Latest Drugs Headlines

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

More Employers Adopting ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Policy for Marijuana Use

Jun 18 2018 // FPI Management, a property company in California, wants to hire dozens of people. Factories from New Hampshire to Michigan need workers. Hotels in Las Vegas are desperate to fill jobs.Those employers and many others are...

California State Fund Says It Reduced Opioid Prescriptions by 60%

Jun 18 2018 // California’s State Compensation Insurance Fund is reporting a significant reduction in the number of opioid prescriptions for injured workers through a program launched four years ago.State Fund’s...

Opioid Maker Wants Alaska Lawsuit Dismissed

Jun 18 2018 // An attorney for Purdue Pharma, the company that makes the prescription opioid painkiller OxyContin, has told an Alaska judge that there is an opioid crisis but the state has no legal basis for trying to pin that crisis on...

California State Fund Says It Reduced Opioid Prescriptions by 60%

Jun 11 2018 // California’s State Compensation Insurance Fund is reporting a significant reduction in the number of opioid prescriptions for injured workers through a program launched four years ago.State Fund’s...

Opioid Maker Wants Alaska Lawsuit Dismissed

Jun 7 2018 // An attorney for Purdue Pharma, the company that makes the prescription opioid painkiller OxyContin, has told an Alaska judge that there is an opioid crisis but the state has no legal basis for trying to pin that crisis on...

Co-Pay Tactic by Benefit Managers Credited with Cutting Prescription Drug Prices

Jun 6 2018 // A recently adopted tactic by U.S. health plans to limit the financial assistance drugmakers provide directly to consumers for prescription medicines is taking a toll on drug prices, according to a new analysis released on...

Minnesota Sues Opioid Maker Insys Over Improper Drug Marketing

Jun 1 2018 // Minnesota on May 30 became the latest state to sue Insys Therapeutics Inc., accusing the drugmaker of illegally marketing a powerful fentanyl-based pain medicine, while a former employee pleaded guilty in New Jersey over...

Marijuana, Opioids Found in High Percentage of Drivers Killed in Car Crashes

May 31 2018 // More than half of drivers killed in car accidents who were tested for drugs had marijuana, opioids or a combination of the two in their system, according to a new report.The report from the Governors Highway Safety...

Pennsylvania Governor Wolf Vetoes Workers’ Compensation Drug Formulary Bill

May 21 2018 // Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf has vetoed Senate Bill 936, which sought to amend the state’s Workers’ Compensation Act by establishing a formulary, or a list of prescription medications that could be prescribed...

Report: Opioid Prescriptions Down 14% in Wisconsin

May 18 2018 // A new report shows doctors are issuing fewer opioid prescriptions in Wisconsin.The state Department of Safety and Professional Services released a report on May 16 from the Controlled Substances Board. The report examines...

Florida Attorney General Sues 5 Drug Companies Over Opioids

May 17 2018 // Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi launched a “comprehensive” lawsuit Tuesday aimed at punishing several major drug manufacturers and distributors, contending they were responsible for “pain and...

More States File Opioid Lawsuits Against Drug Firms

May 16 2018 // Litigation against OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP is intensifying as six more U.S. states on Tuesday announced lawsuits, accusing the company of fueling a national opioid epidemic by deceptively marketing its...

Drugs in Workforce at Highest in Decade But Opiates Decline: Quest Diagnostics

May 9 2018 // Drug use by the American workforce remains at its highest rate in more than a decade, driven by increases in cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana. However, prescription opiate positivity rates have declined.Nationally,...

Cuomo Says Plan for NYC Drug Injection Sites Will Be Reviewed

May 9 2018 // New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says a proposal to open supervised injection sites for illegal drug users in an effort to combat fatal overdoses will be closely reviewed.Cuomo said Friday that the goal of fighting opioid...

Drugmakers Balk at Funding Opioid Epidemic Fix; Counting on Court Wins

May 4 2018 // Drug companies are in no rush to finance a solution to the opioid epidemic.Companies including Johnson & Johnson and McKesson Corp. are preparing to take their chances in court rather than pay billions of dollars to...

Pennsylvania Governor Wolf Vetoes Workers’ Compensation Drug Formulary Bill

May 1 2018 // Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf has vetoed Senate Bill 936, which sought to amend the state’s Workers’ Compensation Act by establishing a formulary, or a list of prescription medications that could be prescribed...

Walgreens, Illinois Hospital Sued by Prince Heirs Over Overdose Care

Apr 25 2018 // Prince’s heirs have sued Walgreens and the Illinois hospital that treated the music superstar after he suffered from an opioid overdose, alleging that a doctor and various pharmacists failed to provide Prince with...

Medical Marijuana Users May be More at Risk for Non-Medical Drug Use: Study

Apr 24 2018 // Can medical marijuana help to fight the opioid epidemic? Many believe that it can. But a new study finds that people who use medical marijuana actually have higher rates of medical and non-medical prescription drug...

Lance Armstrong, US Government Settle Lawsuit for $5M

Apr 23 2018 // Lance Armstrong reached a $5 million settlement with the federal government in a whistleblower lawsuit that could have sought $100 million in damages from the cyclist who was stripped of his record seven Tour de France...

Trump Administration Proposes Curbs on Opioid Manufacturers

Apr 19 2018 // The U.S. government on Tuesday proposed tightening rules governing the amount of prescription opioid painkillers that drugmakers can manufacture in a given year, in hopes of reining in the deadly opioid epidemic.The Drug...