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Few consumers are able to find adequate cost and quality information that truly helps them make cost-conscious healthcare decisions

Congress wants to get serious about fixing the Medicare formula for reimbursing physicians, an initiative that would affect healthcare rates and expenditures more broadly.

The use of atypical antipsychotics in patients with major depressive disorder who have not responded to antidepressant therapy substantially increased clinical response rates at 6 weeks; however the drugs are also much more costly, according to the results of an analysis published in the May issue of The Annals of Pharmacotherapy.

The multiple sclerosis drug fingolimod (Gilenya, Novartis) is now contraindicated for use in patients with certain pre-existing or recent heart conditions or stroke, or who are taking certain antiarrhythmic medications, according to FDA

The Affordable Care Act saved Medicare recipients more than $3 billion on prescription drugs and 12.1 million recipients used a free preventive service in the first four months of 2012, the government said in a news release today

FDA has notified healthcare professionals that it is aware of a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine reporting a small increase in cardiovascular deaths and in the risk of death from any cause in persons treated with a 5-day course of azithromycin (Zithromax) compared to persons treated with amoxicillin, ciprofloxacin, or no drug.

The ability of adults to obtain basic healthcare services in the United States has declined in nearly every state over the last decade, especially among those without insurance, according to a report by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF).

Hospira is voluntarily recalling one lot of hydromorphone injection, USP, 1 mg/mL (C-II), 1-mL fill in 2.5-mL Carpuject, NDC 0409-1283-31, after complaints that a single Carpuject contained more than the 1-mL labeled fill volume, according to a press release posted on the FDA website.

Pharmacists need additional guidance on the handling of biosimilar products in the pharmacy when these products become more widely available following the approval of the biosimilar pathway, said Marcie Bough, senior director of government affairs, APhA, speaking at an FDA hearing last week.