Pharmaceuticals

The guidelines took years to finalize, but while regulators were drafting them, a new trend emerged: online pharmaceutical influencers with little government oversight.

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.

About 350 million people suffer from rare diseases, most of which are genetic. But the individual disorders affect relatively few people, so there’s little commercial incentive to bring these treatments to market.

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.

Leqembi, which requires regular infusions and imaging scans, hit the U.S. market over a year ago, but sales have lagged and diagnosis and treatment remain complicated.

As national distributors and pharmacies restricted the flow of painkillers in response to the opioid crisis, Publix did the opposite, according to a Tampa Bay Times/KFF Health News data analysis.

Health Canada said “bulk importation will not provide an effective solution to the problem of high drug prices in the U.S." while noting it would ensure Canadians have access to the medications they need.”

A national shortage of Adderall is affecting more than just ADHD patients. Those with narcolepsy, a much rarer condition, are often treated with the medication. Without it, they're often unable to drive or function as usual.

The FDA said Florida’s program will be authorized for two years, and state officials must test the drugs to make sure they’re authentic and relabel them so that they comply with U.S. standards.

Last January, Anderson Ata became the seventh person in the world to receive teplizumab, which researchers say is the first big milestone in treating diabetes since the first production of insulin over 100 years ago.

Colorado officials say they haven’t been able to stand up a program to import drugs from Canada because of drugmaker opposition — and the Biden administration’s inaction.