Latest Drugs Headlines
All the headlines from our Drugs Topic Page, ordered by recency.
WellCare to Offer PDP Plans in Miss., S.C., W.V.
Sep 26 2005 // Tampa, Fla.-based WellCare Health Plans Inc. has been selected by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to provide prescription drug plan coverage to Medicare beneficiaries in South Carolina, Mississippi and...
Merck Scientist Testifies on Concerns About Vioxx Safety, Pressure from FDA
Sep 23 2005 // A former chief scientist of Merck & Co. had concerns about the cardiovascular safety of painkiller Vioxx years before the company pulled it off the market, according to a videotaped deposition played during a Vioxx...
GlaxoSmithKline Agrees to Pay $150 million to Settle Fraud Case
Sep 22 2005 // GlaxoSmithKline PLC will pay $150 million to settle claims it overcharged the government for two anti-nausea drugs, and prosecutors say they’re looking into 150 cases of drug price fraud. The Glaxo settlement is the...
News Briefs
Sep 19 2005 // UTAH UTAH SUPREME COURT RULES WCF ASSETS NOT OWNED BY STATE: The Utah Supreme Court has declared that Workers Com-pensation Fund’s assets are owned by policyholders, not the state. The ruling in favor of WCF settles...
Plaintiff Attacks Merck on Safety at Second Vioxx Product Liability Trial
Sep 15 2005 // A product liability trial focused on whether the painkiller Vioxx caused a man’s heart attack started Wednesday, with his lawyer telling jurors the drug’s maker put profits over safety. Merck & Co., the...
California Workers’ Comp Bill Tabled
Sep 7 2005 // A bill aimed at closing a loophole in California’s workers’ compensation laws that allows doctors to profit from big markups on prescription drugs they sell to their patients appears has died in the current...
News Briefs
Sep 5 2005 // NAMIC ENCOURAGES RATE MODERNIZATION IN HAWAII: The National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies has told a Hawaii legislative committee that passing rate modernization laws would benefit state commerce and insurance...
Second Vioxx Trial to Open in N.J. as Suits Against Merck Multiply
Sep 5 2005 // Beleaguered drug maker Merck & Co.’s request to postpone the next trial over its withdrawn painkiller Vioxx has been turned down by the judge presiding over the case. Superior Court Judge Carol E. Higbee, who is...
ARIZ. RULING MAY THREATEN WORKPLACE SAFETY:
Sep 5 2005 // The Arizona Supreme Court has invalidated what the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America believes was a valuable law designed to help provide drug and alcohol-free working environments, according to PCI...
Second Vioxx Trial to Open in N.J. as Suits Against Merck Multiply
Sep 5 2005 // Beleaguered drug maker Merck & Co.’s request to postpone the next trial over its withdrawn painkiller Vioxx has been turned down by the judge presiding over the case. Superior Court Judge Carol E. Higbee, who is...
PCI Says Ariz. Court Ruling Threatens Workplace Safety
Aug 18 2005 // The Property Casualty Insurers Association of America is disappointed that the state Supreme Court in David C. Grammatica v. Arizona Industrial Commission has invalidated what PCI believed was a valuable law designed to...
PCI Says Court Ruling Threatens Workplace Safety
Aug 11 2005 // The Property Casualty Insurers Association of America is disappointed that the state Supreme Court has invalided what PCI believed was a valuable law designed to help provide drug and alcohol-free working environments in...
Texas Jury Finds Humana HMO Liable in Wrongful Death Lawsuit
Jul 21 2005 // A local jury in San Antonio, Texas, on July 1 awarded $7.4 million in actual damages in a wrongful death lawsuit against the health maintenance organization Humana Health Plan of Texas Inc., a physician, and his physicians...
Wyoming’s First Lady Backs Repeal of Insurance Law
Jul 15 2005 // First lady Nancy Freudenthal says a law allowing insurance companies to withhold coverage for injuries resulting from drug or alcohol use should be repealed. Because of the law, she said, doctors and nurses are less likely...
A Roundup of Fraud Activities Reported Across the Southeast
Jul 4 2005 // TRG Officials Must Pay $2.5 M Carmelo Zanfei and William Paul Crouse, accused by Florida’s Department of Financial Services of bilking more than 7,000 Floridians of more than $2.5 million in unpaid insurance bills,...
Survey Says Insurance Cost Increases Slow
Jul 4 2005 // Kibble & Prentice announced the results of its annual employee benefits survey. With nearly 250 Washington state companies reporting, the results showed two surprising trends: The rate of increase of health plan costs...
Who’s Really Driving Consumer-Driven Health Care?
Jul 4 2005 // Over the past couple of years, the most used phrase in the employee benefits industry has been consumer-driven health care. Though its broadest definition may refer to limited employer contribution or dual option plans,...
A Roundup of Fraud Activities Reported Across the Southeast
Jul 4 2005 // Carmelo Sanfei and William Paul Crouse, accused by Florida’s Department of Financial Services of bilking more than 7,000 Floridians of more than $2.5 million in unpaid insurance bills, have pleaded guilty to charges...
Survey Says Insurance Cost Increases Slow
Jul 4 2005 // Kibble & Prentice recently announced the results of its annual employee benefits survey. With nearly 250 Washington state companies reporting, the results showed two surprising trends: The rate of increase of health...
Analysis From Three Perspectives: Consumer, Employer and Broker
Jul 4 2005 // Analysis From Three Perspectives: Consumer, Employer and Broker Over the past couple of years, the most used phrase in the employee benefits industry has been consumer-driven health care. Though its broadest definition may...
