The FDA has approved the first generic version of the EpiPen and EpiPen Jr. (epinephrine,Teva) auto-injector for the emergency treatment of allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis, in adults and pediatric patients who weigh more than 33 pounds. The generic epinephrine auto-injector is available in…
Pfizer Inc. plans to increase research and development spending for the remainder of the year in an ambitious plan to accelerate the delivery of potential blockbuster treatments to market. The drugmaker raised projections for spending on research to $7.7 billion to $8.1 billion from $7.4 billion and…
In the aftermath of hundreds of lawsuits over the years against pharmaceutical giant Purdue Pharma, Colorado’s attorney general is now suing the OxyContin creator for what it calls its “significant role in causing the opioid epidemic.” The lawsuit claims that Purdue Pharma L.P. and Purdue Pharma…
Medicare could have saved almost a billion dollars ($925 million, to be exact) in 2016 if it had substituted brand-name combination drugs with cheaper generic versions, according to a JAMA study.
If that sounds familiar, it’s because it had been tried in the 1990s and didn’t go so well. This time things will be different, say proponents of physician groups taking on global risk, whereby they get a lump sum each month to pay for care. Physician-management groups that went bankrupt a generation…
J. Christopher Love might not be a household name at the moment, but he may become one. If not a household name, then at least a name in the pharmaceuticals manufacturing business. As Stat reports, Love has big plans. Love, a professor of chemical engineering at MIT, wants to change the way drugs…
Scientists in the Netherlands are optimistic that their new device will reduce the number of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP) patients worldwide. Currently, for people with an intellectual disability and severe treatment-resistant epilepsy, the outlook is poor, with a possible 20 percent…
More and more miracle drugs are coming to the market, giving a niche group of patients hope where once there had been none. But with this hope comes a caveat: the prohibitive cost. How can the health system bear such a price tag? For instance, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reports on a new gene-therapy…
The birth control device Essure is taking its final bow. The United States was the last market in which Essure, manufactured by Bayer AG, had been sold. As the Wall Street Journal reports, the company decided to stop selling the product because of declining sales. “The U.S. is the only remaining market…
The FDA has announced that it will permit marketing of the Brainsway Deep Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation System for the treatment of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). According to the National Institute of Mental Health, about 1 percent of U.S. adults had OCD in the past year. Although most patients…
Simple Health Plans is temporarily shuttered, as well it should be if allegations leveled at the Florida-based company by the Federal Trade Commission turn out to be true. Judge Darrin P. Gayles of the Federal District Court in Miami issued a temporary restraining order against the company, which is…
More states want to know exactly how PBMs make from pharmaceuticals purchased by Medicaid. After independent pharmacies complained that they are losing money on Medicaid prescriptions, the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services began rewriting contracts with PBMs to gain more transparency into drug…
In an effort to protect children from tobacco and nicotine-containing products, the FDA has announced that all 17 manufacturers, distributors and retailers that were warned by the agency in May have stopped selling their nicotine-containing e-liquids used in e-cigarettes with labeling or advertising…
The CMS has issued a guidance indicating that it will initiate tighter analysis of Medicaid waiver demonstration project costs to make sure that states are meeting budget-neutral goals. The agency will no longer approve waivers that predict the federal government will incur additional costs for the…
Message to med school students: You may want to consider becoming a cardiac/thoracic surgeon. That is if one of the things you’re looking at in job satisfaction is compensation (and who isn't?). Cardiac/thoracic surgeons saw a 6.4% increase in their median compensation in 2017, according to a report…
