Prescription Drug News and Research

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Prescription drug for multiple sclerosis improves memory in Alzheimer's mouse model

Losing memory is a hallmark of Alzheimer's, a symptom of the disease that depletes a patient's quality of life. Improving memory and slowing cognitive changes caused by the disease is an ongoing challenge for researchers seeking to develop novel therapies.

7 Nov 2021

Despite restraints, democrats’ drug pricing plan could still aid consumers

The Medicare prescription drug pricing plan Democrats unveiled this week is not nearly as ambitious as many lawmakers sought, but they and drug policy experts say the provisions crack open the door to reforms that could have dramatic effects.

5 Nov 2021

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Compromise is coming — maybe

Democrats on Capitol Hill hope they are nearing the finish line in their months-long quest to enact President Joe Biden's social spending agenda.

4 Nov 2021

Pharma campaign cash delivered to key lawmakers with surgical precision

The Biden administration and Congress are embroiled in high-stakes haggling over what urgent priorities will make it into the ever-shrinking social spending bill.

27 Oct 2021

Study to assess the impact of a multi-component intervention in reducing racial health disparities

In an unprecedented effort to address the harmful effects of structural racism on health, 60 predominantly Black neighborhoods in Philadelphia will be part of an ambitious study to assess the impact of a multi-component intervention addressing both environmental and economic injustice on health and well-being, led by Penn Medicine researchers Eugenia C. South, MD, MHSP, and Atheendar Venkataramani, MD, PhD.

13 Oct 2021

The public backs Medicare Rx price negotiation even after hearing both sides’ views

As Congress debates cutting prescription drug costs, a poll released Tuesday found the vast majority of adults — regardless of their political party or age — support letting the federal government negotiate drug prices for Medicare beneficiaries and those in private health insurance plans.

12 Oct 2021

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Abortion politics front and center

Meanwhile, Congress flirted with disaster as it appeared unlikely to meet deadlines to approve a series of budget bills, including an extension of the federal government's lending authority. But lawmakers found ways to extend programs long enough to continue negotiating through the fall.

7 Oct 2021

Dispensing of hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin in Australia jumped in first year of COVID

A new study describes the nature and extent of the shift in dispensing these medications, as well as its eventual outcome.

3 Oct 2021

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: The health agenda still on hold

Meanwhile, the Biden administration issued regulations to implement last year's law to limit "surprise" medical bills to patients who get care outside their insurance networks.

1 Oct 2021

Alzheimer’s drug targets people with mild cognitive impairment. What does that mean?

The approval of a controversial new drug for Alzheimer's disease, Aduhelm, is shining a spotlight on mild cognitive impairment — problems with memory, attention, language or other cognitive tasks that exceed changes expected with normal aging.

29 Sep 2021

An ad’s charge that price haggling would ‘swipe $500 billion from Medicare’ is incorrect

The advertisement opens with a doctor sitting across from his patient and holding a prescription drug pill bottle. "You want to continue with this medication?" the doctor asks while an older patient nods.

28 Sep 2021

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: The autumn of Democrats’ discontent

Democrats in Congress and the White House are feverishly negotiating to pass as much of President Joe Biden's domestic agenda as they can agree on, even as Republicans who oppose much of the increased spending threaten to shut down the government and default on the nation's debt.

23 Sep 2021

International reference pricing could yield considerable savings for prescription drugs in the U.S.

Linking the cost of prescription drugs in the United States to the prices paid in other high-income nations could have reduced American spending for the drugs by at least half in 2020, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

12 Sep 2021

Democrats say abortion is on the line in recall election. But rolling back rights wouldn’t be easy.

As the election to recall California Gov. Gavin Newsom approaches, abortion-rights groups are warning that Californians' right to an abortion is on the ballot.

27 Aug 2021

Researchers use residues in wastewater to study illicit drug consumption

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, stay-at-home orders and other restrictions drastically affected how people lived and worked, resulting in social isolation and economic instability. Now, researchers show that some people turned to a variety of drugs for relief. Using wastewater analysis, the team identified a spike in consumption of easily abused prescription opioids and anti-anxiety sedatives, while some illicit drug use plummeted, between March and June 2020.

23 Aug 2021

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: The Senate acts

The Senate has set the stage for a busy fall that will include debate on a broad array of health issues, such as prescription drug prices, Medicare expansion and further expansion of the Affordable Care Act.

12 Aug 2021

2+2=? Senate uses murky math as it shelves drug pricing rule to fund infrastructure

The Senate’s release of its bipartisan infrastructure plan signals that lawmakers are poised to throw former President Donald Trump’s belated bid to lower Medicare drug prices under the bus — not to mention trains, bridges, tunnels and broadband connections.

5 Aug 2021