Latest Drugs Headlines

All the headlines from our Drugs Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Judge Slashes $9 Billion Damages Award Against Drugmakers by 99%

Oct 28 2014 // Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. and Eli Lilly & Co. won a more than a 99 percent cut in a $9 billion punitive damages award over claims the drugmakers hid the cancer risks of their Actos diabetes medicine. Jurors properly...

Kentucky Man Falsely Identified As Drug Offender Seeks Lost Wages

Oct 27 2014 // A northern Kentucky man says a case of mistaken identity cost him thousands in pay and the respect of family and friends. Dana J. Davis said he found out his photo was distributed in an online newsletter put together by...

550 West Virginia Coal Miners Flunk Drug Tests

Oct 22 2014 // In the last two years, more than 550 West Virginia coal miners have temporarily lost their mining certifications because they failed a drug test. State Office of Miner’s Health, Safety and Training Eugene White...

Kentucky OxyContin Case Against Purdue Pharma Leads Fight Over Opioid Abuse

Oct 22 2014 // No one rises as Circuit Judge Steven Combs enters his courtroom in Pikeville, Kentucky. Combs wears a white shirt and yellow tie, no robe. Lawyers approach the bench as their cases are called, shake the judge’s hand...

New Jersey Pharmacist Admits Paying Kickbacks to Physicians

Oct 16 2014 // A southern New Jersey pharmacist has admitted paying tens of thousands of dollars in cash bribes to physicians for referring pain cream prescriptions, federal prosecutors announced Tuesday. Vladimir Kleyman, a 43-year-old...

Utah School Bus Driver Allegedly Under Influence on Field Trip

Oct 15 2014 // A Utah school bus driver was arrested Monday on suspicion of DUI after driving erratically and nearly hitting a car on a busy stretch of highway while taking 67 elementary-school students on a field trip, authorities...

Dallas Hospital’s Care of Deceased U.S. Ebola Patient Questioned

Oct 9 2014 // Hours after Dallas Ebola victim Thomas Eric Duncan died, his family called for an investigation into his care as top infectious disease doctors said he may have survived if his treatment had begun earlier. The family cited...

Study: Formulary Could Save California Workers’ Comp $124M-$420M

Oct 7 2014 // Adopting a state-mandated workers’ compensation prescription drug formulary similar to systems in place in Texas and Washington could reduce California workers’ comp pharmacy payments by between $124 million...

Supreme Court Agenda Includes Key Business Cases

Oct 7 2014 // Gay marriage may be the most anticipated issue heading for the U.S. Supreme Court, but the justices also must tackle a host of business cases as they convene for their new term, including a patent battle involving Teva...

Marijuana Report: Federal Government’s Role

Oct 6 2014 // Editor’s Note: This is the fourth in a series of articles on the the marijuana insurance industry to appear on InsuranceJournal.com. Upcoming stories will include regional reports on how medical marijuana is...

Marijuana and Workers’ Compensation on Industry’s Watch List

Oct 3 2014 // Editor’s Note: This is the third in a series of articles on the the marijuana insurance industry. Upcoming stories will include reports on potential changes to federal laws, and regional reports on how medical...

80 People Being Monitored in Dallas Ebola Case

Oct 2 2014 // More than 80 people in Dallas are being monitored for symptoms of Ebola after coming into contact with patient Thomas Eric Duncan or others who Duncan had met, health officials said. The people have been asked to report to...

More Pilots in Crashes Testing Positive for Prescription, Other Drugs

Sep 10 2014 // Four times as many pilots killed in airplane crashes tested positive for drugs over the past two decades, tracking a broader societal trend in the use of antihistamines, painkillers and marijuana. While most of the...

Changes in Washington

Sep 8 2014 // Groups that favor the legalization of marijuana say they are seeing positive developments at the federal level in Washington. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder told lawmakers during a House Appropriations Committee hearing...

Businesses Irked by Alabama Court’s Generic Drug Label Ruling

Aug 25 2014 // Business isn’t buying the Alabama Supreme Court’s attempt to limit the fallout from its decision saying brand-name drugmakers can be held liable for warnings on generic medication produced by other companies. A...

Alabama Supreme Court Upholds Generic Drug Liability Ruling

Aug 17 2014 // Brand-name drug makers can be held liable for warnings on a generic medication even if it was produced by another company, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled Friday, standing by an earlier decision that business leaders...

Mobile Game Apps Moving Into Medication Management

Aug 15 2014 // A group of ex-gaming industry executives say they can use their design chops to solve a major health challenge: Sick patients neglecting to take their medication and costing employers and insurance providers billions of...

Clerical Errors Delayed 100s of Driver License Suspensions in Penn.

Aug 11 2014 // Driver’s license suspensions in hundreds of criminal cases in Pennsylvania since 2008 are being carried out now because of what York County, Penn., officials say was an oversight. The York Dispatch reported on August...

California’s Incomplete Prescription for Reducing Climate Risk

Aug 6 2014 // The California Natural Resources Agency has just released its Final Safeguarding California Plan for Reducing Climate Risk. The roughly 350-page plan is designed to provide policymakers with recommendations about how best...

Drugmaker Roche Wins Reversal in Accutane Duty to Warn Case

Aug 5 2014 // Roche Holding AG won reversal of a $2.1 million verdict by a New Jersey jury in favor of a California woman who blamed the company’s Accutane acne drug for her inflammatory bowel disease. A judge erred in the 2011...