Pharmaceuticals

Atorvastatin, the generic form of Lipitor, can reduce the chances of heart attacks and strokes in people at risk. Side effects, such as muscle pain, are uncommon but should be part of the conversation about starting the medicines, a study concludes.

Health & Safety

Before Starting A Statin, Talk It Over With Your Doctor

10:24am December 04, 2018

by Richard Harris

Patients and doctors should have nuanced conversations about the benefits and risks of statins before deciding to start them. The drugs can reduce heart attack odds but also carry some side effects.

Queue Listen Now

The Food and Drug Administration has seen a sharp increase in applications for drug to treat rare diseases. An oversight report found problems with how agency is handling them.

Health & Safety

FDA Faulted For Lapses In Orphan Drug Program

4:07pm November 30, 2018

The Government Accountability Office found breakdowns in the way the Food and Drug Administration evaluates drugs for rare diseases. The analysis came after an investigation by Kaiser Health News.

Purdue Pharma, maker of the opioid OxyContin, has a subsidiary that won a patent for a treatment for opioid addiction.

Health & Safety

Drugmakers Play The Patent Game To Lock In Prices, Block Competitors

11:02am September 28, 2018

by Sarah Jane Tribble

Pharmaceutical companies like Purdue Pharma, maker of OxyContin, often win patents for incremental changes with debatable value. Now there's a twist involving an opioid addiction treatment.

Health insurers who offer Medicare Advantage plans have permission to soon require patients to try less expensive alternatives to some before receiving pricier drugs.

Health & Safety

New Medicare Advantage Tool To Control Drug Prices Could Narrow Choices

3:19pm September 13, 2018

by Susan Jaffe

Federal officials will allow private Medicare insurance plans to require patients who are candidates for certain expensive drugs to try cheaper drugs first.

Massachusetts wanted to negotiate prices and stop the use of some of the most expensive drugs in its Medicaid program. The federal government said no.

Health & Safety

A Setback For Massachusetts In States' Drive To Contain Medicaid Drug Spending

5:39pm September 12, 2018

by Martha Bebinger

Massachusetts planned to exclude expensive drugs that weren't proven to work better than existing alternatives from its Medicaid plan. Medicaid drug spending had doubled in five years.

Intermountain Healthcare, whose Intermountain Medical Center Patient Tower in Murray, Utah, is seen here, is a leader in the generic drug company being launched by hospitals.

Health & Safety

Hospitals Prepare To Launch Their Own Drug Company To Fight High Prices And Shortages

12:35pm September 06, 2018

by Alison Kodjak

A consortium of hospital systems and three foundations is moving ahead with a nonprofit drugmaker that would produce some of the generic medicines health care facilities need the most.

Texas officials are requiring that people who comment at Medicaid meetings on pharmaceuticals disclose more details about their ties to industry.

Health & Safety

Texas Tightens Disclosure Rules Following Medicaid Investigation

3:16pm August 17, 2018

by Liz Essley Whyte

Officials in Texas are responding to the findings of an investigation by NPR and the Center for Public Integrity into drugmakers' influence over medication choices for Medicaid patients.

Republican Gov. Doug Ducey speaks about a variety of issues during an interview in his office at the Arizona Capitol in May 2018, in Phoenix.

Health & Safety

Arizona Governor Takes Steps To Blunt Industry Influence On Medicaid

4:45pm July 27, 2018

by Liz Essley Whyte

After an investigation by the Center for Public Integrity and NPR into conflicts of interest in Medicaid decisions about drugs, Arizona's governor added new transparency rules.

Drug companies have infiltrated nearly every part of the process that determines how their drugs will be covered by Medicaid.

Health & Safety

Investigation: Patients' Drug Options Under Medicaid Heavily Influenced By Drugmakers

11:18am July 18, 2018

Drug companies have infiltrated nearly every part of the process that determines how their drugs will be covered by Medicaid, an investigation by NPR and the Center for Public Integrity finds.

Queue Listen Now

Information that could refine the uses of approved drugs may lie deep inside patients' medical records.

Health & Safety

To Improve Treatments, Researchers Want To Hunt For Clues In Medical Records

7:30am July 15, 2018

by Richard Harris

The vast amount of data held in electronic medical records and insurance bills contains bits that could be useful in refining the use of approved for drugs. But how to find it?