Latest Drugs Headlines
All the headlines from our Drugs Topic Page, ordered by recency.
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...
UPS Drone Service to Deliver CVS Health Prescriptions to Homes
Oct 22 2019 // United Parcel Service Inc.’s new Flight Forward drone unit will soon start home prescription delivery from CVS Health Corp. The service, which will debut in one or two U.S. cities in the coming weeks, shows how the...
Settling Opioid Suits Probably Won’t End the Crisis: Viewpoint
Oct 21 2019 // Imagine you’re the chief executive officer of a large pharmaceutical corporation with an important drug that’s under attack. More than 2,500 lawsuits have been filed against your company. The plaintiffs...
California Workers’ Comp Institute Summarizes 2019 Legislation
Oct 21 2019 // Among the 870 bills that California Gov. Gavin Newsom acted upon for 2019 that were passed by the state Legislature, there were about 20 that may hold interest for the workers’ compensation community. The California...
Texas Firms Say Too Many Low-Skill Workers Are Failing Drug Tests
Oct 21 2019 // Employers in Texas say too many low-skill workers are failing to pass drug tests needed to get hired. Forty-eight percent of Texas firms who had difficulty finding low-skill workers cited their inability to pass a drug...
Update on Opioid Lawsuits Against Drugmakers, Distributors
Oct 21 2019 // On Monday, two Ohio counties reached a last-minute settlement with four companies they accused of fueling the nationwide opioid epidemic. The counties were seeking billions of dollars to cover the cost of addiction...
