Latest Drugs Headlines

All the headlines from our Drugs Topic Page, ordered by recency.

China Expands List of Drugs Covered by Basic Medical Insurance

Aug 22 2019 // China on Tuesday added 148 drugs to its list of medicines covered by basic medical insurance schemes, part of a push to lower patients’ out-of-pocket costs in one of the world’s largest drug markets, state...

Drug Maker Endo Skirts Trial, Settles Its Opioid Claims for $11 Million

Aug 21 2019 // Endo International Plc agreed to an $11 million settlement to avoid going to trial in the first federal court cases targeting opioid makers and distributors over the public-health crisis caused by the painkillers.Endo said...

Overdose Deaths Again Rise More in Urban Than Rural Communities

Aug 14 2019 // U.S. drug overdose deaths had been most common in Appalachia and other rural areas in recent years, but they are back to being more concentrated in big cities, according to a government report Friday.The Centers for...

Judge Leans in Favor of Broad Opioid Settlement Opposed by Municipalities, Drug Firms

Aug 7 2019 // A federal judge on Tuesday expressed support for a novel plan by lawyers representing cities and counties suing drug companies over the U.S. opioid epidemic that would bring every community nationally into their settlement...

State’s Purdue Opioid Suit Tests Holding Family, Purdue Directors Liable for Crisis

Aug 5 2019 // Massachusetts took Purdue Pharma LP to task in a Boston courtroom Friday, blaming the opioid maker and the billionaire Sackler family that owns it for causing “thousands of people to suffer and many to die.”The...

Arizona Seeking U.S. Supreme Court Involvement in Opioid Case

Aug 2 2019 // Arizona’s attorney general on Wednesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to force the Sackler family, which owns OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma, to return billions of dollars they took out of the company.The court filing...

Fewer Injured Workers Receiving Opioids Under Workers’ Compensation But States Vary

Aug 2 2019 // Fewer injured workers are receiving opioids to treat pain than in previous years, as medical providers are turning more to non-opioid medications and physical therapies.A new study of injured worker claims from 27 states...

State, Local Governments Debate How to Best Allocate Any Opioid Settlement Funds

Aug 2 2019 // The roughly 2,000 state and local governments suing the drug industry over the deadly opioid crisis have yet to see any verdicts or reach any big national settlements but are already tussling with each other over how to...

Key Finance Committee Senators Unveil Bipartisan Drug Price Bill

Jul 24 2019 // The top Republican and Democrat on the U.S. Senate Finance Committee announced a proposal to lower prescription drug prices on Tuesday that could save $100 billion in costs to government healthcare programs, and said the...

Kentucky Drug Overdose Deaths Decrease for First Time in 5 Years

Jul 23 2019 // After years of rising death tolls from a surge in drug addiction, Kentucky officials on Thursday reported the first statewide drop in drug overdose deaths since 2013.A new report indicated that 1,333 people died from drug...

U.S. Criminally Charges Ohio Opioid Distributor with Profiting from Epidemic

Jul 22 2019 // An Ohio drug wholesale distributor and two former executives on Thursday were charged with profiting from the U.S. opioid epidemic by selling millions of pills despite signs the addictive drugs were being misused.Federal...

Report: Florida Pill Mills Helped Fuel Opioid Crisis

Jul 22 2019 // Florida survives on tourism, but a decade ago thousands of visitors made frequent trips to the state not to visit its theme parks or beaches. Instead, they came for cheap and easy prescription painkillers sold at...

Arizona Suit Names Former Opioid Manufacturer Executives

Jul 19 2019 // Arizona’s top attorney is accusing former opioid manufacturer executives of trying to sell a prescription drug through unethical means.Attorney General Mark Brnovich announced that his office filed a consumer fraud...

Government Data Shows How Opioid Epidemic Spread Across America

Jul 18 2019 // Newly released federal data shows how drugmakers and distributors increased shipments of opioid painkillers across the U.S. as the nation’s addiction crisis accelerated from 2006 to 2012.The data, released this week...

Oklahoma Accuses J&J of Dodging Liability for ‘Cunning’ Opioid Drug Push

Jul 16 2019 // Even after illegally promoting opioid painkillers to reap billions of dollars in profit over the past two decades, Johnson & Johnson has accepted “zero responsibility” for its central role in fueling a...

Oklahoma, J&J Wrapping Up First Trial Over Opioid Crisis

Jul 15 2019 // Oklahoma’s attorney general is expected to urge a judge to find Johnson & Johnson responsible for flooding the market with painkillers and fueling the U.S. opioid epidemic, as the first trial in nationwide...

Trump Administration Halts Plan to Sideline Pharmacy Benefit Managers

Jul 11 2019 // The White House abandoned a push to end rebates paid to middlemen who negotiate drug prices on behalf of health insurers, a move that could turn scrutiny back on how drugmakers themselves set prices.President Donald Trump...

Court Halts Trump Plan to Require Drug Prices in TV Ads

Jul 9 2019 // A federal judge on Monday dealt a blow to the Trump administration by striking down a new rule that would have forced pharmaceutical companies to include the wholesale prices of their drugs in television advertising.U.S....

How Insys Bankruptcy Case Could Alter Fate of Thousands of Opioid Lawsuits

Jun 28 2019 // The fate of thousands of lawsuits seeking to hold drugmakers responsible for fueling the U.S. opioid epidemic hinges in part on a thorny legal question: Can a company can use a bankruptcy to stop lawsuits from cities and...

What Passed, What Didn’t: New Florida Laws Taking Effect July 1

Jun 27 2019 // The Florida Legislature looked at and passed many pieces of legislation in the 2019 session that will impact the insurance industry. The following are summaries of what passed — and what didn’t. HB 7065 – AOB...