Latest Drugs Headlines
All the headlines from our Drugs Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Cuomo Says Plan for NYC Drug Injection Sites Will Be Reviewed
May 9 2018 // New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says a proposal to open supervised injection sites for illegal drug users in an effort to combat fatal overdoses will be closely reviewed. Cuomo said Friday that the goal of fighting opioid...
Drugmakers Balk at Funding Opioid Epidemic Fix; Counting on Court Wins
May 4 2018 // Drug companies are in no rush to finance a solution to the opioid epidemic. Companies including Johnson & Johnson and McKesson Corp. are preparing to take their chances in court rather than pay billions of dollars to...
Pennsylvania Governor Wolf Vetoes Workers’ Compensation Drug Formulary Bill
May 1 2018 // Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf has vetoed Senate Bill 936, which sought to amend the state’s Workers’ Compensation Act by establishing a formulary, or a list of prescription medications that could be prescribed...
Walgreens, Illinois Hospital Sued by Prince Heirs Over Overdose Care
Apr 25 2018 // Prince’s heirs have sued Walgreens and the Illinois hospital that treated the music superstar after he suffered from an opioid overdose, alleging that a doctor and various pharmacists failed to provide Prince with...
Medical Marijuana Users May be More at Risk for Non-Medical Drug Use: Study
Apr 24 2018 // Can medical marijuana help to fight the opioid epidemic? Many believe that it can. But a new study finds that people who use medical marijuana actually have higher rates of medical and non-medical prescription drug...
Lance Armstrong, US Government Settle Lawsuit for $5M
Apr 23 2018 // Lance Armstrong reached a $5 million settlement with the federal government in a whistleblower lawsuit that could have sought $100 million in damages from the cyclist who was stripped of his record seven Tour de France...
Trump Administration Proposes Curbs on Opioid Manufacturers
Apr 19 2018 // The U.S. government on Tuesday proposed tightening rules governing the amount of prescription opioid painkillers that drugmakers can manufacture in a given year, in hopes of reining in the deadly opioid epidemic. The Drug...
Judge Sets Schedule for Opioid Lawsuits Against Drug Companies
Apr 12 2018 // A federal judge pushing for a settlement in lawsuits seeking to hold drug companies responsible for their roles in the U.S. opioid epidemic on Wednesday set an aggressive schedule that would have the first trial take place...
As Opioid Prescriptions Decline, Abuse Treatment Costs Rise for Health Plans
Apr 9 2018 // A new report on the opioid crisis and employer-based health coverage, finds that while the use of prescription opioids among people with employer-based health coverage has declined to its lowest levels in over a decade,...
Ohio Now Requiring Transparency on Prescription Drug Pricing
Apr 6 2018 // Ohio Department of Insurance Director Jillian Froment has issued a bulletin requiring heightened protections for Ohio consumers related to prescription drug prices. The bulletin requires insurers and pharmacy benefit...
California Workers’ Comp Committee Votes to Lower Mid-Year Filing
Apr 5 2018 // The California Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau’s governing committee has voted to authorize the WCIRB to submit a lower mid-year pure premium rate filing to the California Department of Insurance...
How Medical Marijuana Reduces Opioid Use; Saves Lives, Money
Apr 3 2018 // Medical marijuana laws could be a boon to those battling the opioid epidemic, according to researchers who have identified a link between increased access to medical marijuana and a reduction in opioid prescriptions. The...
Arkansas AG Files Suit Against Opioid Manufacturers for Roles in Epidemic
Apr 2 2018 // Arkansas’ attorney general has joined the widening mass of litigation against opioid manufacturers, accusing three drugmakers of promoting addictive painkillers in ways that falsely denied or trivialized their...
West Virginia Gov Signs Bill Limiting Opioid Prescriptions
Apr 2 2018 // West Virginia’s governor has signed legislation to limit opioid prescriptions that doctors can prescribe to treat acute pain. Gov. Jim Justice signed the bill last week that would limit such prescriptions to supplies...
Lost Work Time Increases with Long-Term Opioid Prescriptions: WCRI
Apr 2 2018 // Using prescribed opioids adds significant time to temporary disability taken by workers with work-related lower back injuries, according to a new industry study. Temporary disability is time that workers spend away from...
Gov. Scott Signs Bill to Combat Florida Prescription Opioid Abuse
Apr 2 2018 // Gov. Rick Scott has signed Florida’s opioid legislation into law, a move seen by many as a good first step in combating a crisis that has claimed at least 16 lives a day in the Sunshine State. “What it does...
Lost Work Time Increases with Long-Term Opioid Prescriptions: WCRI
Apr 2 2018 // Using prescribed opioids adds significant time to temporary disability taken by workers with work-related lower back injuries, according to a new industry study. Temporary disability is time that workers spend away from...
Indiana Workers’ Comp Formulary Bill Sent to Governor
Apr 2 2018 // The Indiana General Assembly passed legislation that adopts a drug formulary for the state’s workers’ compensation system. SB 369 was sent to Gov. Gov. Eric Holcomb for his signature on March 21. The Property...
Walmart Talking with Health Insurer Humana on Closer Ties, Possible Acquisition
Mar 30 2018 // U.S. retailer Walmart Inc. is in early-stage talks with health insurer Humana Inc. about developing closer ties, with the acquisition of Humana being discussed as one possibility, people familiar with the matter said on...
Working with Physicians, Cigna Cuts Prescription Opioid Use by 25%
Mar 28 2018 // Health insurer Cigna said it has achieved a 25 percent reduction in opioid use among its customers as a result of a partnership with more than 1.1 million prescribing physicians. The company said it reached this key metric...
