Pharmacy

Responding to pressure from lawmakers and the public, Mylan Pharmaceutical is expanding existing programs to make its EpiPen emergency allergy treatments more affordable.

Lawmakers are imploring Mylan Pharmaceutical, the manufacturer of EpiPens, to scale back price increases that have seen the cost of the life-saving emergency allergy treatment swell from $100 to $600 per package, according to published reports.

The "most important factor" that drives prescription drug prices higher in the United States than anywhere else in the world is the existence of government-protected "monopoly" rights for drug manufacturers, researchers at Harvard Medical School reported today.

XTANDI has been used to treat 64,000 men with prostate cancer to date and has generated $2.2 billion in sales.

A preliminary analysis by from the CVS Health Research Institute in fact shows that payers could save approximately $38 to $63 million per 100,000 members.

Overall, CMS said the amount it spent on drugs in 2014 grew by 17 percent year over year, driven by rising pharmaceutical costs.

Drug costs increased more than 17 percent from 2013 to 2014, compared to a 3.3 percent increase in the total cost of claims, according to Medicare Part D data released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Thursday.

The researchers analyzed data from more than 6.7 million people who filled prescriptions in January 2012 and followed their patterns of medication use and out-of-pocket spending through December 2014.

In 1998, investors filed more than 20 lawsuits alleging the Birmingham-based MedPartners, a physician practice management company, made false and misleading statements to the public about its financial condition and prospects.

Aetna has sent a letter to over 900 physicians, telling them they fall within the top 1 percent of opioid prescribers.