News

AbbVie’s investigational hepatitis C virus (HCV) cocktail has been granted FDA priority review April 23 for the treatment of adult patients with chronic genotype 4 (GT4) HCV infection-the first investigational drug combination for GT4 infection, which accounts for about 6% of HCV cases in the United States.

The FDA approved the first generic versions of Abilify (aripiprazole), an antipsychotic drug approved to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, on April 28.

Insurers and pharmacists should not switch effective therapies without patient and physician notification, according to a national survey of stabilized autoimmune patients that explored their perspectives on switching prescribed biological medicines.

Both public and private purchasers are in an important position to act as catalysts of change in managing specialty pharmacy.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield will launch a health insurance exchange this summer that will support employers’ efforts to help retirees transition from group health benefits to individual Medicare coverage that starts Jan. 1, 2016.

Data from a real-world analysis provided an early view of hospital readmissions among hospitalized nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) patients treated with new oral anticoagulants (NOACs).

Statins could be a cost-effective tool for preventing heart attacks and other cardiovascular incidents in adults over aged 75 years, but the benefits would need to be weighed against potential side effects, a study in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Use of bupivacaine liposome injectable suspension (Exparel) was associated with im-proved clinical outcomes and a favorable cost savings per patient compared to the standard of care, according to data presented at the 27th annual meeting and expo of the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy in San Diego.

While generic drug prices continue to rise, analysts say they may not continue their rapid growth rate.

L.A Care Health Plan is filling a void in California for unbanked consumers who need to maintain mandated health insurance coverage but have no credit or debit account.

Soaring prescription drug prices is quickly becoming a hot-button political topic, as American consumers are saying that pricing is out-of-control.

Teva Pharmaceutical’s unsolicited $40 billion offer to acquire Mylan N.V. is expected to shake up the pharmaceutical industry, especially in the areas of generic and specialty drugs. A Teva acquisition of Mylan would be the biggest health care deal of the year so far and the largest acquisition ever proposed by an Israeli company, according to S.&P. Capital IQ, The New York Times reported.

Children who have neurological disorders such as cerebral palsy or epilepsy are no more likely to be vaccinated against influenza than children without these conditions, despite the increased risk for complications from flu these children experience, according to a study published online April 9 in Vaccine. Moreover, healthcare providers may not be familiar with the increased risk among these patients to effectively recommend influenza vaccine.

The introduction of abuse-deterrent OxyContin, couple with the removal of propoxyphene from the US prescription marketplace may have played a role in decreasing opioid prescribing and overdoses, according to a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Shifting from fee-for-service to value-based pay depends heavily on five factors.

Increasing unnecessary regulations on drug plans could inflict higher costs on the 220 million Americans who get their medications through a managed drug plan, according to a new report.

Older adults taking proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) were more likely to have an increased risk of acute kidney injury and acute interstitial nephritis, according to a study published in CMAJ Open.

After an extensive review, researchers said they were unsure whether the risks of prescription opioids outweighed the potential benefits for managing chronic pain.

A counterfeit version of onabotulinumtoxinA (Botox) was found in the United States and may have been sold to doctors’ offices and medical clinics nationwide. The version is considered unsafe and should not be used.

FDA has approved ivabradine (Corlanor, Amgen) to reduce hospitalization due to worsening heart failure. Corlanor is an antianginal agent approved for use in patients who have chronic heart failure caused by the lower-left part of the heart not contracting well.

FDA has approved changes to the hepatitis C antiviral simeprevir (Olysio, Janssen) label to include new warnings about serious symptomatic bradycardia-slowing of the heart rate-when co-administered with antiarrhythmic drug amiodarone and antiviral sofosbuvir (Solvaldi, Gilead).

The FDA today approved the first generic version of Copaxone (glatiramer acetate injection) for treating patients with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS) on April 16.

In the first release of its star ratings, only 251 hospitals scored “five out of five stars” on Medicare’s Hospital Compare site.

Ibrutinib, a newly approved drug for Waldenstrom’s Macroglobulinemia, a rare form of lymphoma, continued to control the rare blood cancer, with 95% of patients surviving for 2 years, according to a new study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Patients with hereditary angioedema (HAE) are accruing specialty drug treatment costs of more than $300,000 annually on average, according to a study presented at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) 27th Annual Meeting and Expo, in San Diego.

BLOG: Pharmacogenomics is the study of how DNA differences affect response to medications. This can explain why similar patients have different reactions to the same medication even if they receive the same dosage. The pharmacogenomics clinic at NorthShore is the first step toward a larger implementation.

New cystic fibrosis treatments, that target the gene mutations causing the disease, will significantly increase healthcare costs, according to a study presented at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) 27th Annual Meeting and Expo, in San Diego.

Reducing long-term care utilization among patients with Parkinson’s disease psychosis (PDP) may lower overall economic burden, according to data presented at the American Managed Care Pharmacy 27th Annual Meeting & Expo in San Diego.

Pregnant women are commonly being prescribed opioids - narcotic pain relievers such as hydrocodone - which results in an increased likelihood of neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), a drug withdrawal syndrome that opioid-related infants experience shortly after birth, according to a study in Pediatrics.

Onglyza, the diabetes medication manufactured by AstraZeneca, may be associated with an increased death rate, according to a preliminary review by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).