Prescription Drug News and Research

RSS

Benefits from Medicare approved drug discount cards won't affect Medicaid benefits

Low-income Medicare beneficiaries who qualify for the $600 credit when they enroll in a Medicare-approved drug discount card will not have to worry that this help will be counted against them when they apply for Medicaid or other federal government benefit programs like housing and food stamps.

21 Jul 2004

Debate over acetaminophen and acute liver failure

One expert questions the acceptability of the current level of acetaminophen-related injury and death, while another suggests that acetaminophen overdoses are misunderstood.

20 Jul 2004

FDA is proposing to change the new and generic drug review process

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is proposing to change the new and generic drug review processes by replacing "approvable letters" and "not approvable letters" with "complete response letters" that provide companies with specific information about what needs to be done before their drugs can be approved for marketing.

20 Jul 2004

Prescription drugs from bogus Canadian website are all fake

A Food and Drug Administration (FDA) analysis of three commonly prescribed drugs purchased from a Web site advertised as Canadian showed that so-called "Canadian Generics" bought from the Web site were fake, substandard and potentially dangerous.

15 Jul 2004

BMA comment on Shipman Inquiry's recommended changes to the regulation of controlled drugs in the community

The BMA broadly welcomes proposals to change the management and regulation of controlled drugs in the latest report from the Shipman Inquiry.

15 Jul 2004

Pfizer focuses on enabling America's 43 million uninsured to obtain medicines at significant savings

Pfizer Inc said today it will launch the pharmaceutical industry's most comprehensive initiative to significantly expand access to prescription medicines across the United States, with a specific focus on enabling America's 43 million uninsured to obtain Pfizer medicines at significant savings.

7 Jul 2004

Health care spending per privately insured American increased 7.4 percent in 2003

Health care spending per privately insured American increased 7.4 percent in 2003—the first major slowdown in spending growth in nearly a decade.

2 Jul 2004

Of all families with medical bill problems, two-thirds have difficulty paying for basic necessities—rent, mortgage payments, transportation or food

Uninsured families are more likely to have medical bill problems, but two-thirds of families with problems paying medical bills—about 13.5 million families—have health insurance coverage, according to findings from HSC's Community Tracking Study 2003 Household Survey, a nationally representative survey involving information on about 25,400 families and 46,600 people.

2 Jul 2004

U.S. drug prices rise by 3.4 percent during the first quarter of 2004, elderly especially hard hit

A new study released by AARP finds manufacturers' wholesale prices for the 197 brand name prescription drugs most frequently used by older Americans continued an upward climb.

1 Jul 2004

From potent painkillers to humble cough syrups, the same medicines that help patients misused by teens

From potent painkillers to humble cough syrups, the same medicines that can help patients can also be misused to produce a high feeling. And they can hurt teens or hook them into addiction just as easily as other illicit drugs.

1 Jul 2004

50,000 people in the U.S. with cancer, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis or hepatitis C will be eligible for a Medicare drug lottery

50,000 people or 10% of the 500,000 people in the U.S with cancer, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis or hepatitis C will be eligible for a Medicare drug lottery for coverage of life saving drugs.

26 Jun 2004

Senior citizens cutting back on medications due to high costs

The findings are based on an in-depth study over a three-year period of nearly 8,000 older adults who were regularly taking prescription medicines at the beginning of the study.

25 Jun 2004

Tommy G. Thompson has announced a new Medicare program that will save seniors and the disabled substantial money

HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today announced a new Medicare demonstration program that will save seniors and persons with disabilities substantial money

24 Jun 2004

Historical analysis of the 38-year struggle to provide a prescription drug benefit to seniors as part of Medicare

Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the University of California, San Francisco, have completed a new historical analysis of the 38-year struggle to provide a prescription drug benefit to seniors as part of Medicare.

23 Jun 2004

Nevada Attorney General warns against drug card scams

Nevada Attorney General Brian Sandoval has reminded consumers to be alert with regard to scams related to the new Medicare prescription discount drug cards made available to consumers under the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act.

22 Jun 2004

Retirees taking COX-2 anti-inflammatory drugs on a long-term basis also take aspirin therapy

Findings reported in a study published today in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that over half of patients within a predominantly retiree population taking COX-2 anti-inflammatory drugs on a long-term basis were also taking aspirin therapy for its cardio-protective benefit.

14 Jun 2004

Significant progress in the enrollment of beneficiaries in the Medicare drug discount card program

America's health insurance plans today reported significant progress in the enrollment of beneficiaries in the Medicare-endorsed prescription drug discount card program.

10 Jun 2004

Higher generic drug use in 2003 slowed the rising cost per prescription to a 7.9% increase

Generic drug use increased to a record 48% among Express Scripts' 50 million members during 2003, spurred by the use of several prominent new generics, fluoxetine, omeprazole and lisinopril.

9 Jun 2004

Five major prescription drug manufacturers make drugs available to Medicare discount cardholders

The Pharmacy Care Alliance (PCA) today announced that AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Companies, Inc., Eli Lilly and Company, Merck and Novartis will make many prescription drugs available to qualifying PCA Medicare discount cardholders free of charges from the manufacturer plus a nominal amount to cover dispensing, processing and other costs.

5 Jun 2004

Democrats air their views on Medicare prescription drugs discount cards

On Tuesday the new Medicare prescription drugs discount cards went into effect. The enrollment process is so confusing, most seniors are not signing up for the cards. Those that have will quickly discover the cards don’t deliver the savings they were promised.

3 Jun 2004