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+14 +1
Drug companies will have to publish list prices a new rule
Drug companies will have to give list prices for their products in television ads under a new proposal the Trump administration released Monday. The new rule, which is open for discussion, would affect any drug covered by Medicare or Medicaid. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar announced the new proposal just hours after the lobby group that represents big drug companies said its members would start indirectly mentioning prices in their television ads.
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+20 +1
Finally, the drug that keeps you young
udith Campisi has been a leading figure in the biology of aging since the early 1990s, when her research on the basic mechanisms of cancer revealed an unexpected finding—that cells enter a phase known as senescence that prevents them from becoming cancerous. More than 25 years later, the insight has led to a new kind of drug that may slow or modestly reverse human aging.
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+15 +1
People on love drug MDMA still know who to trust
For recreational users, ecstasy has long been associated with a harmonious mindset. Now there’s research to back that up. In a new study of MDMA, ecstasy’s main ingredient, the drug indeed made people more cooperative—but only with trustworthy partners.
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+2 +1
Why The Free Market For Drugs Doesn't Work And What To Do About It
The United States faces a major problem with prescription drug prices. Even as the prices of most goods and services have barely budged in recent years, the cost of drugs has surged. During the presidential campaign, both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump cited the high cost of prescription drugs as an issue that needed to be addressed. Most recently, the president-elect took direct aim at the pharmaceutical industry, saying it’s “getting away with murder” and arguing “new bidding procedures” are necessary to lower drug prices.
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+13 +1
Big Pharma spent an additional $9.8 billion on marketing in the past 20 years. It worked
If you’re in the US and it feels like you’ve been seeing more drug ads recently, it’s because you have. According to a study published Tuesday (Jan. 8) by researchers at Dartmouth College, total spending on marketing for condition awareness, health services, lab testing, and drugs ballooned from $17.7 billion annually in 1997 to almost $30 billion in 2016. The vast majority was spent by pharmaceutical companies on marketing prescription drugs—and the investment worked.
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+12 +1
Here’s what the Sacklers didn’t want you to see in the OxyContin lawsuit
From 2007 to 2018, the Sacklers paid themselves more than $4B from opioid sales.
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+15 +1
U.S. Senator Sanders asks why drug, once free, now costs $375k
U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders sent a letter to Catalyst Pharmaceuticals (CPRX.O) on Monday asking it to justify its decision to charge $375,000 annually for a medication that for years has been available to patients for free. The drug, Firdapse, is used to treat Lambert-Eaton Myasthenic Syndrome (LEMS), a rare neuromuscular disorder, according to the letter, made available to Reuters by the senator’s office. The disorder affects about one in 100,000 people in the United States.
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+2 +1
Insulin produced by cone snails could help design better diabetes treatments.
Insulin is a hormone critical for maintaining healthy blood sugar levels in humans. When the insulin system becomes faulty, blood sugar levels become too high, which can lead to diabetes. At the moment, the only effective treatment for one of the major types of diabetes are daily insulin injections. However, designing fast-acting insulin drugs has remained a challenge. Insulin molecules form clusters (so-called hexamers) that first have to dissolve in the body to activate the insulin receptor, which plays a key role in regulating the blood sugar levels throughout the body. This can take time and can therefore delay the blood-sugar control.
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+17 +1
Shkreli directing notorious pharma co. from prison. It’s still losing millions
Armed with a contraband phone, an incarcerated Martin Shkreli is plotting a comeback with his notorious pharmaceutical company, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. So far, however, the company is still losing millions of dollars. Shkreli is just 16 months into a seven-year prison sentence over securities-fraud charges. He landed in jail last year for running what federal prosecutors described as a Ponzi-like scheme that duped investors of his hedge funds.
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+4 +1
Prices of 390 anti-cancer drugs slashed by up to 87 per cent: Check full list here
The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority today issued a list of 390 anti-cancer drugs which will be available at a cheaper rate for patients. The prices of the listed drugs have been cut by up to 87 per cent by the pharmaceutical body. Prices of at least 38 medicines like Bendamustine, Bortezomib and Pemetrexed have been cut down by 75 per cent and more.
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+11 +1
Protein-slaying drugs could be the next blockbuster therapies
Researchers are hijacking the cell’s protein-disposal system in the fight against Alzheimer’s and intractable cancers.
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+20 +1
Pharmaceutical abuse sent more than 350,000 people to the ER in 2016
The misuse of prescription drugs and over-the-counter medications resulted in an estimated 358,000 trips to U.S. emergency departments in 2016 — and almost half of those cases involved young people ages 15 to 34, according to a new study based on a national public health surveillance system.
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+24 +1
I Went Down a Rabbit Hole Trying to Figure Out Why My Medication Costs $6,600 a Month
I was at the end of the long table in the conference room when I realized the drugs had become a problem. As I tried to focus on the presentation — some suit droning on about tax benefits and pricing tiers — I zoned out, and my face became flushed. Burning-hot rage pulsed across my skin, crackled down to my fingertips, then shot back. I wasn’t sure I could make it out of the room without doing something I’d regret.
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+16 +1
Gilead to donate HIV prevention drug to 200,000 patients
Gilead Sciences will give free Truvada pills to 200,000 uninsured people for the next 11 years to help prevent new HIV infections, the pharmaceutical company said Thursday. The announcement of the donation came just one day after the company said a generic version of the daily pill would be available in September 2020, a year earlier than expected.
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+30 +1
States bring price fixing suit against generic drug makers
Attorneys general from more than 40 states are alleging the nation’s largest generic drug manufacturers conspired to artificially inflate and manipulate prices for more than 100 different generic drugs, including treatments for diabetes, cancer, arthritis and other medical conditions. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Connecticut on Friday, also names 15 individual senior executives responsible for sales, marketing and pricing.
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+11 +1
Leading US drug companies 'conspired to inflate prices by up to 1,000%'
Leading drug companies including Teva, Pfizer, Novartis and Mylan conspired to inflate the prices of generic drugs by as much as 1,000 per cent, according to a far-reaching lawsuit filed on Friday by 44 states. The industry-wide scheme affected the prices of more than 100 generic drugs, according to the complaint, including lamivudine-zidovudine, which is used to treat HIV; budesonide, an asthma medication; fenofibrate, which is used to treat high cholesterol; amphetamine-dextroamphetamine for ADHD; oral antibiotics; blood thinners; cancer drugs; contraceptives; and antidepressants.
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+11 +1
Is $2.1M too much for a drug? For affected parents, there is no debate
A decision by the drug maker Novartis to put a $2.1 million price tag on its latest product, a one-time treatment for a rare and fatal childhood disease, has sparked a national debate about just how much society should pay for the medicines it needs.
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+4 +1
First controlled study of LSD microdosing finds few benefits -- and some downsides
New research confirms that the alterations in consciousness associated with very low doses of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) are not just the result of a placebo effect. But the findings suggest that these “microdoses” might not have many benefits. Preliminary research had indicated that microdosing could improve several aspects of psychological functioning.
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+16 +1
Certain Antidepressants And Antipsychotic Drugs May Increase Your Risk of Dementia
A new study of more than 283,000 elderly people in the UK has found that long-term use of anticholinergic drugs – including some medications for depression, epilepsy, and Parkinson's disease – is associated with a significant increased risk of dementia
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+6 +1
Trial of HIV prevention implant hailed as boost in fight against disease
An implant containing an HIV-prevention drug has been trialled in humans, in a step experts have hailed as an exciting development in curtailing infections. Pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, with antiretroviral drugs has become a hot topic in recent years, with the drugs shown to substantially reduce the risk of contracting HIV from an HIV-positive partner. PrEP pills are already available through the NHS in Scotland to high-risk individuals, while trials are under way in England.
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