Prescription Drug News and Research

RSS

Nursing viewpoints on opioid crisis

Addictions nursing specialists have a unique role to play in caring for patients, families, and communities affected by the crisis.

6 Sep 2018

Rudy Giuliani’s consulting firm had hand in halting Florida’s opioid investigation

Six months after hiring former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani's consulting firm, Purdue Pharma settled a Florida state investigation that had threatened to expose early illegal marketing of its blockbuster drug OxyContin, company and state records show.

5 Sep 2018

The pluses and minuses of allowing medical marijuana at school

Every school day at noon, Karina Garcia drives to her son’s South San Francisco high school to give him a dose of cannabis oil to prevent potentially life-threatening seizures.

30 Aug 2018

Researchers take major step forward in finding safe and non-addictive pain killer

With the support of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, scientists at Wake Forest School of Medicine have been working to find a safe, non-addictive pain killer to help fight the current opioid crisis in this country.

30 Aug 2018

Helping young patients gain more access to stroke preventive medications

People who survive a stroke in their 40s, 50s or early 60s may still have decades to live – but only if they take blood thinners, blood pressure drugs and other medications that can reduce their risk of a second stroke.

28 Aug 2018

Podcast: KHN’s ‘What the Health?’ Opioids, epipens and health funding

The Senate is still working, well into August - something it hasn't done in years — and it’s debating the funding bill for the Department of Health and Human Services.

24 Aug 2018

New proposal aims to improve drug harm assessment process

A drug policy researcher is proposing a suite of changes to overhaul the Multi-Criteria Drug Harm Scale, which informs drug policies across Europe.

20 Aug 2018

Shortage of insurance fraud cops sparks campaign debate

Ask Steve Poizner about how he'll tackle health care costs if he recaptures his old job as California's insurance commissioner, and he has a ready example.

17 Aug 2018

Trump administration sinks teeth into paring down drug prices, on 5 key points

Three months after President Donald Trump announced his blueprint to bring down drug prices, administration officials have begun putting some teeth behind the rhetoric.

10 Aug 2018

Clinicians who learn of a patient’s opioid death modestly cut back on prescriptions

Physicians and other medical providers modestly reduced the volume of opioids they prescribed after being told one of their patients had died of an overdose, according to research published Thursday.

10 Aug 2018

Pharmacy-made pain creams flagged on fears of Medicare fraud and risk

Medicare pays hundreds of millions of dollars each year for prescription creams, gels and lotions made-to-order by pharmacies — mainly as pain treatments. But a new report finds that officials are concerned about possible fraud and patient safety risks from products made at nearly a quarter of the pharmacies that fill the bulk of those prescriptions.

9 Aug 2018

How rival opioid makers sought to cash in on alarm over oxycontin’s dangers

As Purdue Pharma faced mounting criticism over deaths linked to OxyContin, rival drugmakers saw a chance to boost sales by stepping up marketing of similarly dangerous painkillers, such as fentanyl, morphine and methadone, Purdue internal documents reveal.

2 Aug 2018

Peer comparison letters lead to persistent decrease in antipsychotic prescribing

A study led by Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health has found that letters targeting high prescribers of Seroquel, an antipsychotic with potentially harmful side effects in the elderly, significantly reduced the number of prescriptions for patients in Medicare.

2 Aug 2018

To tame prescription prices, HHS dips a toe into drug importation stream

It came as something of a surprise when Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar announced that the administration was exploring the importation of prescription drugs to fight high domestic prices.

1 Aug 2018

Déjà voodoo: Pharma’s promises to curb drug prices have been heard before

Prescription drug prices were soaring. Angry policymakers swore they'd take action. Pharma giant Merck responded by promising to address the problem voluntarily, vowing to keep price increases under the overall rate of inflation.

25 Jul 2018

Recovery United to launch pilot intervention program for patients who experienced opioid overdose

Today, Recovery United, Inc. announced the launch of a pilot intervention program at three Boise-area hospitals that will connect patients who have experienced an opioid overdose to certified peer recovery coaches

20 Jul 2018

AbbVie submits supplemental NDA to FDA for venetoclax to treat acute myeloid leukemia

AbbVie, a research-based global biopharmaceutical company, today announced it submitted a supplemental New Drug Application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for venetoclax in combination with a hypomethylating agent or in combination with low-dose cytarabine for the treatment of newly diagnosed patients with acute myeloid leukemia who are ineligible for intensive chemotherapy.

20 Jul 2018