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Picking apart biopharma’s protracted boom,…the vibe that getting drugs approved is simply much easier than it once was…. FDA has been green-lighting new drugs at an escalating rate for the past few years… some think the agency can go farther… 21st Century Cures Act,..contains a bevy of provisions designed to bring medicines to the market more quickly…The bill has faced staunch criticism from public health officials and media outlets, cautioning that there can be too much of a good thing, and improperly evaluated drugs can be just as dangerous to patients as no treatments at all.

Companies vie for enrollees amid questions that trials will siphon participants away from each other…After years of effort, scientists and families of young patients with the genetic condition Niemann-Pick Type C are in a position to which any rare-disease community aspires: the prospect of not one, not two, but three companies launching clinical trials to develop therapies…the flurry of commercial interest has sparked an urgent debate. Can the community support more than one trial at the same time?

Leading up to NACDS Total Store Expo, Drug Store News had an opportunity to sit down with Tom O’Donnell, VP federal government affairs at the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, to discuss pharmacist provider status and the latest pro-pharmacy legislative initiatives in the U.S. House and Senate.

Banner Health,..has expanded rapidly through acquisitions, is seeing its expenses outpace the additional revenue…Banner took over operations of the University of Arizona Health Network in February,…about $1 billion in funding and capital commitments… the short term, costs are rising. Banner reported an operating surplus of $107.6 million on $3.4 billion in revenue for the first half of the year…operating margin was 3.2%, compared with the prior year period's 7% margin...

study of venom in medicine has traditionally been confined to understanding its effect as a toxin..But scientists are becoming increasingly interested in studying venom systems...to discover ingredients to make new drugs… a new technique for "milking" the Australian box jellyfish of its deadly venom,...method that he and his colleagues have developed is practical and highly efficient, and it promises to remove a major bottleneck in the field of jellyfish venom research.

Starting Oct. 1, Tricare beneficiaries with long-term prescriptions for brand-name　medications to treat chronic conditions will need to fill them by mail or through a military pharmacy…will not apply to prescriptions for generic drugs, for drugs prescribed to treat acute illnesses and for prescriptions covered by other medical insurance,…the government pays 32 percent less for brand-name maintenance medications filled by mail or through military pharmacies than at retail stores...

researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has found that Florida’s legislative efforts to curb opioid abuse seem to be having their desired effect… statistically significant drops in the amount of opioids being prescribed and the volume in the state… opioid prescriptions dropped about 1.4%, opioid volume fell 2.4% and there was a 5.6% decrease in the morphine milligram equivalent per transaction.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. is nearing a deal to pay $1 billion for the closely held company (Sprout Pharmaceuticals Inc) that just won approval to sell the first drug that aims to boost a woman’s libido,..Valeant would pay all cash, one $500 million installment upfront and one next year,..Valeant would also take on all of Sprout’s 25 employees, including its leadership team, as they complete preparations to begin sales of the drug in October,…

Wal-Mart's second quarter earnings release this week highlighted one of the many effects of more people gaining health insurance under the Affordable Care Act: its pharmacies are no longer as profitable… is seeing lower reimbursement rates from drug insurance plans and a decline in high-margin cash transactions… one of the dirty secrets of the pharmacy industry that uninsured people frequently pay more for drugs than those with insurance…

New York City Health and Hospitals Corp. has lost its second health IT leader amid an investigation into a multiyear, multimillion dollar installation of an electronic health-record system.Former Chief Technology Officer Paul Contino was terminated three weeks ago,.. In February, his boss, former Chief Information Officer Bert Robles, who had been managing the project, also was fired, …Two other administrators and seven consultants have also left the project,.. New York Post, citing unnamed sources, said the installation is off target by 18 months…