All the headlines from our Drugs Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Dec 4 2017 // As West Virginia sees record numbers of drug overdose deaths, state officials say they’ll submit plans for responding further to the opioid epidemic to Gov. Jim Justice by mid-January.“There is a critical need...
Dec 4 2017 // It’s high time the insurance industry embraces marijuana. That’s because pot has entered the mainstream. To date, 29 states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical marijuana, eight states (plus...
Dec 4 2017 // Data from the Louisiana Department of Health and the Louisiana Board of Pharmacy show there are fewer opioids being prescribed since Medicaid expansion began in July 2016, the Louisiana governor’s office...
Dec 4 2017 // Although the number of physician dispensed prescriptions declined considerably from just a few years ago, the workers’ compensation industry continues to battle an adapting market seeking to maintain high prices by...
Dec 4 2017 // The number of fatal car crashes linked to drivers on drugs has spiked in the last two years in Utah while alcohol-related fatal wrecks have declined slightly, state figures show.The Legislature’s annual report on...
Dec 3 2017 // CVS Health Corp. will buy Aetna Inc. for about $67.5 billion, creating a healthcare giant that will have a hand in everything from insurance to the corner drugstore.CVS will pay $207 a share for Aetna, with $145 a share in...
Dec 1 2017 // Express Scripts Holding Co.’s chief executive said he’s open to a deal with a health insurer or partnering with Amazon.com Inc.CEO Tim Wentworth’s pharmacy benefits company has been battered by departing...
Dec 1 2017 // For the drug industry, building a better pain pill is a problem.Pharmaceutical companies have introduced new medicines to treat dependence, reverse overdoses, and deal with opioids’ side effects. But few effective...
Dec 1 2017 // The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency is targeting opioid abuse in Appalachia by establishing a new field office in Kentucky to oversee a region ravaged by overdose deaths.The new Louisville field office will have a special...
Nov 30 2017 // Just over 60 percent of individuals who died from an opioid overdose had been diagnosed with a chronic pain condition, and many had been diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder, a study of more than 13,000 overdose deaths...
Nov 27 2017 // The number of fatal car crashes linked to drivers on drugs has spiked in the last two years in Utah while alcohol-related fatal wrecks have declined slightly, state figures show.The state Legislature’s annual report...
Nov 27 2017 // Though the number of physician dispensed prescriptions has declined considerably from just a few years ago, the workers’ compensation industry continues to battle a market seeking to maintain high prices by changing...
Nov 20 2017 // Oxycontin maker Purdue Pharma LP is proposing a global settlement in an attempt to end state investigations and lawsuits over the U.S. opioid epidemic, according to people familiar with the talks.Purdue’s lawyers...
Nov 20 2017 // Federal authorities say five Rhode Island residents have been charged with participating in a scheme to create fake prescriptions for opioid pills and occasionally use medical insurance to pay for those prescriptions. The...
Nov 15 2017 // Workers’ compensation payers saw an average 11 percent reduction in their pharmacy spend in 2016, driven by a 13.3 percent reduction in opioid cost, according to an annual survey by pharmacy benefit manager...
Nov 14 2017 // New data from the Louisiana Department of Health and the Louisiana Board of Pharmacy show there are fewer opioids being prescribed since Medicaid expansion began in July 2016, the Louisiana governor’s office...
Nov 13 2017 // Airline pilots, train engineers and truck drivers subject to federally mandated drug screening will soon be tested for a range of opioids under a new rule issued Thursday. While transportation workers have long been...
Nov 13 2017 // A Kentucky city is suing more than a dozen drug manufacturers and distributors to recoup the escalating cost of dealing with drug addiction.The Lexington Herald-Leader reports the city of Lexington filed a federal lawsuit...
Nov 8 2017 // Nearly two dozen Wisconsin counties say in a federal lawsuit that “nefarious and deceptive” marketing campaigns from pharmaceutical companies are responsible for the nation’s opioid overdose epidemic.The...
Nov 8 2017 // A northern New Mexico man is suing Walgreens over claims a pharmacist erroneously filled a prescription for him, and that anti-anxiety drug led to a suicide attempt.The Santa Fe New Mexican reported an attorney for Anthony...