Latest Drugs Headlines

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

Supreme Court Sends Merck Warning Label Case Back to Lower Court

May 21 2019 // The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday gave Merck & Co. a new opportunity to avoid lawsuits accusing the company of failing to properly warn patients of debilitating thigh-bone fractures from taking its osteoporosis drug...

The Impact Of State-Level Legalization of Marijuana on the Insurance Industry

May 20 2019 // The changing legal status of marijuana in the U.S. is prompting insurers to begin offering coverages, despite having extremely limited loss data to inform them.While marijuana remains illegal at the federal level, action...

Maker of OxyContin Gets Hit with Another State Lawsuit

May 16 2019 // The company that makes OxyContin did not stop pitching the powerful opioid painkiller to doctors even when its sales representatives raised concerns that they were prescribing the drug inappropriately, the Pennsylvania...

44 States Sue Drug Maker Teva, Alleging Price Fixing Scheme with 19 Other Firms

May 13 2019 // U.S. states filed a lawsuit accusing Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. of orchestrating a sweeping scheme with 19 other drug companies to inflate drug prices – sometimes by more than 1,000% – and stifle competition...

U.S. to Require Drug Companies to Disclose List Prices in TV Ads

May 9 2019 // The Trump administration on Wednesday said it will require drug makers to disclose the list price of prescription drugs in direct-to-consumer television advertisements, part of the government’s efforts to lower costs...

More States Could Settle Opioid Suits in Wake of West Virginia’s McKesson Deal

May 6 2019 // McKesson Corp.’s settlement of an opioid lawsuit with West Virginia — the state with the highest U.S. rate of drug-overdose deaths — may encourage other states to seek quick cash to cope with the rising...

McKesson to Pay $37M to Resolve West Virginia Opioid Suit

May 6 2019 // Drug distributor McKesson Corp has agreed to pay $37 million to resolve a lawsuit by the state of West Virginia alleging it helped fuel a U.S. opioid epidemic by failing to stop suspicious orders of painkillers by...

Congressional Budget Office Warns of ‘Potentially Disruptive’ Move to ‘Medicare for All’

May 3 2019 // Congressional budget experts said this week that moving to a government-run health care system like “Medicare for All” could be complicated and potentially disruptive for Americans.The report from the...

Jury Finds Insys Founder, Execs Guilty of Racketeering in Opioid Sales

May 3 2019 // Insys Therapeutics Inc. founder John Kapoor was convicted of a racketeering conspiracy that drove sales of a highly addictive opioid while contributing to a nationwide epidemic.Federal jurors in Boston found that Kapoor...

Tennessee Doctor, 30 Others Targeted in Federal Opioid Investigation

Apr 26 2019 // A doctor who prescribed more than 4 million opioid pills, including to a pregnant woman who later died, is one of more than 30 medical professionals in Tennessee charged with illegally prescribing and distributing millions...

Indictment Alleges New York Pharma Ex-CEO Ignored Red Flags as Opioid Crisis Raged

Apr 25 2019 // The pharmaceutical industry executive hit Tuesday with criminal charges stemming from the opioid crisis doesn’t have his name on a museum wing, and his company isn’t within earshot of Apple or anyone else on...

California Workers’ Compensation Rating Bureau Issues Report on Opioids

Apr 24 2019 // The use of opioids has significantly and continuously declined in the California workers’ compensation system since 2012, a trend that may be leading to a shift in the patterns of medical treatments for...

Lawyers Expect Wave of Litigation Targeting Popular Heart Drugs

Apr 24 2019 // Dozens of lawsuits have been filed against drug makers and sellers over widely prescribed generic heart medications tainted with potential carcinogens, the first claims in what some lawyers expect to be a wave of...

U.S. Charges New York Drug Firm Executives with Opioid Distribution Conspiracy

Apr 24 2019 // Federal prosecutors unveiled the first criminal charges against pharmaceutical executives for illegally diverting opioids, accusing the former chief executive officer and the head of compliance at a major U.S. drug...

Cops Draw Blood to Catch Impaired Drivers

Apr 23 2019 // It was about 6:30 on a Friday night in January when Phoenix Police Det. Kemp Layden pulled over a white Jeep Cherokee that was speeding and weaving in and out of its lane.The 47-year-old driver spoke slowly, his eyes were...

Wisconsinites Push for Safeguards in Prescription Drug Step Therapy Process

Apr 22 2019 // People struggling with chronic diseases joined doctors and other advocates in making the case on April 17 for a bipartisan proposal in the Wisconsin Legislature designed to make it easier for patients to get needed...

Oklahoma Prescription Drug ‘Step Therapy’ Bill Signed Into Law

Apr 18 2019 // A bill intended to protect patients from a harmful insurance practice known as ‘step therapy’ has been signed into law by Governor Kevin Stitt. Senate Bill 509, authored by Rep. Cyndi Munson (D-OKC) and Sen....

Supreme Court Denies Drug Maker’s Use of Native American Tribe to Shield Patents

Apr 16 2019 // The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday cast aside pharmaceutical company Allergan Plc’s unorthodox bid to shield patents from a federal administrative court’s review by transferring them to a Native American...

New York City May Ban Pre-Hire Marijuana Tests for Many Job Applicants

Apr 15 2019 // Many job-seekers would no longer face tests for marijuana use under legislation that New York City is likely to enact, taking a novel step as lawmakers and employers around the U.S. grapple with workplace policies about...

Virginia Prosecutors Charge Anti-Opioid Addiction Drug Maker with Fraud

Apr 12 2019 // Federal prosecutors say the company that makes a drug meant to curb opioid addiction has been lying for years about the relative safety of its product.Prosecutors in Virginia filed fraud charges Tuesday against...