New gene therapy drug expected to hit market with head-spinning price tag

May 22, 2019
Industry analysts expect the price for the single-treatment therapy to be anywhere from $1.5 million to $5 million.
Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis' Basel headquarters.
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Would requiring prices in pharmaceutical ads make drugs cheaper?

Apr 9, 2019
The idea is that transparency would lead to more competition and lower costs. One drug company is already on board.
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Walgreens has a tough quarter

Apr 2, 2019
Pharmacy chain Walgreens reported a 3.8 percent drop in sales for the quarter. The company cited a weak cough, cold and flu season — and declining profits from generic and branded prescription drugs. Click the audio player above to hear the full story.
People walk by a Walgreens store in San Francisco.
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FDA approves new Johnson & Johnson drug for depression

Mar 6, 2019
The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first new kind of drug to treat depression since Prozac hit the scene in the late 1980s. Spravato is a nasal spray from Johnson & Johnson that’s a close cousin of ketamine, an anesthetic that’s sometimes used recreationally and often known as “Special K.” Because ketamine can cause […]
Janssen Pharmaceutica

Kickbacks or a helpful service? Here's why pharma is under fire

Sep 21, 2018
Drug companies can get creative with doctor incentives, and that can be problematic.
A pharmacy technician counts out a prescription of antibiotic pills.
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House passes measure giving terminally ill patients more access to experimental drugs

May 23, 2018
More patients who are terminally ill will potentially have access to experimental drugs under a measure passed by the House last night. President Donald Trump is expected to sign the so-called “right-to-try” bill. Forty states have already passed similar legislation. Currently, terminal patients not covered by those laws have only two options for getting unapproved […]

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Those coupons people use for expensive meds are starting to count for less

Mar 19, 2018
Insurers are pushing back on manufacture coupons for expensive drugs in the hopes that it will pressure drug companies to lower prices.
A pharmacy manager assists a shopper in the pharmacy area of a Walmart store in Mount Prospect, Illinois.
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Beautycounter CEO wants more regulation for safer products

"I set out to get safer products into the hands of everyone," Gregg Renfrew says.
“You may buy something that says all natural or botanical or pure, but it may be none of the above, and so consumers are misled by companies today,” says Beautycounter CEO Gregg Renfrew.
CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP/Getty Images

How one sentence helped set off the opioid crisis

Dec 13, 2017
Recently unsealed documents shed light on how the maker of OxyContin seems to have relied more on focus groups than on scientific studies to create an aggressive and misleading marketing campaign that helped fuel the national opioid epidemic.
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