Pharmaceuticals

Most antibiotics can't tell the difference between good and bad bacteria. That means medicines can kill helpful bacteria in your gut while they're obliterating the ones making you sick.

A refrigerator-sized machine could someday make lifesaving drugs on site when outbreaks occur or where medicine is in short supply, like on the battlefield.

In January, one man died and four others sustained brain injuries in the early clinical test of an experimental pain drug. Independent scientists reviewed the study to learn what went wrong.

The shortages for hospital emergency rooms have persisted even after Congress gave the Food and Drug Administration more power in 2012 to respond when drug supplies are low.

Complaints from patient groups and increased regulatory oversight appear to be leading to changes in the way some marketplace health plans cover expensive drugs.

When a special coating was added to the opioid Opana, it deterred people from abusing the pills by crushing and snorting them. But some users soon learned how to prepare the pills for injection.

Two academics suggest that loans financed by the private sector could be one way to help patients cover the cost of expensive, curative pharmaceuticals. Think mortgages.

Seconal used to cost less than $200 a bottle. After Valeant Pharmaceuticals bought the medication, the cost rose to $3,000. Advocates for aid in dying say that's a burden for the terminally ill.