Whenever there is a report of a drug company jacking up the price of a prescription medication, the pharma industry is often quick to point out that there are non-profit charities ready and willing to help patients get these drugs at a more affordable rate. However, those charities may have very close ties to the drug maker that could not only help the company turn a profit, but avoid some tax obligations. In recent months, several large pharmaceutical companies have been subpoenaed as part of an ongoing federal investigation into these connections. [More]
Pharma Medicine
CDC Director: Drug-Resistant Superbug Means “Medicine Cabinet Is Empty”
By 5.27.16
You know that scene in action movies where the hero has fired every bullet, thrown every piece of throwable furniture, set off every explosive, but still the bad guy lurches forward? At that point, there’s nothing left for the hero to do but run and pray. After the recent discovery in the U.S. of a bacteria that is resistant to a vital last-resort antibiotic, some scientists believe we’re inching dangerously close to that run-and-pray moment in the world of medicine. [More]
Doctors Find Superbug Resistant To Last-Resort Antibiotic In Pennsylvania Woman
By 5.26.16
Welcome to the post-antibiotic world. Doctors say that a 49-year-old woman in Pennsylvania was infected with a “truly pan-drug resistant bacteria,” in other words, a bacteria that will not respond to many known antibiotics. [More]
In Denial About America’s Opioid Painkiller Problem? This Map Might Change Your Mind
By 5.26.16
If you think the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is being alarmist by urging primary care physicians to stop prescribing so many opioid painkillers, or that the fact that 10% of doctors are writing more than 50% of the prescriptions for opioids is not a concrete indicator of a problem, then perhaps this map of overdose deaths in the U.S. will help to drive the point home. [More]
Report: Walgreens Signed Theranos Deal Despite Problems With Tests
By 5.26.16
A few years ago, back when lab-testing startup Theranos was still a hot and revolutionary company valued at billions of dollars, the company signed a deal to put retail lab-testing clinics in Walgreens stores. Now, Walgreens employees are reportedly wondering whether they were too eager to sign on with the company without having an outside observer ensure that the tests are actually accurate. [More]
Of Course There’s A Keurig-Like Machine For Marijuana
By 5.24.16
As with any new consumer industry, now that more people have access to marijuana, there are businesses who want to offer them tools and gadgets to go along with their legal medical or recreational pot. And because consumers love things in pods, there’s a weed vaporizer that’s being called the Keurig machine for marijuana in development right now. [More]
CVS Will End Yard-Long Receipts (For Rewards Program Members)
By 5.23.16
Five years ago, a CVS representative explained that the reason why the pharmacy chain keeps printing such long receipts for customers is that customers like it. Maybe the public’s preferences have changed since 2011, since the chain officially announced today that it’s getting rid of the lengthy coupon-filled receipt streamers, and pre-loading coupons to customers’ rewards program cards instead. [More]
Antibiotic-Resistant Superbugs Could Kill Millions Every Year If Left Unchecked
By 5.19.16
Each year, some 700,000 people around the world die from antibiotic-resistant infections; that’s more than 1,900 deaths per day. If nothing is done to curb the overuse of antibiotics — in humans, and in livestock and agriculture — these superbugs could eventually kill 1,100 people every hour. [More]
Government Warns Eye Doctors: Provide Prescriptions After Eye Exams Or Else
By 5.13.16
It’s really easy to find eyeglass stores that also offer eye exams. You get your eyes checked, pick out the frames, and get the final product all from the same place, so you might not notice that you didn’t get a copy of your prescription after the exam. That’s against the law, and one federal agency is reminding eye doctors of the costly penalty for failing to provide prescriptions. [More]
Health Insurers Looking To Pay Less When Drugs Don’t Work As Advertised
By 5.11.16
If a drug maker says their new prescription medication will reduce cholesterol by a certain percentage, or that it will counter symptoms of some chronic illness, but it doesn’t quite live up to its marketing, should the insurance companies still pay the price they originally agreed to? A growing number of insurers are making deals that tie the price of a drug to its real-world performance. [More]
New Rules Will Shed Dim Light On Antibiotics Overuse In Farm Animals
By 5.10.16
Even though three-quarters of all antibiotics sold in the U.S. are used on farm animals, there is very little information available about how much of which drugs are being fed to cows, pigs, chickens, and turkeys. Newly finalized rules hope to provide more details on how these drugs are being used, but critics say the new data is only a small part of the bigger picture. [More]
Report: Makers Of OxyContin Knew For Decades That Pain Pills Could Wear Off Early
By 5.5.16
When OxyContin hit pharmacies 20 years ago, its primary selling point was that a single dose of the opioid pain medication lasted 12 hours, “providing smooth and sustained pain control all day and all night,” per the press release. But a new report claims Purdue Pharma, the makers of OxyContin, have long known that the drug doesn’t always live up to this promise, resulting in an increased likelihood for abuse and addiction. [More]
5 People Injured After SUV Turns CVS Store Into A Drive-In
By 5.4.16
In yet another incident of a driver creating a drive-thru store where there used to be none, an SUV slammed into a CVS in New York, leveling a glass and brick wall and sending five people to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. [More]
Report: 30% Of Antibiotic Prescriptions Are Unnecessary
By 5.3.16
While the beef, pork, and poultry industries have been heavily criticized for using the large majority of antibiotics sold in the U.S. to fatten up their animals, that doesn’t mean that American physicians are being terribly judicious about the antimicrobials they prescribe. A new report shines a light on just how many antibiotic prescriptions are unnecessary, increasing the risk of developing drug-resistant superbugs. [More]
5 Things We Learned About The $300 Billion Painkiller Industry
By 4.28.16
Relieving pain isn’t a simple issue of taking a pill and feeling better. It’s a complicated cornucopia of treatments ranging from over-the-counter remedies to holistic healing to prescription medications, with some $300 billion a year spent each year on painkillers in the U.S. alone. [More]
At Least 52 People Hospitalized, 13 Dead In California After Overdosing On Counterfeit Painkiller
By 4.27.16
Norco is a brand name for a prescription opioid painkiller that combines acetaminophen and hydrocodone. Unscrupulous jerks are also selling fake Norco that contains the powerful opioid fentanyl, resulting in dozens of hospitalizations and and least 13 deaths from overdoses in California, and that’s only in the last few weeks. [More]
Walgreens, Duane Reade To Pay $500,000 For Overcharging, Misleading Customers
By 4.21.16
When you see a “sale” price on a store shelf, you expect to pay that price at the register. When you see something marked as a “Great Buy,” you might believe that it’s been discounted. And when a store advertises a “Last Chance” or “Clearance” sale, you probably have reason to think that those items won’t be in stock much longer. But Walgreens — and its subsidiary Duane Reade — have different ways of thinking about the above scenarios, and it’s gotten them into trouble with the state of New York. [More]
CVS Health Launching Free Curbside Pick-Up Service Nationwide
By 4.19.16
When you’ve got a ferocious cold or a clanging headache that won’t go away, sometimes the thought of facing other people is horrible enough to keep you from procuring cough syrup, aspirin, and other comforts at the drug store. If you can handle a car ride, CVS Health will now deliver customers’ orders to them with a new free curbside pick-up service launching nationwide. [More]
