Latest Drugs Headlines
All the headlines from our Drugs Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Government Data Shows How Opioid Epidemic Spread Across America
Jul 18 2019 // Newly released federal data shows how drugmakers and distributors increased shipments of opioid painkillers across the U.S. as the nation’s addiction crisis accelerated from 2006 to 2012. The data, released this week...
Oklahoma Accuses J&J of Dodging Liability for ‘Cunning’ Opioid Drug Push
Jul 16 2019 // Even after illegally promoting opioid painkillers to reap billions of dollars in profit over the past two decades, Johnson & Johnson has accepted “zero responsibility” for its central role in fueling a...
Oklahoma, J&J Wrapping Up First Trial Over Opioid Crisis
Jul 15 2019 // Oklahoma’s attorney general is expected to urge a judge to find Johnson & Johnson responsible for flooding the market with painkillers and fueling the U.S. opioid epidemic, as the first trial in nationwide...
Trump Administration Halts Plan to Sideline Pharmacy Benefit Managers
Jul 11 2019 // The White House abandoned a push to end rebates paid to middlemen who negotiate drug prices on behalf of health insurers, a move that could turn scrutiny back on how drugmakers themselves set prices. President Donald Trump...
Court Halts Trump Plan to Require Drug Prices in TV Ads
Jul 9 2019 // A federal judge on Monday dealt a blow to the Trump administration by striking down a new rule that would have forced pharmaceutical companies to include the wholesale prices of their drugs in television advertising. U.S....
How Insys Bankruptcy Case Could Alter Fate of Thousands of Opioid Lawsuits
Jun 28 2019 // The fate of thousands of lawsuits seeking to hold drugmakers responsible for fueling the U.S. opioid epidemic hinges in part on a thorny legal question: Can a company can use a bankruptcy to stop lawsuits from cities and...
What Passed, What Didn’t: New Florida Laws Taking Effect July 1
Jun 27 2019 // The Florida Legislature looked at and passed many pieces of legislation in the 2019 session that will impact the insurance industry. The following are summaries of what passed — and what didn’t. What Passed HB 7065...
Purdue’s Sackler Family Must Face Opioid Suits in New York
Jun 26 2019 // The billionaire owners of Purdue Pharma LP must face a New York lawsuit claiming they triggered the U.S. opioid epidemic, a judge ruled, handing an early victory to states and local governments seeking to recoup billions...
Reuters Report: How Judges’ Secrecy Has Added to Toll of Opioids and Other Products
Jun 25 2019 // WELCH, West Virginia —The opioid epidemic that has so far killed half a million Americans is routinely blamed on greedy drug makers, feckless doctors and lax regulators. But there’s another group that has...
Billions at Stake from Opioid Suits but Damages Unlikely to Top $200B Tobacco Windfall
Jun 21 2019 // An Oklahoma case, the first of more than 1,600 lawsuits filed by U.S. state and local governments against opioid makers to go to trial, could serve as a key benchmark for governments hoping to recoup costs associated with...
Settlements with Ohio Hospital System Reach Nearly $4.5M in Painkiller Deaths Case
Jun 20 2019 // An Ohio hospital system has reached nearly $4.5 million in settlements so far over the deaths of patients who allegedly received excessive painkiller doses ordered by a doctor now charged with murder. At least 29...
Drug Makers’ Supply Chain Probed as Blood Pressure Pill Tests Positive for Carcinogens
Jun 19 2019 // An online pharmacy told U.S. regulators it found another cancer-causing chemical in widely prescribed blood-pressure pills, raising new questions about a complex global web of companies that produces medicine for millions...
Oklahoma Governor, GOP Leaders Say Opioid Drug Settlement Violates Law
Jun 17 2019 // Oklahoma’s governor and Republican legislative leaders are raising concerns about the state’s proposed $85 million settlement with an opioid manufacturer that has yet to be approved by a judge. Gov. Kevin...
Plaintiffs Suing Drug Firms Eye Opioid Settlement Involving Every County, Municipality
Jun 17 2019 // Lawyers representing county and municipal governments accusing drug manufacturers and distributors of fueling the U.S. opioid epidemic proposed a novel plan on Friday that would allow every community nationally to...
At Oklahoma Trial, J&J Opioid-Sales Tactics Called a ‘Smart Strategy for Drug Dealer’
Jun 13 2019 // Johnson & Johnson used promotional gimmicks for its opioid painkillers that are similar to how criminal drug dealers try to boost sales, a pharmaceutical-industry critic told a judge hearing Oklahoma’s claim that...
Study Debunks Theory That Legalized Marijuana Helps Prevent Opioid Deaths
Jun 12 2019 // A new study shoots down the notion that medical marijuana laws can prevent opioid overdose deaths, challenging a favorite talking point of legal pot advocates. Researchers repeated an analysis that sparked excitement years...
Doctor in Oklahoma Trial Says J&J Pushed Opioids Even After Abuse Became Known
Jun 11 2019 // Oklahoma’s star witness told a state judge that Johnson & Johnson pressed doctors to prescribe its painkillers even as the potentially fatal addictive threat posed by the drugs became clear more than a decade...
Massachusetts Construction Industry Confronts Drug Addiction Among Ranks
Jun 11 2019 // Massachusetts construction companies and labor unions held work stoppages at project sites across the state on Wednesday as their industry attempts to confront a high rate of fatal opioid overdoses among its ranks. Robert...
Some Claims of Medical Cannabis Lack Scientific Evidence
Jun 11 2019 // Marijuana has been shown to help ease pain and a few other health problems, yet two-thirds of U.S. states have decided pot should be legal to treat many other conditions with little scientific backing. At least 1.4 million...
Doctors Not to Blame for All Opioid Misuse; Friends, Family Also Played Roles
Jun 7 2019 // In a common narrative of the path to opioid misuse, people become addicted to painkillers after a doctor prescribed them pills to treat an injury and then, later, switch to harder drugs, such as heroin. However,...
