A first-in-class medication being developed to treat back-of-the-eye diseases achieved positive results in the pivotal phase 3 PEACHTREE trial, the developer has announced. Among patients with macular edema associated with noninfectious uveitis, 47% of those treated every 12 weeks with suprachoroidal…
Urgent action must be taken to address the dramatic rise of cancer drug prices and to better align prices with value, according to a report released by the President's Cancer Panel. The panel's report, Promoting Value, Affordability, and Innovation in Cancer Drug Treatment, found that while some cancer…
Researchers have found that temporarily increasing the dosage of inhaled steroids when asthma symptoms begin to worsen does not effectively prevent severe flare-ups and may be associated with slowing a child’s growth, challenging a common medical practice involving children with mild-to-moderate asthma.…
African-American men lowered their high blood pressure to healthy levels when aided by a pharmacist and their barber, according to a study from the Smidt Heart Institute. The findings were published in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented as a late-breaking clinical trial at the American…
More than nine in 10 physicians (92%) say that prior authorizations programs have a negative impact on patient clinical outcomes, according to a new physician survey released by the American Medical Association (AMA). The survey results further bolster a growing recognition across the entire health…
Positive first-time results have been published for Duobrii (halobetasol propionate and tazarotene lotion, Ortho Dermatologics) for the treatment of plaque psoriasis. The data appear in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology. Two phase 3, multicenter, randomized, double-blind clinical trials…
It is safe to say that few people read a June 5, 1981, report in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report that described five cases of a rare lung infection, Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP), in previously healthy young gay men. The first story about HIV/AIDS published in the New York Times…
Roche’s immunotherapy atezolizumab (Tecentriq) has racked up a third trial win in combination with other cancer drugs, a boost for the Swiss drug-maker as it seeks to muscle in on space dominated by Merck and Bristol-Myers Squibb, according to a Reuters report. A late-stage study, called IMpower131,…
Generic antiplatelet drugs seem to work as well as a brand-name drug for heart patients, according to research published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes. When a Canadian health system switched from prescribing brand-name Plavix (clopidogrel bisulfate, Bristol-Myers Squibb/Sanofi)…
Positive topline results have been reported from the completed phase 3 studies of the investigational agent HTX-011 (Heron Therapeutics) in patients undergoing bunionectomy (Study 301/EPOCH1) and hernia repair (Study 302/EPOCH2). HTX-011 achieved all primary and key secondary endpoints in both phase…
An editorial in the Columbus Dispatch of Ohio takes off the gloves when it comes to how PBMs do business. The editorial is a companion to investigative reporting by the newspaper concerning how CVS Caremark goes about its business saying that “for its middleman role in Ohio’s taxpayer-funded Medicaid…
The FDA has issued warning letters to all three duodenoscope manufacturers for failing to comply with requirements of federal law under which they were ordered to conduct postmarket surveillance studies to assess the effectiveness of reprocessing the devices. As part of an ongoing effort to prevent…
A federal judge in New York on Monday ordered Martin Shkreli, the former drug company executive convicted of defrauding investors, to forfeit $7.36 million in assets, which could include a Picasso painting and a one-of-a-kind album by the Wu-Tang Clan. U.S. District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto in Brooklyn…
The pivotal, phase 3 KEYNOTE-042 trial evaluating pembrolizumab (Keytruda), Merck’s anti-programmed death-1 (PD-1) therapy, as monotherapy for the first-line treatment of locally advanced or metastatic non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC, including nonsquamous or squamous histologies) met its primary…
The FDA has permitted marketing of IDx-DR (IDx LLC)—the first medical device to use artificial intelligence to detect greater than a mild level of the eye disease diabetic retinopathy in adults who have diabetes. Diabetic retinopathy occurs when high levels of blood sugar lead to damage in the blood…
