Latest Drugs Headlines

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

In Ohio Suit, Pharmacies Say Prescribers Bear Responsibility for Opioid Crisis

Jan 9 2020 // Doctors and other healthcare practitioners who write prescriptions bear ultimate responsibility for improper distribution of opioids to patients, not pharmacists who are obliged to fill those prescriptions, a series of...

Commentary: Are You Ready, Nevada? Nine New Laws for the New Year

Jan 3 2020 // Don’t let hindsight be 2020. While others are enjoying the holidays and a well-deserved break, Nevada businesses should “check their lists twice” to make sure they are compliant with a host of new laws...

America Is Still Waiting for Trump’s ‘Much Better’ Replacement for Obamacare

Jan 3 2020 // As a candidate for the White House, Donald Trump repeatedly promised that he would “immediately” replace President Barack Obama’s health care law with a plan of his own that would provide “insurance...

Drugmakers Begin New Year by Raising Prices

Jan 2 2020 // Drugmakers including Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., Gilead Sciences Inc., and Biogen Inc. hiked U.S. list prices on more than 50 drugs on Wednesday, bringing total New Year’s Day drug price increases to more than 250,...

Puff, Puff, Passed: 2019 Marijuana Laws in Review and 2020 Projections

Dec 31 2019 // With 2019 nearly rolled up, it is time to exhale and recap the latest dose of marijuana laws affecting the workplace. In the last twelve months, Illinois became the eleventh state to legalize recreational marijuana use by...

Opioid Distributors Sued by Michigan AG Under Drug Dealer Law

Dec 19 2019 // Michigan on Dec. 17 sued four companies over the deadly painkiller epidemic, becoming what state Attorney General Dana Nessel said is the first state to sue major opioid distributors under a liability law that is typically...

Industry Balks at Trump Rule to Let States Import Drugs from Canada

Dec 19 2019 // The Trump administration on Wednesday said it is proposing a rule to allow states to import prescription drugs from Canada, advancing a plan announced in July that the president has said will bring cheaper prescription...

Government Spending Bill Includes Flood, TRIA Renewals and Obamacare Taxes Repeal

Dec 17 2019 // Congress is planning to use a $1.4 trillion package of two must-pass spending bills to repeal Obamacare taxes, raise the age for tobacco purchases to 21 and extend the U.S. Export-Import Bank for seven years, according to...

Democrats Pass Bill to Lower Prescription Drug Prices for Seniors

Dec 13 2019 // The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday approved legislation aimed at driving down the prices that seniors pay for prescription drugs, but the bill’s future is clouded by President Donald Trump’s threat...

FDA Moving Quickly to Approve New Drugs. Is It Too Quickly?

Dec 11 2019 // The U.S. is approving new drugs so fast that companies are now preparing for a green light months in advance of the scheduled decision date, a pace that’s helping patients with rare or untreatable diseases but...

N.J. Man Sentenced to 150 Months in Prison for Insurance Fraud, Drug Distribution

Nov 18 2019 // An Atlantic City, N.J., man was sentenced to 150 months in prison for selling more than 200 grams of crystal methamphetamine and for staging a fake robbery of a Union County, N.J., pawnshop for the purpose of perpetrating...

Science, Enforcement Lag as Car Accidents, Claims Rise in Legal Cannabis States

Nov 18 2019 // Car crashes in the first three states to legalize recreational marijuana have soared as law enforcement and regulators struggle to define driving high, let alone determine how to fight it. Colorado, Oregon, and Washington...

Drop in California Workers’ Comp Opioid Use Reducing Claims $6.5B, Report Shows

Nov 12 2019 // The prevalence of opioids in California workers’ compensation lost-time claims has dropped 51% over the past decade, reducing both average benefit payments and average days away from work on those claims, according...

Reuters Report: How Plaintiff Lawyers Help Corporate America Keep Its Secrets

Nov 8 2019 // Paula Lawlor was sifting through piles of internal General Motors Co. documents in a hotel room outside of Los Angeles when she hit pay dirt: Company records showing that GM knew for years that stronger roofs on its...

Vaping Firm Juul Disregarded Early Signs It Was Hooking Young Users: Reuters

Nov 5 2019 // The San Francisco startup that invented the groundbreaking Juul e-cigarette had a central goal during its development: captivating users with the first hit. The company had concluded that consumers had largely rejected...

Study Shows Need for Drug Programs for Construction Workers at Risk

Oct 30 2019 // Construction workers are more likely to use drugs than workers in other professions, finds a study by the Center for Drug Use and HIV/HCV Research at NYU College of Global Public Health. The study, published in the journal...

Study: 94.1% Approval Rate for California Workers’ Comp Treatment Services

Oct 29 2019 // A new study shows that following the adoption of recent changes to streamline the California workers’ compensation medical review and approval process, 94.1% of medical services performed or requested for California...

Students Sue Colleges for Saying No to Medical Cannabis

Oct 28 2019 // Colleges are becoming a battleground in the conflict between federal and state marijuana laws as students who use medical pot challenge decades-old campus drug policies. In states where medical marijuana is legal, students...

Several States Have Doubts About $48 Billion Opioid Settlement Offer

Oct 24 2019 // Several U.S. states that have been ravaged by the opioid epidemic are pushing back on a proposed $48 billion settlement framework that would resolve thousands of lawsuits against five drug companies accused of fueling the...

After Avoiding Ohio Trial, Drug Firms Turn to Local Government Opioid Lawsuits

Oct 22 2019 // Four large drug companies could resume talks on Tuesday to try to reach a $48 billion settlement of all opioid litigation against them, after agreeing with two Ohio counties to a $260 million deal to avert the first...