Pharmaceutical innovation saves lives. But not every “new” drug is truly new. Patents are designed to reward breakthrough inventions by granting the inventors temporary monopoly rights to recoup the costs…
Tag: Drugs
New website tracks how Pennsylvania’s $2.2B in opioid settlement funds is being spent
Pennsylvania is due to receive US$2.2 billion dollars from the national opioid settlements, and a new database shows the public where that money is going. Starting in 2021, a national,…
Balancing kratom’s potential benefits and risks − new legislation in Colorado seeks to minimize harm
David Bregger had never heard of kratom before his son, Daniel, 33, died in Denver in 2021 from using what he thought was a natural and safe remedy for anxiety.…
When developing countries band together, lifesaving drugs become cheaper and easier to buy − with trade-offs
Procuring lifesaving drugs is a daunting challenge in many low- and middle-income countries. Essential treatments are often neither available nor affordable in these nations, even decades after the drugs entered…
Colorado’s fentanyl criminalization bill won’t solve the opioid epidemic, say the people most affected
Colorado passed the Fentanyl Accountability and Prevention Bill in May 2022. The legislation made the possession of small amounts of fentanyl a felony, rather than a misdemeanor. Felonies are more…
Philly’s street fentanyl contains an industrial chemical called BTMPS that’s an ingredient in plastic
As much as half of the fentanyl sold on Philly’s streets contains an industrial chemical used in plastics manufacturing. That’s according to our November 2024 testing of fentanyl samples collected…
How opioid deaths tripled in Philly over a decade − and what may be behind a recent downturn
After nearly a decade of almost year-over-year increases in overdose deaths, the tide may finally be turning in Philadelphia. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced in May 2024…
What are pharmacy benefit managers? A health economist explains how lack of competition drives up drug prices for everyone
Wegovy and Ozempic are weight loss drugs that promise to transform the treatment of obesity, heart disease and other chronic conditions that afflict millions of Americans. But while everyone agrees…
Drug prices improved under Biden-Harris and Trump − but not for everyone, and not enough
When it comes to drug pricing, the Trump and Biden-Harris administrations both have some very modest wins to tout. As director of the Health Outcomes, Policy, and Evidence Synthesis group…
