Latest Drugs Headlines
All the headlines from our Drugs Topic Page, ordered by recency.
DEA Opens Kentucky Field Office to Target Opioid Abuse
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...
Who Is Most at Risk for Opioid Death and How to Help Them: Columbia Research
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...
Utah Seeing Increase in Drug-Related Deadly Crashes, Report Shows
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...
Workers’ Compensation Still Under Pressure from Drug Repackagers, Compounding Pharmacies
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...
Drugmaker Purdue Moves to Settle States’ Claims Over Opioids
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...
5 Rhode Island Residents Charged in Fake Opioid Prescription Scheme
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...
Pharmacy Cost in Workers’ Compensation Continues to Fall: CompPharma Survey
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...
Fewer Opioids Prescribed in Louisiana Following Medicaid Expansion
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...
U.S. Expands Drug Testing for Pilots, Train Engineers to Include Opioids
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...
Lexington Joins 30 Other Kentucky Cities in Opioid Addiction Lawsuit
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...
Local Governments in Wisconsin Sue Opioid Drug Makers
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...
Wrong Walgreens Prescription Led New Mexico Man’s to Suicide Attempt, Suit States
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...
California Workers’ Comp Division Suspends 21 Medical Providers for Fraud
Nov 8 2017 // The California Division of Workers’ Compensation has suspended 21 more medical providers from participating in California’s workers’ comp system, bringing the total number of providers suspended this year...
Opioid Overdose Deaths Rise in Wisconsin Despite Fewer Prescriptions
Nov 7 2017 // State records show that opioid overdose deaths continue to rise in Wisconsin despite fewer opioids being prescribed. Wisconsin’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program says the state saw 17 million fewer opioid...
Five Rhode Island Residents Charged in Fake Opioid Prescription Scheme
Nov 6 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...
Georgia Pharmacy Owners Ordered to Pay $5M for Illegal Pain Med Sales
Nov 2 2017 // A husband and wife who owned an Atlanta pharmacy accused of supplying drugs to pill mill patients have been ordered to pay $5 million to state agencies that offer substance abuse treatment and victim assistance. Rosemary...
Shareholder Activists Press Drug Firms on Business Risks of Opioid Crisis
Oct 31 2017 // U.S. shareholder activists are addressing a soaring death toll from opioid drug abuse, asking companies that make and distribute the painkillers to review the risks their businesses could face from their role in the...
California Workers’ Comp Report Shows Prevalence of Opioids in Set-Asides
Oct 30 2017 // A new report shows that nearly 70 percent of federally mandated and approved California Workers’ Compensation Medicare Set-Aside settlements for injured workers require funding for decades of opioid use, often at...
Ohio County Sues Drugmakers Over Opioid Surge
Oct 30 2017 // County officials in Ohio’s Cuyahoga County are suing several large prescription drug companies saying they intentionally misled the public about the dangers of opioids. The lawsuit filed by Cuyahoga County says the...
Pharmacist in Deadly Meningitis Outbreak Cleared of Murder
Oct 30 2017 // A pharmacist at a facility whose tainted drugs sparked a nationwide meningitis outbreak that killed 76 people was cleared Wednesday of murder but was convicted of mail fraud and racketeering. Jurors said prosecutors failed...
