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Incident is one of at least seven reported at area pharmacies in 24 hours, all involving suspects 18 or younger…At least seven reported robberies or attempted robberies at Indianapolis-area pharmacies in the past 24 hours involved suspects who were 18 or younger, according to police reports…In a robbery attempt at a Northeastside Walgreens, a 12-year-old boy was arrested….Indiana battles No. 1 rank in pharmacy robberies…

CNBC's Meg Tirrell reports on a little-known law from 1983 that could negatively impact fair pricing in the drug marketplace.

…Food and Drug Administration's unapproved-drugs initiative,...program is well known to some physicians and hospitals and their patients, who blame it for huge increases in the price of drugs that have been in common use for decades…it underscores an enormous flaw in our drug-approval process that rewards a few clever manufacturers at the expense of patients. The agency's unapproved-drugs initiative has laudable aims…to bring grandfathered medications that were in use before the FDA instituted rigorous testing requirements for safety and efficacy into line with modern standards…federal law also allows the FDA to incentivize drug research and development by granting marketing exclusivity to manufacturers who demonstrate a new use for a drug, or even a new dosing regime

Lower costs for newer medicines through subsidies are going begging in Australia as drug companies increasingly look to avoid putting products through regulation paces needed to qualify,… 9 in 10 big pharmaceutical companies say they have considered not applying for subsidies--which could lower costs for newer medicines… Cost and access in Australia's reimbursed drug program, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, is a central political issue with costs for newer medicines, particularly oncology therapies, a target for the Treasury...industry alleges the system that approves and sets reimbursement prices is broken...

Drug Enforcement Administration…and United States Attorney...that nine individuals have been charged by indictment with participating in a drug trafficking ring that obtained more than 80,000 oxycodone pills by way of fraudulent prescriptions….and distributed the drug in the greater New Haven area. As part of the conspiracy, members of organization obtained the personal identifying information of medical practitioners and used the information to create fraudulent prescriptions…also purchased legitimate prescriptions for oxycodone from individuals…then used individuals, or "runners," to fill the fraudulent prescriptions at pharmacies throughout Connecticut. Once a runner provided his or her personal information to a member of the organization, the runner’s information was kept on file and used to create other fraudulent prescriptions.

Dozens of women urged the U.S. Food and Drug Administration… to withdraw Bayer AG's permanent contraceptive device, Essure, saying not enough is known about its potential to harm users…complaints from thousands of women who said it had caused life-altering side effects from chronic pain and bleeding to autoimmune disorders such as psoriasis and lupus…. More than 5,000 adverse events have been reported to the FDA, though it is not always clear what role Essure played in the event…Mark Bell, a metals engineering consultant…, said he analyzed a number of Essure devices after they had been removed…believes there are latent manufacturing processing problems with the devices.

Nevadans can rid their homes this weekend of potentially dangerous expired, unused and unwanted prescription drugs...10th National Prescription Drug Take-Back, a partnership between the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Nevada Attorney General's Office,is set for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at four Las Vegas Valley locations:

1. Metro's northwest area command station, 9850 W. Cheyenne Ave.
2. Metro's eastern area command, 6975 W. Windmill Parkway
3. North Las Vegas Police Department's northwest area command station, 3755 W. Washburn Road
4. Anthem Senior Center lobby, 2450 Hampton Road in Henderson

European health regulators…conditionally approved Amgen Inc's rare blood cancer drug, Blincyto (blinatumomab), which is one of the world's most expensive cancer treatments…Food and Drug Administration in December approved Blincyto for acute lymphoblastic leukemia, which has few treatment options once a patient has relapsed…Blincyto is a so-called bispecific antibody, an emerging class of drugs that could prove more potent than conventional antibodies,…

A new analysis of pharma research and development data shows that drugmakers have become increasingly successful in identifying the right candidates for drug development and getting them to market in recent years…From 2010 to 2014, one out of every 13 drugs in phase-I development came to market—compared to one of 19 phase-I drug candidates making it from 2007 to 2011,…Developing a drug takes 10 years on average currently, which is 40% longer than it took 15 years ago…Drug discovery—defined as all the work leading up to human clinical trials—has remained steady, taking four years on average.

Encouraging results from a drug trial to reduce agitation often felt by Alzheimer's patients and led by the director (Dr. Jeffrey Cummings) of the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas were published…Journal of the American Medical Association…study tested the drug AVP-923 in participants with Alzheimer's disease and moderate-to-severe agitation…drug's success so far in the DM/Q trial will prompt a clinical phase…"The effects from the DM/Q trial were remarkable and one of the strongest we've ever seen," said… director of the Ruvo center, who led the study. "Usually it takes at least three weeks to see a change, but in this case, our participants started experiencing benefits within one week."