All the headlines from our Drugs Topic Page, ordered by recency.
May 21 2014 // The leading U.S. health insurance trade group on Tuesday hit out at the extremely high cost of new specialty medicines, accusing drugmakers of taking advantage of the insurance system by pricing products at unsustainable...
May 21 2014 // Retired players including ex-Chicago Bears quarterback Jim McMahon accused the National Football League of using painkillers to mask injuries in a “culture of drug misuse,” expanding litigation over the damage...
May 8 2014 // Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi is keeping the state’s prescription drug database up and running after state legislators decided against funding it.The Florida Legislature did not set aside any money for the...
May 5 2014 // Today’s challenges are also tomorrow’s opportunities depending on the viewpoint. Those same opportunities could also remain tomorrow’s challenges. This special report highlights 10 current workers’...
Apr 24 2014 // Calling Uber a cutting-edge concept, the Arizona Senate approved a bill that exempts it and other rideshare companies from the same regulations that traditional taxi and limo companies have.The amended bill exempts...
Apr 10 2014 // The largest health insurer in Massachusetts has cut prescriptions of narcotic painkillers by an estimated 6.6 million pills in 18 months as part of a campaign to curb abuse.The decline in prescribed opiates including...
Apr 8 2014 // Texas Commissioner of Workers’ Compensation Rod Bordelon told the Texas House Committee on Public Health that the number and cost of opioid drug prescriptions in the Texas workers’ compensation system has...
Apr 7 2014 // January 1 marked the beginning of an expansion of healthcare coverage for drug and alcohol addiction treatment under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This expansion is leading to a growth in the rehabilitation facilities...
Apr 2 2014 // Chemotherapy pills that cancer patients can take at home would be more affordable under a bill that the Wisconsin Senate passed on April 1 – the last planned meeting day of its two-year session.The oral chemotherapy...
Mar 28 2014 // One in 10 small businesses had employees show up for work last year while under the influence of at least one controlled substance.Small-business owners reported that alcohol, marijuana and prescription painkillers were...
Mar 24 2014 // California’s limit of $250,000 on medical malpractice damages for pain and suffering, which became a model for other states almost 40 years ago, could be increased under a voter initiative to be submitted on...
Mar 21 2014 // The Arkansas Supreme Court overturned a $1.2 billion judgment against Johnson & Johnson in a lawsuit challenging the drug maker’s marketing of the antipsychotic drug Risperdal.The agreement was the third-largest...
Mar 17 2014 // South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is forming a 10-member council to develop a statewide plan to combat prescription drug abuse.Her executive order on Friday came 10 months after an inspector general’s report found...
Mar 11 2014 // Illinoisans hoping to make use of the state’s fledgling medical marijuana law may risk their jobs if their employers opt to maintain or adopt zero-tolerance drug policies. The Rockford Register Star reported that the...
Mar 6 2014 // Jurors acquitted an Iowa pharmacist of health care fraud, rejecting allegations that he fraudulently billed Iowa’s largest health insurance company for life-saving drugs sent to hemophilia patients.The federal jury...
Mar 6 2014 // A Texas appeals court has temporarily blocked an arbitration panel from reviewing $12 million in bonuses paid to Lance Armstrong by a company that wants its money back, stopping efforts to force him to give new sworn...
Mar 4 2014 // Individuals carrying large quantities of prescription drugs would face drug trafficking charges under legislation approved unanimously by the Oklahoma House of Representatives.House Bill 2589 by State Rep. Pat Ownbey,...
Feb 26 2014 // Gov. Mary Fallin is praising a bill designed to crack down on prescription drug abuse in Oklahoma by requiring doctors to check an online prescription database before prescribing highly abused narcotics. A Senate committee...
Feb 13 2014 // A federal judge on Feb. 12 agreed to temporarily block an Oklahoma pharmacy from providing an execution drug to the Missouri Department of Corrections for use in an upcoming lethal injection.The temporary restraining order...
Feb 10 2014 // The Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation said it has stepped up monitoring of the millions of doses of pain pills prescribed to injured workers every year as the agency tries to control costs and fight rampant...