News

Pharmacies and physicians’ offices across the country are reporting a shortage of Tamiflu to prevent and treat the flu, soon after the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) declared the illness an epidemic. The “epidemic” declaration was made after 21 children died so far this season from complications associated with the flu.

Mirabegron (Myrbetriq), an oral drug approved by FDA in 2012 for treating incontinence, may help control weight by boosting the metabolic abilities of brown fat, a form of fat that can help to expend energy, according to an early phase clinical study.

FDA actions in brief, recommendations for approval, fast-track designations.

Today, rating systems are driving consumer decisions in virtually every U.S. industry. A single “gold standard” for customer ratings has yet to emerge in healthcare, and providers and payers are focusing more than ever before on the customer experience – how patients evaluate everyday interactions with their care and service providers.

About 87% of all enrollees during the first month of open enrollment on healthcare.gov were eligible for financial assistance, compared to 80% during a similar time frame in 2014.

There is plenty of activity already in the hepatitis C market as competition has arrived for 2015, including CVS Health versus Express Scripts and Gilead Sciences versus AbbVie, over FDA-approved hepatitis C treatments. This will have implications for retail prescriptions as well as continuity-of-care programs within non-Medicare accountable care organizations (ACOs) and health systems.

Texas, which has almost 1 million residents in the coverage gap, has inquired about Medicaid expansion, while Arizona faces a renewed challenge to its existing expansion program.

The findings of a new research report from Express Scripts on the use of prescription opiates in the United States indicate that physicians are being more cautious about prescribing pain medications.1 The report shows both a drop in the short-term use of opioids and stabilization in the number of patients using these medications longer term.

After 15 children died from complications associated with the flu this season, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) declared the illness an “epidemic.”

FDA's approval of a new non-opioid painkiller injection expected to help in the fight against prescription painkiller abuse.

FDA approved the New Drug Application (NDA) for a new treatment for moderate to severe dementia in Alzheimer’s patients.

FDA issued an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for LightMix Ebola Zaire rRT-PCR Test for Ebola disease. The test can be used in West Africa and the United States.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced that it has selected Accenture Federal Services for a five-year, $563 million contract to continue Accenture’s work on the federally facilitated marketplace in support of healthcare.gov.

A weeklong test of the ICD-10 coding system by 500 providers resulted in a 76% acceptance rate, according to CMS.

The German Breast Group (GBG) said nab-paclitaxel (Abraxane) demonstrated significant benefit for patients with early high risk breast cancer when compared to conventional solvent-based paclitaxel, according to data presented at the 2014 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, December 9-13 in San Antonio, Texas.

The use of new oral anticoagulants (NOACs) continues to increase. Over the past 4 quarters, rivaroxaban (Xarelto, Bayer/Johnson & Johnson) and apixaban (Eliquis, Bristol-Myers Squibb/Pfizer) were in the top 20 of fastest-growing drugs in the United States. They offer advantages compared to warfarin such as a rapid onset of action, no dietary modifications, fewer drug–drug interactions, and do not require routine coagulation monitoring.

FDA has approved the new drug application (NDA) for liraglutide [rDNA origin] injection (Saxenda, Novo Nordisk) , the first once-daily glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist for chronic weight management.

A majority of opioid users are taking the painkillers concurrently with other prescription drugs, according to a report from Express Scripts that analyzed US opioid trends.

Cigna/Safeway study finds that patients make cost-conscious choices when provided with education and online shopping tools

Accelerated approval has been granted by FDA to nivolumab (Opdivo, Bristol-Myers Squibb) for the treatment of patients who have unresectable or metastatic melanoma not responding to treatment with other drugs.

According to a rule proposed by FDA in the Federal Register (December 18, 2014), healthcare providers would receive prescription drug and biologics product labeling information via an electronic system, thus replacing the use of paper to provide such information on the safety and effectiveness of human prescription drugs.

FDA approved the first intravenous influenza treatment, peramivir (Rapivab, BioCryst).

Some anti-inflammatory drugs, including ibuprofen have the potential to prevent the second most common type of skin cancer, according to a study published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology.

Despite known risks of confusion and falls associated with benzodiazepine use in elderly patients, a study published in JAMA Psychiatry, finds that prescription of benzodiazepines increases as people age. The research offers the first estimates of use patterns in the United States.

Employers are increasingly utilizing level-funding, a hybrid self-insurance model, to gain flexibility and control costs.

Eighty-nine new accountable care organizations will join the Medicare Shared Savings program in 2015, bringing the total number of participants to 405.

The Affordable Care Act has ushered in a new era of convergence among healthcare payers and providers.

One medical center is urging parents to seek non-medical solutions for their children’s anxiety or insomnia, after a recent study found that teens prescribed anti-anxiety or sleep medications are up to 12 times more likely to abuse prescription drugs than those who had never been prescribed them.