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Of ‘miracles’ and money: Why hemophilia drugs are so expensive

When Landon Morris was diagnosed with hemophilia shortly after birth, his mother, Jessica Morris, was devastated. "It was like having your dreams — all the dreams you imagined for your child — just kind of disappear," she recalled.

8 Mar 2018

Trump’s budget proposal swings at drug prices with a glancing blow

President Donald Trump's new budget proposal flirts with combating high prescription drug prices, but industry watchers say the tweaks to Medicare and Medicaid do little more than dance around the edges of lowering the actual prices of drugs.

13 Feb 2018

Symptoms of alcoholism affect prescription drug adherence to treat disease

Symptoms of alcoholism make it more difficult for some people to regularly take the prescription drug naltrexone, which could help treat their disease, a researcher at Oregon State University has found.

8 Feb 2018

As states target high drug prices, pharma targets state lawmakers

It was expected to be a perfunctory statehouse meeting — three lobbyists and a legislator discussing a proposal to educate Louisiana doctors about the price of drugs they prescribe.

1 Feb 2018

Expert advice for the corporate titans taking on health care

An announcement Tuesday by three of the nation's corporate titans — Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase & Co. — that they are joining forces to address the high costs of employee health care has stirred the health policy pot. It immediately sent shock waves through the health sector of the stock market and reinvigorated talk about health care technology, value and quality.

31 Jan 2018

Analysis reveals drop in long-term opioid use among military veterans

A new study in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, published by Springer, shows that opioid prescribing has dropped after a peak in 2012. Lead author Katherine Hadlandsmyth of the Iowa City VA Healthcare System and the University of Iowa in the US further noted that the decline was mostly due to decreases in long-term opioid prescribing, which carries much greater risk for harmful side effects, addiction and overdose, relative to short-term prescribing.

30 Jan 2018

Herbal products may affect properties of prescription drugs and lead to dangerous side effects

An analysis of published studies and reports indicates that a number of herbal products may affect the properties of prescription drugs, leading to alterations in the drugs' effectiveness as well as potentially dangerous side effects.

25 Jan 2018

Big Pharma greets hundreds of ex-federal workers at the ‘revolving door’

Alex Azar's job hop from drugmaker Eli Lilly to the Trump administration reflects ever-deepening ties between the pharmaceutical industry and the federal government.

25 Jan 2018

University under fire for off-the-grid herpes vaccine experiments

Southern Illinois University's medical school has halted all herpes research, one of its most high-profile projects, amid growing controversy over a researcher's unauthorized methods offshore and in the U.S.

23 Jan 2018

States face costly conundrum: How to treat inmates with hepatitis C

In a corner of Jymie Jimerson’s house in the town of Sparta, in southwestern Missouri, she has set up a kind of shrine. It has Native American art representing her Cherokee heritage alongside Willie Nelson albums, books and photos in remembrance of her late husband.

23 Jan 2018

Grassley calls for ‘corrective action’ on abuses in herpes vaccine research

A Republican senator is demanding that the Trump administration and a university scrutinize how a researcher was able to inject an experimental herpes vaccine into human subjects without routine safety oversight.

5 Jan 2018

From retirement to the front lines of hepatitis C treatment

When a hepatitis C treatment called Harvoni was released in 2014, Dr. Ronald Cirillo knew it was a big deal.

5 Jan 2018

Opioid prescribing for disabled Medicare beneficiaries related to county-level economic factors

For non-elderly Americans on disability, local prescribing of opioid pain medications is significantly related to county-level economic factors like unemployment and income level, reports a study in the January issue of Medical Care, published by Wolters Kluwer.

28 Dec 2017

FDA chief says he’s open to rethinking incentives on orphan drugs

The commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration questions whether the right financial incentives are in place for drugmakers who develop orphan drugs for rare diseases.

22 Dec 2017

Biosimilars, biologics and new legal challenges for RA treatments

Early last winter, Pfizer launched its new rheumatoid arthritis treatment, Inflectra, pricing it 15 percent below the $4,000-a-dose wholesale price of Remicade, the drug for which it is a close copy.

22 Dec 2017

An overlooked epidemic: Older Americans taking too many unneeded drugs

Consider it America’s other prescription drug epidemic. For decades, experts have warned that older Americans are taking too many unnecessary drugs, often prescribed by multiple doctors, for dubious or unknown reasons.

12 Dec 2017

Cities, counties and schools sidestep FDA Canadian drug crackdown, saving millions

Schenectady County, N.Y., is on track to pay 20 percent less on prescription drugs for its employees this year than in 2003.

8 Dec 2017

Brokers tout mix-and-match coverage to avoid high-cost ACA plans

Health insurance a la carte? As the Affordable Care Act open-enrollment season moves into its final weeks, some consumers looking for lower-cost alternatives are considering a patchwork approach to health insurance. The products may secure some basic protection but leave patients on the hook for high medical bills.

7 Dec 2017

Less than one-third of glaucoma patients talk to their doctor about medication costs, study finds

Less than one-third of patients with glaucoma talk to their doctor about the costs of medications needed to control their disease, reports a study in the December issue of Optometry and Vision Science, the official journal of the American Academy of Optometry.

4 Dec 2017

Patients with rare diseases and congress square off over orphan drug tax credits

As President Donald Trump talked tax reform on Capitol Hill Tuesday, Arkansas patient advocate Andrea Taylor was also meeting with lawmakers and asking them to save a corporate tax credit for rare disease drug companies.

30 Nov 2017