Latest Drugs Headlines
All the headlines from our Drugs Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Newspaper: Texas’ Oversight of Compounded Drugs Falling Off
Nov 6 2012 // Budget cuts have reduced the number of pharmacies in Texas whose compounded drugs are tested in a state program that’s aimed at ensuring patient safety, a newspaper has reported. The Austin American-Statesman said...
Report: FDA Needs New Authority Over Compounding Pharmacies
Nov 5 2012 // The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s power to regulate compounded drugs similar to those linked to a deadly meningitis outbreak is legally nonbinding and lacks the authority of stringent standards imposed on drug...
Huge Drug Recall Latest Fallout in Meningitis Outbreak
Nov 1 2012 // Ameridose, a sister company of the U.S. pharmacy linked to a meningitis outbreak that has killed 29 people, announced on Wednesday a voluntary recall of all its products, a move to cooperate with regulators that could...
FDA Needs New Authority Over Compounding Pharmacies: Report
Oct 29 2012 // The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s power to regulate compounded drugs similar to those linked to a deadly meningitis outbreak is legally nonbinding and lacks the authority of stringent standards imposed on drug...
Meningitis Toll Rises; Pharmacy Owners Sued
Oct 22 2012 // Executives at the Boston-area pharmacy whose steroid shots have been linked to a deadly U.S. meningitis outbreak have been sued in a bid to freeze their personal assets, while the death toll in the scandal rose to 21, with...
Express Scripts Tackles Physician-Dispensed Drug Costs Under Workers’ Compensation
Oct 18 2012 // Express Scripts, a nationwide prescription manager of more than a billion prescriptions each year, has created a new program to help workers’ compensation payers save money on medications. The new product is based on...
California Regulators Probe CVS Drug Refills Policy
Oct 18 2012 // California regulators are investigating reports that CVS Caremark Corp. refilled prescriptions without patient consent, or insurance approval. The Los Angeles Times reported customers in California and other states...
As Florida Weighs 6.1% Workers’ Comp Hike, Legislators Urged to Act
Oct 18 2012 // A proposed statewide average 6.1 percent increase in Florida’s workers’ compensation rates could spur the first major legislative changes in the state’s system since 2003. The likely targets of reforms...
Massachusetts Pharmacy Settled Meningitis Death Lawsuit in 2004
Oct 17 2012 // Long before the current rash of fungal meningitis, the compounding pharmacy suspected in the outbreak settled a lawsuit alleging it produced a tainted shot that caused a man’s death in 2004. Earlier this summer, a...
Meningitis Outbreak, Already in 15 States, Far From Over: Health Expert
Oct 16 2012 // The U.S. meningitis outbreak that has so far killed 15 people and sickened more than 200 others is “nowhere near the end,” a top medical expert said Tuesday, a day after federal authorities warned more tainted...
Uncertainty Marks Federal Regulation of Compounding Pharmacies
Oct 15 2012 // The deadly meningitis outbreak linked to contaminated pain injections has prompted calls for tighter federal regulation of compounding pharmacies, which have periodically been blamed for crippling and sometimes fatal...
Tenn. Promotes Identity Theft Awareness, Plans ‘Free Shredding Event’
Oct 9 2012 // Tennessee’s Department of Commerce and Insurance and the Davidson County Sheriff’s office are teaming up to promote identity theft awareness. The two agencies will host a free shredding event from 10 a.m. until...
WC Billing Company to Pay $1M for Alleged Overcharges in Massachusetts
Oct 5 2012 // A workers’ comp pharmacy billing company has agreed to pay restitution after allegedly overcharging Massachusetts and a number of cities and towns within the state for prescription drugs through the workers’...
Physicians Failing to Treat Narcotics Abuse by Injured Workers: Study
Oct 2 2012 // Nearly 1 in 12 injured workers given narcotics are still on them 3 to 6 months later as few doctors appear to be following recommended treatment guidelines to prevent abuse, according to new research. This report,...
Kentucky’s New Mandatory Drug Tests Can Be Costly
Oct 2 2012 // Under a new law designed to curb prescription pill abuse, patients with long-term conditions requiring controlled substances have to submit to urine drug tests that aren’t always covered by insurance...
Employers Weighing Exchanges for Individual Retiree Health Plans: Aon
Sep 26 2012 // Most employers are reevaluating their retiree health care strategy and are considering strategies that open access to the individual Medicare plan market through health care exchanges, according to a new survey by Aon...
Penn. Doc Sentenced to 11 Years in Prison for Overprescribing Drugs
Sep 25 2012 // A federal judge in Pittsburgh has sentenced a physician to more than 11 years in prison and ordered him to pay $700,000 to two insurance companies in connection with charges that he overprescribed painkillers to dozens of...
Workers’ Comp Changes Go Into Effect in Mississippi
Sep 24 2012 // Insurers and employers in Mississippi now have greater latitude to conduct alcohol and drug tests on employees following a workplace accident and to reduce benefits for workers with pre-existing conditions. Under new...
Mississippi Workers’ Comp Drug Testing, Benefits Changes Go Into Effect
Sep 17 2012 // Insurers and employers in Mississippi now have greater latitude to conduct alcohol and drug tests on employees following a workplace accident and reduce benefits for workers with pre-existing conditions. Those changes are...
Premiums for Employer-Sponsored Family Health Plans Rose 4% This Year: Kaiser
Sep 11 2012 // Annual premiums for employer-sponsored family health coverage reached $15,745 this year, up four percent from last year, with workers on average paying $4,316 toward the cost of their coverage, according to a new report...
