Latest Drugs Headlines
All the headlines from our Drugs Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Four Drugmakers Reach $260M Settlement, Ending Opioid Trial Set to Start Today
Oct 21 2019 // Four large drug companies reached a last-minute $260 million legal settlement over their role in the U.S. opioid addiction epidemic, averting the first federal trial that was scheduled to start Monday morning in...
Wisconsin Prescription Drug Step Therapy Law Goes into Effect Nov. 1
Oct 21 2019 // A new law aimed at helping Wisconsin patients access important prescription medications will go into effect on Nov. 1, 2019, the state’s insurance regulators say. Called the Step Therapy Law, Wisconsin Act 12...
Louisiana Court: Unconfirmed Drug Test Can’t Be Used to Deny Workers’ Comp Claim
Oct 21 2019 // Louisiana’s high court has nixed the idea that an unconfirmed or unverified drug test can be used to prove intoxication or fraud in order to deny the workers’ compensation claim of an injured worker. In doing...
Unconfirmed Drug Test Can’t Be Used to Deny Workers’ Comp Claim: Louisiana Court
Oct 18 2019 // Louisiana’s high court recently nixed the idea that an unconfirmed or unverified drug test can be used to prove intoxication or fraud in order to deny the workers’ compensation claim of an injured worker. In...
Judge Calls on Big 3 Drug CEOs to Discuss Opioid Settlement
Oct 18 2019 // The chief executives of the three largest U.S. drug distributors and a drugmaker have been summoned to appear before a federal judge to discuss a proposal to resolve thousands of lawsuits alleging they fueled the U.S....
Oklahoma Judge Says He Miscalculated Award in Opioid Case by $107M
Oct 17 2019 // An Oklahoma judge on Oct. 15 acknowledged making a nearly $107 million miscalculation in determining how much drug maker Johnson & Johnson must pay the state to help address the state’s opioid crisis. Following a...
Three Major Drug Distributors Negotiating to Settle Bellwether Opioid Case: WSJ
Oct 16 2019 // Three drug distributors are in talks with state and local governments to settle thousands of opioid lawsuits for $18 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the...
Cannabis Banking Challenges in Legal States Go Far Beyond Pot
Oct 16 2019 // Kat Merryfield was ready to share her farm-to-home oils, chocolates and creams with the rest of the country. But banks and credit card processors weren’t ready to work with her small business. “We started out...
J&J’s Legal Beating May Only Get Worse with Baby Powder, Opioid, Hip and Other Claims
Oct 14 2019 // Johnson & Johnson has taken some costly beatings in court this year. And it could get worse. Just last week, a jury ordered J&J to pay $8 billion for wrongfully pushing doctors to prescribe the anti-psychotic drug...
Court Allows Judge Opposed by Drug Firms to Oversee Nationwide Opioid Trial
Oct 11 2019 // A federal appeals court on Thursday cleared the way for a landmark trial over the nation’s opioid crisis, rejecting a bid by eight drug retailers and distributors to disqualify the judge, and a request by Ohio and...
Cannabis Industry: More Regs Will Help Address Vaping Crisis
Oct 10 2019 // In the midst of a vaping crisis that has gripped the nation’s cannabis industry what is needed most right are more regulations. Believe it or not, that was a message from the industry itself. A group of expert...
J&J Hit with Year’s Largest Jury Award Over Marketing Risperdal Drug to Teens
Oct 9 2019 // Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen unit was hit with an $8 billion punitive-damages verdict — the largest jury award in the U.S. this year — over its alleged mishandling of an anti-psychotic drug blamed for...
How Medical Community Can Overcome Error of Its Ways in Opioids and Vaping: Opinion
Sep 24 2019 // When the medical community makes mistakes, it’s like shooting down a few hundred airplanes every year. That’s a dramatic metaphor that has stuck in my mind since I first heard it from a doctor, and an apt way...
Tennessee Appeals Court Says Opioid Producers Can Be Sued
Sep 23 2019 // The Tennessee Court of Appeals has ruled that a lawsuit against opioid makers can move forward, overturning a lower court that had dismissed the claims. At issue is whether Tennessee’s Drug Dealer Liability Act...
How Pharmacies Are Resisting Amazon’s Attempt to Corner Their Business
Sep 19 2019 // Getting into the pharmacy business was easy for Amazon.com: It paid $753 million to buy the mail-order startup PillPack. The hard part has been prying patients away from their local drugstore. Since being acquired by the...
Pharmacies, Distributors Say Opioid Case Judge Biased, Seek Removal
Sep 16 2019 // AmerisourceBergen Corp., Cardinal Health Inc., CVS Health Corp. units and other prescription drug distributors and pharmacies moved to bounce Cleveland federal judge Dan Polster from the massive opioid liability case...
Gene Therapy Drugs That Cost Millions Have Employers and Health Plans Worried
Sep 13 2019 // Employers and health plans fear they could be swamped financially by a coming wave of expensive new genetic therapies for rare diseases. Regulators have recently approved two treatments that sell at many multiples of the...
Reuters: How Court Lets Merck Hide Baldness Drug Propecia’s Risks
Sep 12 2019 // By the time Kelly Pfaff got home from driving her son to school that morning, it was too late. Her husband, John, was supposed to be taking their 4-year-old daughter to school. But the girl and the nanny were still at the...
Generic Drugmaker Mallinckrodt Settles Opioid Lawsuits with 2 Ohio Counties
Sep 9 2019 // One of the largest makers of generic opioids has settled a lawsuit with two Ohio counties, removing the company from the first federal trial over the toll of the opioid crisis. United Kingdom-based Mallinckrodt announced...
Report: California Workers’ Comp Medical Payment Trends Fell in 2018
Sep 4 2019 // Medical payments in California’s workers’ compensation system continued to decline in 2018 as the medical payments per claim decreased, according to a report from the Workers’ Compensation Insurance...
