It looks like taxpayers didn’t just overpay for EpiPens purchased through Medicaid. According to a new report, the Department of Defense has been paying almost full retail price for the expensive emergency allergy treatment. [More]
EpiPen Competitor Auvi-Q Relaunching Next Year
By 10.26.16 — Updated: 10.31.16
Almost exactly a year after pharmaceutical maker Sanofi recalled nearly 500,000 epinephrine injectors after finding they might not provide the correct dosage to patients, the product is gearing up for a comeback, potentially creating a less expensive competitor to the highly scrutinized EpiPen. [More]
Only 52% Of Patients With Most Common Infections Receive Recommended Antibiotics
By 10.24.16
Earlier this year, a study showed that nearly one-in-three antibiotics prescriptions in the U.S. aren’t necessary, and a new analysis of available medical data claims that only half of the people who receive antibiotics for the most common types of infection are receiving the right kind of drug. [More]
Sen. Elizabeth Warren: $465M Mylan EpiPen Settlement Is “Shamefully Weak… Shockingly Soft”
By 10.24.16
Earlier this month, drugmaker Mylan disclosed a $465 million settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice over allegations that the company had defrauded the Medicaid system by mis-categorizing its high-priced EpiPen allergy treatment. The DOJ has still yet to confirm this settlement or provide any details, and critics of the deal say it looks like Mylan is getting off easy. [More]
How Bad Test Results From Theranos Led To Bad Real-Life Consequences For Patients
By 10.21.16
Something as simple and routine as a blood test can have life-changing consequences, and some patients whose test results from medical startup Theranos were later found to be inaccurate faced stress and worry, had to be re-tested, and made life-altering medical decisions based on wrong information. What did that look like in real life? [More]
Nursing Home Industry Files Lawsuit To Keep Preventing Patients From Filing Lawsuits
By 10.18.16
Last month, the federal government issued new rules for nursing homes, barring most long-term care facilities from using forced arbitration agreements to stop new residents from filing lawsuits against the homes. Now nursing home operators and industry trade groups are challenging that rule by doing the one thing they want to prevent their patients from doing: going to court. [More]
Deadly Bacterial Infection Linked To Machine Used During Heart Surgeries
By 10.13.16
Non-tuberculosis mycobacteria are among the germs that just are just sort of everywhere and don’t do much harm to people. The exception, though, is when they gain access to a person’s chest cavity or an artificial heart valve, and can be deadly. The bacteria get there by hitching a ride from a piece of surgical equipment, and patients generally aren’t warned that this is a risk during operations involving the heater-cooler machine. [More]
New York Launches Antitrust Investigation Into EpiPen Schools Program
By 9.6.16
Amid calls for drugmaker Mylan to drop the price of emergency allergy treatment EpiPen, the attorney general for the state of New York has launched an antitrust investigation into a program that helps to put EpiPens in schools, potentially to the detriment of competition. At the same time, U.S. lawmakers are pushing regulators for a federal antitrust probe on the program. [More]
Police: 600 Marijuana Plants Found In Day Care Center’s Backyard
By 9.6.16
While it’s always nice to have a backyard for children to play, some kinds of greenery should be kept far from the clutches of kids. Like the 600 marijuana plants police in Connecticut say they found in the yard of a day care center. [More]
Heroin Mixed With Powerful Animal Tranquilizer Linked To Spike In Overdoses In Ohio
By 9.6.16
A sharp increase in heroin overdoses in the Cincinnati area — more than 200 in the last two weeks, killing three — has medical and law enforcement officials on edge. One possible culprit for the uptick? A super strong synthetic animal tranquilizer called carfentanil. [More]
11-Year-Old Finds Bag Of Meth Inside Video Game He Bought At GameStop
By 9.2.16
Unexpected freebies that come with a purchase are one thing, but bags filled with meth stashed in a video game case, well, that’s a case for law enforcement. [More]
FDA Rules: You Can’t Sell “Anti-Bacterial” Hand Soap With Triclosan Anymore
By 9.2.16
After more than half a decade of various proposals, investigations, and dithering, the FDA today has announced that it’s changing the rules. 19 active ingredients in your hand soap — most notably including triclosan, until recently very common — are going to be heading off the market. [More]
Senator: EpiPen Generic Announcement “Raises As Many Questions As Solutions”
By 8.29.16
This morning, drug company Mylan announced that it will soon introduce a lower-cost (but still not cheap) generic version of its popular EpiPen emergency allergy treatment. In response, one senator who has been critical of Mylan’s actions says more must be done to make the life-saving drug available. [More]
Mylan To Sell Generic EpiPen Pack… For Only $300
By 8.29.16
Facing criticism from patients, consumer advocates, lawmakers, and physicians about huge price increases on the EpiPen emergency allergy treatment, drugmaker Mylan today announced it will introduce a generic version of the epinephrine auto-injector for half the current sticker price of the name-brand drug. [More]
Pediatricians Call On Mylan To Make EpiPens More Affordable
By 8.26.16
Following reports on the skyrocketing cost of the EpiPen emergency allergy treatment, drugmaker Mylan has been heavily criticized for putting profit over patients. Even the recent expansion of its savings card program has been slammed as being more beneficial to Mylan than it is for consumers. Now, the nation’s largest group of pediatricians are calling on the company to rethink its pricing of the drug. [More]
