News

Global prescription drug sales should reach nearly $1 trillion by 2020, thanks in part to FDA approvals of breakthrough drugs for cancer, hepatitis C and other diseases, a new report finds.

Infants and children who are given prescription acid-reducing medications face a substantially higher risk of developing Clostridium difficile infection, according to a study published recently in the online edition of Clinical Infectious Diseases.

Drug shortages are significant public health threats. They can delay, or even deny, critical care for patients. Here are the four drugs in shortage that are among the most problematic.

This week, Florida Governor Rick Scott signed the Emergency Treatment for Opioid Overdose Act into law, allowing first responders to possess, store, and administer naloxone.

Certain Protein-pump inhibitors (PPIs) such as omeprazole (Prilosec) are associated with a short-term risk of heart attacks and other cardiac events, according to a new study.

The FDA's Sentinel Initiative uses big data and broad networks to detect and respond to risks associated with prescription drugs. In the June 4th Health Affairs' Health Policy Brief, the FDA describes how the Sentinel Initiative improves on the FDA's Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) database.

FDA’ s Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee recommended this week to approve cholesterol-lowering drug evolocumab (Repatha) from Amgen in a 15-0 vote. It also voted 13-3 in favor of FDA approving Sanofi and Regeneron's Praluent (alirocumab), but most panel members called for a restricted label in high-risk patients with genetic conditions causing elevated cholesterol, rather than wider use in the general elevated cholesterol population.

Results of a new study on combination drugs used to treat melanoma were presented at the 2015 American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in Chicago. Researchers showed that a combination of ipilimumab and nivolumab stopped the advancement of melanoma for nearly a year in 58% of cases.