(Reuters)—The Trump administration on Thursday proposed changes to Medicare drug plans including limits on opioid prescriptions and rules aimed at reducing drug costs for seniors, such as requiring health insurers to pass on discounts to consumers. To help combat overprescription and abuse of addictive painkillers, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) said…
Articles by Natasha Yetman
U.S. Approves Digital Pill that Tracks When Patients Take It
(Reuters)—U.S. regulators have approved the first digital pill with an embedded sensor to track if patients are taking their medication properly, marking a significant step forward in the convergence of healthcare and technology.1 The medicine is a version of Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co Ltd’s established drug Abilify for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression, containing a tracking…
Trump to Tap Ex-Pharma Executive Azar as U.S. Health Secretary
WASHINGTON (Reuters)—President Donald Trump on Monday said he will nominate former pharmaceutical executive and industry lobbyist Alex Azar to serve as U.S. Health and Human Services secretary, saying Azar would push to lower the price of medicines. If confirmed, Azar also would take the lead in implementing Trump’s campaign promise to dismantle the Affordable Care…
Psoriasis Tied to Higher Risk of Serious Liver Disease
(Reuters Health)—People with chronic inflammatory disorders, such as psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis (RA), may have an increased risk of developing serious liver damage, a recent study suggests. These inflammatory disorders are often treated with methotrexate, a medication linked to an increased risk of liver disease. For the current study, researchers followed more than 1 million…
Kentucky Accuses Endo of Contributing to Opioid Epidemic
(Reuters)—Kentucky accused units of Endo International Plc. on Monday of contributing to drug overdoses by deceptively marketing its painkiller Opana ER, in the latest lawsuit by state or local governments against the drugmaker amid an opioid epidemic. Kentucky Attorney General Steve Beshear said the lawsuit would seek to hold Endo responsible for illegally building a…
J&J’s Stelara Shows Promise Against Lupus in Study
(Reuters)—Johnson & Johnson’s blockbuster psoriasis drug ustekinumab (Stelara) led to a significant reduction in disease activity in patients with systemic lupus compared with a placebo in a midstage clinical trial, according to data released on Nov. 4. Ustekinumab is already approved for psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis and Crohn’s disease and had third-quarter sales of $1.12 billion….
Insurers Step Up Pitch for Obamacare as Government Slashes its Effort
NEW YORK (Reuters)—President Donald Trump’s 90% cut to Obamacare advertising has U.S. health insurers in many states digging deeper into their pockets to get the word out about 2018 enrollment, which opened last week. Independence Blue Cross, a health insurer in Pennsylvania, has commissioned a tractor-trailer truck to bring insurance consultants out to shopping centers…
Researchers Examine Lifetime Risk of Total Hip Replacements
Total hip replacement (THR) surgery is an effective way to reduce pain and improve function in people with advanced hip osteoarthritis (OA). In light of aging populations, there’s a need to use contemporary, population-level data to plan for future service provision. In a study designed to compare THR data across countries, researchers demonstrated a significant increase in the overall use of and lifetime risk for THR from 2003 to 2013. Women consistently had a higher lifetime risk of surgery than men in all five countries studied, whereas men in all five countries demonstrated a significant increase in lifetime risk for THR over time…
Lupus Survival Is Improving Slowly
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) mortality has declined during the past 46 years in the U.S.—but more slowly than mortality in the general population, according to a nationwide study. “Based on our experience in the clinic and according to previous reports showing improvement in the short-term (five- to 10-year) survival in lupus, I…
Obamacare Benchmark Premiums Up 37% in 2018 after Subsidy Cut-Off
NEW YORK (Reuters)—The average monthly premium for benchmark Obamacare insurance plans will surge around 37% in 2018, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said on Monday, fueled by the Trump administration’s suspension of billions of dollars in subsidy payments to health insurers. The average monthly premium for the second-lowest cost “silver” plan for…
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