pharmaceuticals

The pharmaceutical industry has invented a new art form: finding ways to make their wares seem like joyous must-have treatments, while often minimizing lackluster efficacy and risks.

The FDA considers plants that have gone more than five years without an inspection to be a significant risk. Officials say the work has been hampered by difficulties recruiting and retaining inspectors.

The school district is self-insured, meaning it foots the bill for the health care costs of employees. As many as 3,500 employees may be affected by insulin price increases over the past 20 years.

As Congress pushes for Medicare to cover payment for anti-obesity drugs, Denmark — home of Ozempic maker Novo Nordisk — has limited coverage of the drug after cost overruns “emptied all the money boxes in the entire public health system.”

A flood of litigation — with plaintiffs like small businesses, drugmakers, and hospitals challenging regulations — could leave the country with a patchwork of disparate health regulations.

The failed dissolution of Glenmark Pharmaceuticals' extended-release capsules may cause high potassium levels, also known as hyperkalemia, which can result in irregular heart beat that can lead to cardiac arrest.

President Joe Biden is campaigning on his efforts to cut drug costs for Medicare patients. But independent pharmacists say one strategy makes it unaffordable for them to keep some brand-name medicines in stock.

The makers of Ozempic and Mounjaro charge charge around $1,000 a month for the drugs, and insurers are reluctant to pick up the tab. Often, low-income patients have to resort to less effective treatments.

The FDA told Amgen to test whether a quarter-dose of sotorasib worked as well as the amount on the label. It did, but the biotech is sticking to the higher dose, which earns it an extra $180,000 a year per patient.

A study by the Rand Corp., a nonpartisan research organization, found that, across all drugs, U.S. prices were 2.78 times higher than the prices in 33 OECD countries. The gap was even larger for brand-name drugs.