Three years ago, the CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals raised the cost of the lifesaving drug Daraprim by 5,000 percent. Overnight, its price tag skyrocketed from $13.50 a pill to $750. That CEO, Martin Shkreli, is serving a prison term for securities fraud unrelated to Daraprim. But that drug, which costs pennies to make and is…
Big Pharma has argued for decades that documented higher drug prices in the United States are required to support their research and development (R&D) efforts for the benefit of all Americans. Their oft-stated position is clearly disingenuous and misleading at best. Scandalous examples of corporate greed (remember the recent conviction of Martin Shkreli, also known…
Georgia is one of 13 states receiving the highest mark from the National Safety Council for taking comprehensive actions to eliminate opioid overdoses and help protect residents. The state rose from a “failing’’ designation in 2016 to “improving’’ in the new report on the opioid crisis, released this week in conjunction with National Rx Drug…
The term “step therapy’’ sounds like an exercise routine for rehabbing patients. It’s actually a description of an insurance practice: requiring patients to try and fail on a series of treatments before they can obtain the medication prescribed by their physician. Legislation in the Georgia House and Senate would limit step therapy in some circumstances,…
When the story broke last month that a former medical director for insurance giant Aetna never reviewed patients’ medical records before denying care, the news media and insurance regulators seemed shocked. But for the millions of Americans – and thousands of Georgians – who are fighting for access to treatment, the news was likely just…
“Our citizens are dying. We must act boldly to stop it.” This statement by President Trump’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis is in response to drug overdoses now killing more people than gun homicides and car crashes combined. Since 1999, more than 620,000 people in this country have died due to…
Brenda Goodman is senior news writer at WebMD. Andy Miller is CEO and editor of Georgia Health News. Feb. 20, 2018 — A brown bat the size of a mouse with teeth like a stapler may or may not have bitten Tamara Davis in Georgia. But it certainly took a bite out of her bank…
Brannen Whirledge was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory bowel disease, two years ago at age 4. His family tried for months to find an effective medicine for him that didn’t produce unpleasant side effects, such as nausea and fatigue. Finally, they found what his mother, Melissa, calls “a miracle pill,’’ the drug Colazal. His…
A key state senator said Wednesday that she expects Georgia’s fight against the opioid epidemic to draw funding from the Legislature through the budget process. Sen. Renee Unterman, a Buford Republican, made the remarks after the Senate unanimously approved a bill that would establish a Georgia director of substance abuse, addiction and related disorders and create a…
This flu season — the worst in several years – has stretched the supply chain of flu drugs to the limit. Drug stores have scrambled to keep up with demand for the antiviral flu drug Tamiflu and its generic brand, and that’s resulting in spot shortages, especially for the children’s flu medicine, in liquid form….