Pharmaceuticals

Patients who depend upon special drugs to treat rare diseases are caught in the crossfire as drugmakers and the FDA battle over regulations that reward companies for developing treatments for relatively small pools of patients.

The billionaire entrepreneur, Dallas Mavericks owner and "Shark Tank" star is making waves with his new drug company. But his generics aren’t always the lowest-priced deal.

Twitter has been a hotbed for the insulin access movement and activism surrounding other medical conditions - helping propel concern about the prices into policy. Can it continue to win with hashtags?

Increasingly, the FDA is asking drugmakers to remove unproven uses from older drugs that haven't delivered on early results. And drugmakers seeking accelerated approvals are facing tougher hurdles.

Since pharmaceutical companies started funding their FDA drug applications 30 years ago, the agency’s reviews have gone much faster — perhaps too fast.

Approved as a device, not a drug, Plenity contains a plant-based gel that swells to fill 25% of a person’s stomach, to help people eat less. Results vary widely but are modest on average.

Attorney General Ashley Moody’s lawsuit contends five hospital districts, by pursuing separate claims against pharmaceutical industry companies, are jeopardizing settlements her office has reached.

After a Tennessee nurse killed a patient because of a drug error, the companies behind hospital medication cabinets said they would make the devices safer. But did they?

The hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin fiascoes have soured many doctors on repurposing drugs for COVID. A few inexpensive old drugs may be as good as some of the new antivirals, but they face complex obstacles to get to patients.

It’s understandable that patients desperately need help affording medicine, especially when their health is on the line. But these programs create a mirage that perpetuates our system’s reckless spending: They cover up a drug’s true price, much of which insurers pay, and that contributes to rising premiums.

Medicare has proposed limiting coverage of Aduhelm and several prominent groups representing patients and families are pressing to make it more widely available. But among individuals facing the disease, the outlook is more nuanced.

An epic battle is playing out behind the scenes over whether the government should pay for Aduhelm, an FDA-approved Alzheimer’s drug that scientists say has not been proven to work.