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...Congress held an oversight hearing for one of the biggest federal programs -- yet most Americans have never heard of it...Congress established the 340B Drug Discount Program in 1992 to make medicines more affordable for poor Americans. Unfortunately, as lawmakers have learned, the program hasn't panned out as planned...In the 30-plus years since its enactment, the hospital industry has systematically gamed 340B. Today, the program scheme is little more than an enormously expensive corporate welfare scheme masquerading as a cost saving program...The flagrant abuse of a well-intentioned initiative is not merely a waste of public resources. It's a disservice to the struggling patients 340B is supposed to help. It's time for Congress to clean up this mess...READ MORE

The court found that anti-abortion doctors who questioned the FDA’s easing of access to the pill did not have legal standing to sue...The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a challenge to the abortion pill mifepristone, meaning the commonly used drug can remain widely available...The court found unanimously that the group of anti-abortion doctors who questioned the Food and Drug Administration’s decisions making it easier to access the pill did not have legal standing to sue. As a result, the lawsuit will be dismissed...READ MORE

Nevada Supreme Court justices are weighing arguments in a lawsuit that seeks to remove the Nevada Board of Pharmacy from its administrative role in regulating cannabis...The ACLU of Nevada originally filed the case in 2022 on behalf of the Cannabis Equity & Inclusion Community, a nonprofit group that advocates for policies beneficial to Nevada’s legal cannabis community, in Clark County District Court arguing the pharmacy board’s classification of cannabis as a Schedule I drug was unconstitutional...District Judge Joe Hardy ruled in favor of the ACLU, determining the pharmacy board’s classification as unconstitutional, but the board appealed the decision to the state’s top court. Arguments were heard Tuesday; it’s unknown when a decision will be handed down...READ MORE

National Prescription Drug Take Back Day, observed on October 28, is an annual event that addresses the ongoing opioid crisis and promotes proper medication disposal. It presents an opportunity for communities to come together to combat drug misuse and abuse. Pharmacists, as trusted health care professionals, play a crucial role in this initiative by providing education, facilitating drug disposal, and offering Naloxone training to save lives...READ MORE

The U.S. Supreme Court voted to block a controversial bankruptcy deal for Purdue Pharma, the drug company at the center of the opioid crisis, on Thursday...The narrow 5-4 ruling rejected a nationwide bankruptcy settlement from proceeding with the company, and it potentially exposes the company's owners--the Sackler family--to civil consequences...READ MORE

The Justice Department took a significant step toward rescheduling marijuana Thursday, formalizing its process to reclassify the drug as lower-risk and remove it from a category in which it has been treated as more dangerous than fentanyl and meth...President Joe Biden announced the “major” move in a direct-to-camera video posted to his official account on X. “This is monumental,” Biden said in the message. “It’s an important move towards reversing long-standing inequities. … Far too many lives have been upended because of a failed approach to marijuana, and I’m committed to righting those wrongs. You have my word on it.”...The Biden administration has been signaling that it would move to reschedule the drug from Schedule I — a strict classification including drugs like heroin — to the less-stringent Schedule III, which would for the first time acknowledge the drug’s medical benefits at the federal level. The Drug Enforcement Administration submitted a notice of proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register on Thursday afternoon, triggering a 60-day comment period that will allow members of the public to submit remarks regarding the rescheduling proposal before it is finalized...READ MORE

Alabama, unless blocked by the U.S. Supreme Court, will attempt to put an inmate to death with nitrogen gas on Thursday night, a never before used execution method that the state claims will be humane but critics call cruel and experimental...Kenneth Eugene Smith, a 58-year-old convicted killer whose 2022 lethal injection was called off at the last minute because authorities couldn’t connect an IV line, is scheduled to be executed at a south Alabama prison...READ MORE

Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford announced that he and 42 other attorneys general have reached a $700 million nationwide settlement with Johnson & Johnson...This settlement is related to the marketing of Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder and body powder products that contained talc...As part of this settlement, which is pending judicial approval, Nevada will receive $6,131,236.22... "This case shows the danger of deceptive trade practices and their potential impacts on the heath and safety of consumers,” said AG Ford. “My office will always stand up against corporations who value their bottom line over their duty to the public. We will always work to hold such actors accountable.”...READ MORE

Medications like buprenorphine and naltrexone have been proven to reduce cravings and withdrawal symptoms in people with opioid use disorder...Pharmacists in Nevada will soon be able to prescribe medications designed to help opioid addiction...The regulation, R059-23, was approved...by the Legislative Commission, a 11-member bipartisan board of legislators that gives final stamps of approval on regulations established by executive branch agencies and boards. State Sen. Lisa Krasner, R-Reno, cast the only vote in opposition...The change is the result of Assembly Bill 156, which passed the Nevada State Legislature with unanimous support last year...READ MORE

Florida...won authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to directly import prescription drugs from Canada, the first state to get such approval for a strategy that could lower prices for medicines...U.S. drug costs are higher than in Canada and other countries where government-run healthcare systems negotiate prices for individual prescription drugs...But importation faces challenges. In the past, Canada's government has opposed any U.S. plans to buy prescription medicines, citing threats to the country's drugs supply or higher costs for its own citizens...READ MORE