Drug Pipeline

Partner with community-based organizations to implement quality diabetes programs for the Hispanic population.

Further research may determine whether changing sedentary behavior will reduce long-term outcomes.

Canadian study shows certain ethnic groups face higher heart disease risk factors than they did a decade ago.

A medical group in New York is rapidly shifting toward “value-based” care from fee-for-service (FFS)-spurred on by a program to reduce variations in physician practice that began by focusing on patients with diabetes.

Spending on healthcare can be good, but in the case of diabetes, more spending likely means worsening outcomes.

Diabetes costs $322 billion per year in the U.S. Help empower consumers for a healthier bottom line.

Payers and providers alike cite benefits from utilizing telemedicine as a strategy for diabetes care management. Here are two success stories.

A leading pharmaceutical company is partnering with payers to help lower COPD complications.

Patients to assist insurer, association in creating program to ensure its relevancy and practicality for those with diabetes.

As the number of people with diabetes in the U.S. continues to climb, plans and integrated health systems are employing personalized strategies to help manage the disease.

If we can accurately understand each patient’s risk for disease, we can create more nuanced preventive care plans and better invest our resources.

In this blog, the vice president of medical affairs for Quest Diagnostics discusses how Medicaid expansion has impacted diabetes diagnoses.

People in states that expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act are far more likely to be newly identified with diabetes than in non-expansion states, according to a study published online in Diabetes Care.

It may come as a surprise that each year Americans catch approximately 1 billion colds, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that as many as 20% get the flu. This cold and flu season, 7 in 10 patients will reach for an over-the-counter (OTC) medicine to treat their coughs, stuffy noses, and sniffles. It’s an important time of the year to remind patients to double check their medicine labels so they don’t double up on medicines containing acetaminophen.

FDA has approved a combination of the generic drugs naltrexone and bupropion (Contrave) for chronic weight management in obese adults (body mass index [BMI] >30 kg/m2). This combination agent has also been approved for use in those patients who are overweight (BMI >27 kg/m2) and have at least one weight-related comorbid condition such as diabetes, hypertension, or dyslipidemia.

The federal government’s cost for Medicare Part D will increase between $2.9 billion and $5.8 billion if we see 15% to 30% of hepatitis C (HCV)-infected beneficiaries receive treatment in 2015 and the cost of treatment averages $84,000, according to a new study by Milliman.

The driving force behind consumer cost-sharing provisions for specialty medications is the acquisition cost and not clinical value. This appears to be true for almost all public and private health plans, says a new report from researchers at the University of Michigan Center for Value-Based Insurance Design (V-BID Center) and the National Pharmaceutical Council (NPC).

Patients treated by physicians in designated medical homes reduced overall medical costs by 21% in the first year

FDA has approved a new indication for ofatumumab (Arzerra, GlaxoSmithKline and Genmab), a CD20-directed cytolytic monoclonal antibody, in combination with chlorambucil for the treatment of previously untreated patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) for whom fludarabine-based therapy is considered inappropriate.

FDA has approved the Timothy Grass Pollen Allergen Extract (Grastek, Merck) sublingual tablet as immunotherapy to treat grass pollen-induced allergic rhinitis with or without conjunctivitis in children as young as 5 years of age and adults up to the age of 65. The tablet is a new option for patients who decline allergy shots.

Evidence shows that the traditional approach is not effective.

Within our healthcare-driven society, the increase in the identification and diagnosis of mental illnesses has led to a proportional increase in the prescribing of psychotropic medications. The prevalence of mental illnesses and subsequent treatment approaches may employ monotherapy as first-line treatment, but in many cases the use of combination of therapy can occur, leading to polypharmacy.1 Polypharmacy can be defined in several ways but it generally recognized as the use of multiple medications by one patient and the most common definition is the concurrent use of five more medications. The presence of polyharmacy has the potential to contribute to non-compliance, drug-drug interactions, medication errors, adverse events, or poor quality of life.

I have been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer of the pancreas, a disease that’s long been considered not just incurable, but almost impossible to treat-a recalcitrant disease that some practitioners feel has given oncology a bad name. I was told my life would be measured in weeks.

FDA advised healthcare professionals not to use magnesium sulfate injection for more than 5-7 days to stop preterm labor in pregnant women, according to a May 30 drug safety communication.

Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), the antidepressant bupropion, and the drug varenicline can help smokers quit, according to a new systematic review published in The Cochrane Library.

Forty-three members of Congress are urging the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) not to implement a new policy that prohibits independent community pharmacies from providing same-day, home delivery of diabetes testing supplies (DTS) to homebound seniors.

Decolonization of all intensive care unit (ICU) patients with antimicrobial soap and ointment significantly reduces all bloodstream infections, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

An examination of people’s behaviors as they relate to drug use in the 20th century has shown that people will expend a large amount of energy to acquire any agent that has the ability to alter their minds, bodies, or behaviors in order to achieve a euphoric effect.

On April 5, a US District Court judge ruled that the emergency contraception (EC) pill Plan B One-Step must be made available over-the-counter to all girls and women, regardless of their age. This ruling, made by Judge Edward R. Korman, was in response to a 2011 move by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

The College of American Pathologists (CAP), International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC), and Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP) recently issued evidence-based guidelines on molecular testing in lung cancer, and support the recommendation that physicians conduct testing in advanced non-small cell lung cancer patients at the time of diagnosis or at the time of recurrence or progression.