A network of illegal drug sellers based in the U.S., the Dominican Republic and India packaged potentially deadly synthetic opioids into pills disguised as common prescription drugs and sold millions of them through fake online drugstores, federal prosecutors said Monday. At least nine people died of narcotics poisoning between August 2023 and June 2024 after … Read more
Thinner benefits and coverage changes await many older Americans shopping for health insurance this fall. That’s if their plan is even still available in 2025. More than a million people will probably have to find new coverage as major insurers cut costs and pull back from markets for Medicare Advantage plans, the privately run version … Read more
NEW YORK — NEW YORK (AP) — WeightWatchers is shaking up its leadership. WW International announced Friday that CEO Sima Sistani would leave her role effective immediately. Tara Comonte, a WeightWatchers board member and former Shake Shack executive, was made interim chief executive. The New York-based weight loss company didn’t reveal the reasons behind the … Read more
Shopping season for Medicare coverage is about to begin. With it comes the annual onslaught of TV ads and choices to consider. People eligible for the federal government’s Medicare program will have from Oct. 15 to Dec. 7 to sign up for 2025 Medicare Advantage plans, which are privately run versions of the program. They … Read more
FRANKFORT, Ky. — Kentucky’s attorney general has sued Express Scripts, claiming the big pharmacy benefit manager was at the center of an opioid dispensing chain that fueled a deadly addiction crisis still haunting his state. The lawsuit Attorney General Russell Coleman filed this week in state court claims St. Louis-based Express Scripts and its affiliated … Read more
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia’s new drug czar has a very personal reason for wanting to end the state’s opioid crisis: He was once addicted to prescription painkillers himself. Dr. Stephen Loyd, who has been treating patients with substance use disorder since he got sober two decades ago, says combating opioid addiction in the state … Read more
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — For decades, Jeff Card’s family company was known for manufacturing the once ubiquitous tin boxes where people could buy newspapers on the street. Today, reach into one of his containers and you may find something entirely different and free of charge: Naloxone, the opioid overdose reversal drug. Naloxone distribution containers have been … Read more
The federal government is suing some big pharmacy benefit managers over a system of drug rebates that regulators say has made the price of insulin soar for diabetic patients. Three companies that process about 80% of prescriptions in the United States — Caremark, Express Scripts and OptumRx — have engaged in anticompetitive practices that spur … Read more
NEW ORLEANS — A constitutional challenge to the Biden administration program enabling Medicare to negotiate lower prices for widely used prescription drugs was revived by a federal appeals court in New Orleans in a 2-1 decision Friday. Congress created the program as part of the Inflation Reduction Act passed in 2022. The first 10 drugs … Read more
DOVER, Del. — Democratic Gov. John Carney on Friday vetoed a bill allowing doctor-assisted suicide in Delaware, saying he is “fundamentally and morally opposed” to people killing themselves under the guidance of state law. Carney said in his veto letter that he has consistently opposed the legislation, while recognizing the “thoughtful views” expressed by both … Read more
