Latest Drugs Headlines
All the headlines from our Drugs Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Pennsylvania Governor Wolf Vetoes Workers’ Compensation Drug Formulary Bill
May 21 2018 // Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf has vetoed Senate Bill 936, which sought to amend the state’s Workers’ Compensation Act by establishing a formulary, or a list of prescription medications that could be prescribed...
Report: Opioid Prescriptions Down 14% in Wisconsin
May 18 2018 // A new report shows doctors are issuing fewer opioid prescriptions in Wisconsin. The state Department of Safety and Professional Services released a report on May 16 from the Controlled Substances Board. The report examines...
Florida Attorney General Sues 5 Drug Companies Over Opioids
May 17 2018 // Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi launched a “comprehensive” lawsuit Tuesday aimed at punishing several major drug manufacturers and distributors, contending they were responsible for “pain and...
More States File Opioid Lawsuits Against Drug Firms
May 16 2018 // Litigation against OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP is intensifying as six more U.S. states on Tuesday announced lawsuits, accusing the company of fueling a national opioid epidemic by deceptively marketing its...
Drugs in Workforce at Highest in Decade But Opiates Decline: Quest Diagnostics
May 9 2018 // Drug use by the American workforce remains at its highest rate in more than a decade, driven by increases in cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana. However, prescription opiate positivity rates have declined. Nationally,...
Cuomo Says Plan for NYC Drug Injection Sites Will Be Reviewed
May 9 2018 // New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says a proposal to open supervised injection sites for illegal drug users in an effort to combat fatal overdoses will be closely reviewed. Cuomo said Friday that the goal of fighting opioid...
Drugmakers Balk at Funding Opioid Epidemic Fix; Counting on Court Wins
May 4 2018 // Drug companies are in no rush to finance a solution to the opioid epidemic. Companies including Johnson & Johnson and McKesson Corp. are preparing to take their chances in court rather than pay billions of dollars to...
Pennsylvania Governor Wolf Vetoes Workers’ Compensation Drug Formulary Bill
May 1 2018 // Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf has vetoed Senate Bill 936, which sought to amend the state’s Workers’ Compensation Act by establishing a formulary, or a list of prescription medications that could be prescribed...
Walgreens, Illinois Hospital Sued by Prince Heirs Over Overdose Care
Apr 25 2018 // Prince’s heirs have sued Walgreens and the Illinois hospital that treated the music superstar after he suffered from an opioid overdose, alleging that a doctor and various pharmacists failed to provide Prince with...
Medical Marijuana Users May be More at Risk for Non-Medical Drug Use: Study
Apr 24 2018 // Can medical marijuana help to fight the opioid epidemic? Many believe that it can. But a new study finds that people who use medical marijuana actually have higher rates of medical and non-medical prescription drug...
Lance Armstrong, US Government Settle Lawsuit for $5M
Apr 23 2018 // Lance Armstrong reached a $5 million settlement with the federal government in a whistleblower lawsuit that could have sought $100 million in damages from the cyclist who was stripped of his record seven Tour de France...
Trump Administration Proposes Curbs on Opioid Manufacturers
Apr 19 2018 // The U.S. government on Tuesday proposed tightening rules governing the amount of prescription opioid painkillers that drugmakers can manufacture in a given year, in hopes of reining in the deadly opioid epidemic. The Drug...
Judge Sets Schedule for Opioid Lawsuits Against Drug Companies
Apr 12 2018 // A federal judge pushing for a settlement in lawsuits seeking to hold drug companies responsible for their roles in the U.S. opioid epidemic on Wednesday set an aggressive schedule that would have the first trial take place...
As Opioid Prescriptions Decline, Abuse Treatment Costs Rise for Health Plans
Apr 9 2018 // A new report on the opioid crisis and employer-based health coverage, finds that while the use of prescription opioids among people with employer-based health coverage has declined to its lowest levels in over a decade,...
Ohio Now Requiring Transparency on Prescription Drug Pricing
Apr 6 2018 // Ohio Department of Insurance Director Jillian Froment has issued a bulletin requiring heightened protections for Ohio consumers related to prescription drug prices. The bulletin requires insurers and pharmacy benefit...
California Workers’ Comp Committee Votes to Lower Mid-Year Filing
Apr 5 2018 // The California Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau’s governing committee has voted to authorize the WCIRB to submit a lower mid-year pure premium rate filing to the California Department of Insurance...
How Medical Marijuana Reduces Opioid Use; Saves Lives, Money
Apr 3 2018 // Medical marijuana laws could be a boon to those battling the opioid epidemic, according to researchers who have identified a link between increased access to medical marijuana and a reduction in opioid prescriptions. The...
Arkansas AG Files Suit Against Opioid Manufacturers for Roles in Epidemic
Apr 2 2018 // Arkansas’ attorney general has joined the widening mass of litigation against opioid manufacturers, accusing three drugmakers of promoting addictive painkillers in ways that falsely denied or trivialized their...
West Virginia Gov Signs Bill Limiting Opioid Prescriptions
Apr 2 2018 // West Virginia’s governor has signed legislation to limit opioid prescriptions that doctors can prescribe to treat acute pain. Gov. Jim Justice signed the bill last week that would limit such prescriptions to supplies...
Lost Work Time Increases with Long-Term Opioid Prescriptions: WCRI
Apr 2 2018 // Using prescribed opioids adds significant time to temporary disability taken by workers with work-related lower back injuries, according to a new industry study. Temporary disability is time that workers spend away from...
