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Guidance

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Mallinckrodt Settles U.S. Opioid Drug Probe for $35 million

Nate Raymond  |  

(Reuters)—Mallinckrodt Plc., one of the largest manufacturers of the generic opioid painkiller oxycodone, will pay $35 million to resolve allegations that it failed to report suspicious drug orders, the U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday. The deal, in which Mallinckrodt did not admit wrongdoing, marked a record settlement of claims that a drugmaker failed to properly…

CVS to Pay $5 Million to Resolve U.S. Drug Probe

Nate Raymond  |  

(Reuters)—CVS Health Corp. has paid $5 million to resolve allegations that pharmacies it operates in California failed to keep and maintain accurate records of prescription drugs, the U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday. The deal follows an investigation that began in 2012 after the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration noticed an increased number of thefts and unexplained…

Senate May Vote on Revised Healthcare Bill Next Week

Yasmeen Abutaleb and Susan Cornwell  |  

WASHINGTON (Reuters)—U.S. Senate Republicans said Tuesday they will seek to bring their healthcare overhaul to the Senate floor next week after a lengthy intraparty struggle, but it remained unclear whether they had the votes to pass the measure or even what form it would finally take. With his reputation as a master strategist on the…

Generic Drug Group Sues to Block Maryland Price-Gouging Law

Nate Raymond  |  

(Reuters)—The main U.S. trade group for generic pharmaceutical companies filed a lawsuit on Thursday seeking to block a recently adopted Maryland law that lets the state attorney general sue generic drugmakers that sharply raise prices. The Association for Accessible Medicines filed the lawsuit in federal court in Baltimore to seek an injunction that would block…

Congress Must Shore Up Insurance Markets If Obamacare Repeal Fails

Reuters Staff  |  

WASHINGTON (Reuters)—U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on Thursday that Congress must act to shore up private health insurance markets if it fails to repeal Obamacare, comments seen as providing a pathway to a bipartisan deal to fix the health system. Speaking at a luncheon in his home state of Kentucky, McConnell said,…

ACR Pushes for Patient Interests, Against Spending Cuts

Angus Worthing, MD, FACP, FACR  |  

Greetings from Washington, D.C. Your advocacy team had another busy month. Unlike my prior updates, and in order to keep our focus on health policy, I avoid mentioning anything about Washington investigations into obstruction of justice, collusion, etc. You get enough of that elsewhere. The Healthcare Bill Obamacare repeal and reform efforts are speeding up….

ACR Offers Hands-On 101 Course in Advocacy

  |  

The ACR’s Advocacy 101 course will be held Sept. 24 in Washington, D.C. The course is an interactive, intensive, full-day opportunity for fellows in training and program directors to learn about and become inspired to advocate for the continued strength of rheumatology recruitment and support for education, research and clinical practice. Course applications will be…

Changes in BMI Associated with Improvements in Disease Activity & Glucocorticoid Treatment

Arthritis Care & Research  |  

A recent study examined the relationship between increased BMI and antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody–associated vasculitis treatment with glucocorticoids. The results: Weight gain was independently associated with reductions in disease activity, increased glucocorticoid exposure and randomization to rituximab. The most significant increases in BMI occurred during the first six months of treatment, and newly diagnosed patients were more likely to experience an increase in BMI…

U.S. Senate Health Bill Would Decimate Long-Term Care Coverage

Mark Miller  |  

CHICAGO (Reuters)—When Americans think about retirement planning, long-term care usually is a major blind spot – few of us want to contemplate the possibility of infirmity and dependency in old age. But we would do well to think about it now, as the Senate Republicans take a holiday weekend pause in their push to dismantle…

Stripping Americans of Health Insurance Could Be Deadly

Ronnie Cohen  |  

(Reuters Health)—Health insurance saves lives—that’s the conclusion of a report released on Monday, just in time to weigh into the debate among Senate Republicans considering a bill that could strip millions of Americans of coverage. “Overwhelming scientific evidence shows that lack of insurance is sometimes deadly,” co-author Dr. David Himmelstein, a professor at the City…