Drugs and Medications News

Many older patients take multiple medicines and these often change after a hospital stay

More than 20% of Medicare Part D expenses on brand-name medications came from doctors who received an incentive related to a drug they prescribed. Nearly 30% of physicians got an incentive for at least one drug they prescribed during the study period.

That kind of overprescribing raises risks for everyone, experts say, as bacteria gain more chances to mutate around the life-saving drugs.

The proposal also includes a single market for drug pricing in the state. Companies would have to bid to sell their medicines at a set price.

The agency also plans to make it easier for drug manufacturers to import their own FDA-approved drugs that are manufactured abroad and intended for sale in other countries.

However, the bill has no chance of being passed by the Republican-controlled Senate and the White House has threatened to veto it, the Associated Press reported.

The drugs include Dollar Tree's Assured Brand OTC drugs and other drug products sold by Dollar Tree Co., which operates stores under the Dollar Tree and Family Dollar names.

Johnson & Johnson said the award is "excessive and unfounded" and that it would take immediate action to overturn it, the AP reported.

Earlier this week, preliminary results from two trials in Congo suggested that the two drugs significantly reduced the risk of death from Ebola.

The FDA approved the gene therapy Zolgensma to treat children with a severe form of spinal muscular atrophy. The drug costs $2.125 million for a one-time treatment, CBS News reported.

Valisure reported finding high levels of called N,N-Dimethylformamide (DMF) in specific lots of the drug.

The results of the small study suggest that taking in more vitamin K, not less, might help patients on warfarin (Coumadin).

The most common one found was trimethoprim, which is primarily used to treat urinary tract infections. It was detected at 307 of the 711 sites, according to the researchers.

The dangerous ingredient, vinpocetine, is in supplements that claim to enhance memory, focus or mental sharpness. They also supposedly increase energy and aid weight loss, the FDA said

Doctors may one day use your genes or species of bacteria to predict how well you’ll metabolize a certain drug, one of the study’s authors said.

Everything from oils to gummies to pills, creams and ointments are now for sale at supermarkets and specialty chains. You can even get massages infused with CBD, or cosmetics laced with the drug.

The net benefit of sharing notes with patients could be significant because people not properly taking their medications costs the health care system about $300 billion a year.

Researchers said the findings support a recent change to guidelines on low-dose aspirin: The blood thinner should now be reserved for people at high risk of heart attack or stroke.

The prices are expected to appear in text toward the end of TV commercials, when potential side effects are being listed. The new policy, which could take effect as early as this summer, covers all brand name drugs covered by Medicare and Medicaid, which is nearly all medications.

The drop in prescription use reverses a trend that had persisted since the 1990s, the study authors said.

In the past year, more concerns about the drugs’ side effects have led the FDA to issue new warnings about their use.

More than 23 percent of prescriptions studied were inappropriate, or not medically justified, researchers said. The inappropriate prescriptions were mostly for colds, chest infections and coughs.

The risk for rupture, or dissection, of the aorta, rises with the use of antibiotics in a class known as fluoroquinolones delivered by injection or as a pill. The drugs "should not be used in patients at increased risk unless there are no other treatment options available," the FDA said.

Researchers who analyzed dust samples found that in those with higher concentrations of triclosan, bacteria were more likely to have genetic changes indicating antibiotic resistance.

NDEA is found naturally in certain foods, drinking water, air pollution, and industrial processes, and it may cause cancer, according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer.