High temperatures will stay above 90 across much of the U.S. this week, and storms in the mid-Atlantic region have added power outages for millions already sweltering from the heat. Oh, did we mention there are fires blazing in the West?
A new study in Pediatrics finds some parents aren't giving their children routine vaccinations at recommended intervals.
What if most of the drugs your doctor gave you were untested, forcing him or her to guess at the correct medication and dosage -- making you an unwitting research subject whenever you took a pill?
The Justice Department on Monday announced the distribution of a record $500 million civil fine paid by the Internet search engine giant Google in the wake of what the government called the unlawful sale of prescription drugs over the Internet. Google, the Justice Department said, was on notice as early as 2003 that online pharmacies were advertising prescription drugs online to users in the United States, but failed to prevent the practice.
Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino, star of "Jersey Shore," has gone into drug rehab for a prescription medication problem.
One study puts the potential overall cost of painkiller abuse at more than $70 billion a year. Pill addicts who shop around for doctors to score prescriptions cost insurers $10,000 to $15,000 apiece. The toll in lost productivity: $42 billion. The criminal justice bill: $8.2 billion. It all adds up.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney accused former House Speaker Newt Gingrich of having lobbied in favor of Medicare Part D, the federal program that provides drugs for senior citizens, during Monday night's Republican debate in Tampa, Florida. Romney said other congressmen said they were lobbied by Gingrich at the time.
"It's time to take a stand against @ExpressScripts. Tell them people want a choice by tweeting hashtag #ILoveWalgreens."
Lipitor, the popular cholesterol-lowering drug, loses its patent Wednesday, paving the way for cheaper generic versions.
The world's best-selling cholesterol drug will soon be available at a lower price. CNN's Elizabeth Cohen reports.
President Barack Obama signed an executive order Monday designed to help reduce a growing number of prescription drug shortages while protecting patients from possible pharmaceutical industry price gouging.
Law enforcement officers arrested 22 people Friday in Orlando and Tampa, Florida, as part of an effort to shut down so-called pill mills distributing illegal prescription drugs.
Google has agreed to a $500 million settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice for illegally allowing online Canadian pharmacies to advertise drugs to U.S. consumers.
It's been more than a year since President Obama signed health care reform into law. The act's biggest provisions, which will make it easier for the uninsured to buy coverage, don't take effect until 2014. But Congress, eager to sell the plan to a skeptical public, wrote in a few benefits that have already kicked in.
According to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, prescription drug overdose deaths in Florida are up a staggering 265% since 2003. But it's not just the deaths that have Florida officials worried; it's the births.
Florida sees an alarming spike in the number of babies born addicted to pills. CNN's Amber Lyon investigates.
The U.S. government will foot the bill for half of all health care costs in the United States by 2020, according to a government report released Thursday.
While a multi-billion dollar merger of Express Scripts and Medco is far from a done deal, analysts say it could potentially save money for consumers if it is approved by regulators.
CNN's Drew Griffin reports that a dominant online search engine could face a huge fine for illegal online pharmacy ads.
Two women who say they suffered severe medical complications from a generic drug lost their Supreme Court appeal Thursday, essentially ending their separate lawsuits against pharmaceutical manufacturers.
Prescription drug abuse, now the fastest-growing drug problem in the country, has created a ballooning street market for highly-addictive pain relief, anxiety and depression drugs.
Husband and wife Amina and Isa Odidi are looking to take the pharmaceutical industry by storm.
Medco Health Solutions stockholders cheered when it topped profit estimates yesterday, but investors are really looking forward to what such pharmacy benefit managers might put under the tree for Christmas.
The Obama administration is launching a new effort to combat prescription drug abuse.
Prescription drug overdose is now the fastest-growing drug problem in the country, surpassing the number of people who overdosed during both the crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980s and the black tar heroin epidemic of the 1970s combined, the Obama administration says.
When it comes to deciding who pays to reduce runaway Medicare costs, President Obama and House Republicans have very different views.
Two women who say they suffered severe medical complications from a generic drug are asking the Supreme Court to allow their separate lawsuits against the pharmaceutical manufactures to proceed. The justices, in oral arguments Wednesday, gave no clear indication where they were leaning.
Big Pharma faces a host of well-known problems, most notably that its blockbuster drugs are coming off patent at the same time that its pipeline of new drugs has turned into a drip. But the leading pharmaceutical companies like Novartis, Merck and Bayer are also battling another costly headache -- legal challenges to their existing patents are increasing with the rapidity of a centrifuge.
Under health care reform, consumers will see several new changes to their insurance coverage this year, the most significant of which affects the nation's 47 million Medicare beneficiaries.
This week, the House of Representatives plans to vote to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. It will succeed.
In 2011, new laws kick in involving illegal plants, trash, and what to do if you're pulled over by a police officer.
New laws going into effect in the new year could have a major effect on your pocketbook and your health. Here are some highlights:
The Drug Enforcement Administration urged Americans on Saturday to turn in their old and unused prescription drugs as part of an effort by the agency to stop a rise in prescription drug abuse.
Avandia has taken some beatings over the years, but it pretty much took a fatal blow yesterday. That's when the Food and Drug Administration ruled to keep the drug on the market in the United States with some serious restrictions.
Sanofi-aventis can't hire fast enough in China. The French drug giant has been paring its staff in the U.S. and Europe, but it is expanding its Chinese workforce by one-fifth every year and vying with other multinationals to recruit thousands of new sales representatives. These pitchmen, armed with information on Sanofi's latest cardiovascular and diabetes drugs, will fan across the mainland in pursuit of untapped markets.
September 23 marks the six-month anniversary of health reform. It's also the date when several key insurance changes come into effect.
The Drug Enforcement Agency wants people around the country to raid their medicine cabinets this week and get rid of any old or unused prescriptions that may still be lying around.
In a widely-anticipated ruling, a panel of experts will decide Wednesday whether or not to recommend that the FDA pull GlaxoSmithKline's blockbuster diabetes drug Avandia off the market in the United States.
But she'll likely be eligible for early release from jail for good behavior and overcrowding
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a warning Saturday for the public to stop using an instant coffee marketed as a sexual enhancer, the agency announced in a news release.
The federal government is mailing $250 Medicare rebate checks this week, but Vermont is asking its seniors to send the money back to the state.
The government is mailing $250 checks this week to seniors who fall into the gap in Medicare's prescription drug coverage.
Brittany Murphy's husband needed surgery, but he said it could wait
Former child actor Corey Haim had prescriptions for as many as 553 dangerous drugs in the last year of his life, and it's the result of "doctor shopping," California's top law official said Tuesday.
Coupons give discounts on frozen meals, toothpaste, breakfast cereals and household cleaners. And increasingly, consumers are turning to coupons for their prescription medications, too.
With President Obama still glowing over last week's passage of health-care reform, it's a good time to ask why American businesses ever began providing health-care coverage, and especially prescription drug benefits, to begin with. Out of all industrialized nations, only the United States has tied employment to health care and retirement coverage.
For millions of uninsured or underinsured Americans, health reform legislation will soon remove some of the barriers preventing them from getting the coverage they need.
Mexican president discusses the role the United States plays in fueling drug cartels.
The availability of illegal drugs is increasing in the United States -- fueled largely by expanding activity from Mexican drug cartels -- and abuse of controlled prescription drugs is getting worse, according to the National Drug Threat Assessment 2010 report, released Thursday.
AT&T said Friday it will take a non-cash charge of about $1 billion for the current quarter in anticipation of costs resulting from the health care reform measure signed into law this week by President Obama.
President Obama signed sweeping health care reform into law Tuesday. The Senate must now pass a package of changes that will reconcile the differences between Senate and House bills. If those changes are worked out, here is how health care reforms will affect you:
President Obama lays out a timeline for what Americans can expect from the new health care law.
Showbiz Tonight's A.J. Hammer recounts the events leading up to Corey Haim's death and recaps the actor's career.
Corey Haim's death is linked to an "illegal and massive prescription-drug ring," California Attorney General Jerry Brown said Friday.
If you take heart medication, you may want to avoid some of the most popular over-the-counter herbal supplements on the market, including ginseng, saw palmetto, and echinacea. These herbal remedies -- and many others -- can cause potentially serious problems in people taking heart medications, a new report warns.
Fortune: Alice in Bio-Landupdated: Wed Jan 20 2010 14:34:00
A recent jostling with thousands of life science bankers, investors, and executives at the packed JP Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco felt like Alice on the other side of the looking glass compared to 2009.
She had been taking prescription medication and her mother reported the actress also suffered diabetes
Under the weather and out of a job? You could be eligible for free health services like flu shots and prescription drug refills.
When Richard Clark was named CEO and president of Merck in 2005, the drug behemoth was reeling in the wake of the Vioxx scandal, which in 2004 forced the company to withdraw the blockbuster painkiller for safety reasons.
Americans think about health care every time they open the plastic container of pills ordered by their doctor.
This is the fifth installment in a series of health-care columns by Fortune's Shawn Tully.
More coverage. More choice. Better care.
One of the largest Internet search engines is being accused of violating both federal and state laws by accepting advertising from online pharmacies it should have known were selling drugs without valid prescriptions.
No one knows what the CEOs of the biggest drug companies dream about, but their nightmares probably look a little like this:
Dental dopers
updated: Tue Jul 21 2009 14:05:00
CNN's Thelma Gutierrez reports on addicts who are turning to dentists for prescription drugs like coedine and vicodin.
People who abuse prescription drugs often do so believing the pills are safe because they are prescribed by doctors and approved by the Food and Drug Administration, addiction experts tell CNN.
When Michael Jackson collapsed at his rented mansion last month, the singer's arms were riddled with marks and their veins had collapsed -- both characteristics found in intravenous drug users, sources told CNN on Tuesday.
CNN's Randi Kaye reports on the investigation into the cause of Michael Jackson's death.
A government advisory panel voted Tuesday to recommend eliminating prescription drugs that combine acetaminophen with narcotics -- such as Vicodin and Percocet -- because of their risk for overdose and for severe liver injury.
President Obama on Monday strongly praised a decision by the nation's pharmaceutical industry to agree to a deal cutting drug costs for elderly Americans, calling it an example of the kind of compromise required for successful national health care reform.
CNN's John King visits a high-tech clinic in Cleveland, Ohio where the costs are low, but the care is top-notch.
In a sign of progress in overhauling health care, the nation's pharmaceutical industry has agreed to a deal that will reduce drug costs for elderly Americans.
Paying for prescription drugs is getting harder. New drugs are more expensive than they used to be and consumers are shouldering more of the out-of-pocket costs. Here's how you can cut the cost of prescription drugs.
Anna Nicole Smith's boyfriend appears in court as his attorney blasts the felony charges
The husband-and-wife team that built the first franchise to advise clients on health-care deals is reuniting. Frederick Frank and Mary Tanner joined Peter J. Solomon Co. this week to launch a new pharmaceutical and life sciences practice, just in time for the current wave of deal making that's sweeping Big Pharma.
Dr. Jack Rodman's heart sank when he heard the news: One of his elderly patients with a heart condition had a stroke because she couldn't afford the medicines he'd prescribed her.
"This case should not be tried in the court of public opinion," the attorney says after Stern is charged with felonies
When Merck's $41 billion acquisition of Schering-Plough was announced Monday, it confirmed a major trend toward consolidation in Big Pharma.
A Vermont musician who lost an arm to gangrene after being given a common prescription medication won the right to collect nearly $7 million when the Supreme Court ruled in her favor Wednesday.
The Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday that it has stopped reviewing drug applications from an India-based pharmaceutical plant, alleging that officials there falsified data and test results in applications, some of which the agency has already approved.
The pilot of a tanker that crashed into the San Francisco Bay Bridge in 2007, causing a major oil spill, was under the influence of multiple prescription medications that impaired his judgment, federal officials said in a report Wednesday.
Dr. John Di Saia was playing baseball with his son a few weeks ago, and just as he rounded second base, he tumbled to the ground, breaking his fall with his elbow.
CNN.com's Reggie Aqui talks to CNN's Elizabeth Cohen about help for the uninsured.
There are some things you just can't live without. But here's how you can pay less for your essentials.
Wall Street analysts have been urging pharma giant Pfizer to do something big and something soon. So that's what Pfizer did. The company's proposed acquisition of Wyeth in a deal valued at $68 billion is big, in fact the biggest pharma deal in almost a decade. But is it the right thing to fix Pfizer's particular set of problems? The New York City-based company has faced increased scrutiny as the looming expiration of its blockbuster statin drug Lipitor, which brings in about a quarter of Pfizer's revenue, is set to expire in 2011. What's more, the flow of new drugs through the company's pipeline has slowed considerably.
Eli Lilly and Company, the giant American drug company, agreed to pay nearly $1.5 billion in fines for marketing one of its medicines for uses not approved by the Food and Drug Administration, the Justice Department announced Thursday.
Many older adults in the United States are taking a confusing combination of medications, some prescribed by doctors and others picked up over-the-counter or in health food stores.
As well as their potential for creating effective therapies for debilitating diseases, embryonic stem cells could open the door to improved pharmaceutical drug testing, according to a leading British stem cell researcher.
An effort is under way to stop teens from getting high on prescription drugs. CNN's Judy Fortin reports.
A dozen old family photos were strewn across the table as Gary Neal picked them up one by one.
The typical Medicare beneficiary can expect to see about a $3 increase in their monthly premiums for prescription drug coverage in 2009, federal officials said Thursday
Viagra was approved by the FDA 10 years ago. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta looks back.
Eli Lilly & Co.'s incoming chief executive believes his background in the laboratory provides the formula needed to fill the drugmaker's dwindling pipeline.
The sales rate of prescription medications slowed by more than half in 2007 to levels not seen since the early 1960s, according to a report released Wednesday.
Democrats have long served as the traditional enemy of Big Pharma, but in this presidential campaign, the left is taking the lion's share of drugmaker money.
For years, Big Pharma has kept competition from generic drug makers at bay by essentially paying its would-be rivals to stay out of its business. Now government watchdogs have declared war on these financial deals - a move that could bring cheaper drugs to market faster while costing giant drug developers billions in lost revenue.
It's looking like the number of drugs that got an OK from the Food and Drug Administration plunged in 2007, even as Big Pharma faces a slew of patent expirations.
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