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Nicole Grassano, PTNN, Pharmacy Week in Review, this weekly video program provides our readers with an in-depth review of the latest news, product approvals, FDA rulings and more.

After reviewing tens of millions of insurance claims for the country's 49 most popular brand-name prescription drugs, a team from Scripps Research Translational Institute found that net prices rose by a median of 76 percent from January 2012 through December 2017 -- with most products going up once or twice per year...The substantial price increases were not limited to drugs that recently entered the marketplace, as one might expect, or to those lacking generic equivalents. In addition, the increases often were "highly correlated" with price bumps by competitors...READ MORE

Laura Joszt, Managing Editor at The American Journal of Managed Care. Welcome to This Week in Managed Care from the Managed Markets News Network

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd said...it had agreed to pay an $85 million settlement with the state of Oklahoma days before the company was set to face trial over allegations that it and other drugmakers helped fuel the U.S. opioid epidemic...Claims against Teva focused on the branded opioid products Actiq and Fentora as well as generic painkillers it produced...The trial...was set to begin on Tuesday...Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter has alleged that J&J and Teva, along with OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP, carried out deceptive marking campaigns that downplayed opioids’ addictive risks while overstating their benefits...READ MORE

William Husel voluntarily surrendered to authorities in Columbus and was charged in 25 deaths following a six-month investigation by the Franklin County Prosecutor's Office. The patient deaths exposed a stunning case of medical oversight and alleged medical malpractice, and called into question how repeated failures potentially involving 30 or more employees could have gone unchecked for so long...Husel faces 15 years to life in prison per count if convicted. O'Brien said that the doses ordered by the doctor in the 25 deaths "could not support any legitimate medical purpose." Although nurses and pharmacists followed Husel's orders, the doctor remains the main focus of the criminal investigation...Also named in the various civil suits are the Mount Carmel Health System and some pharmacists and nurses. What remains unclear is how Husel could circumvent apparent rules that would require him to order medications through an in-house pharmacy team and then convince a nurse to administer the drug...READ MORE

California, Hawaii, Maine and the District of Columbia filed lawsuits...against the maker of OxyContin (Purdue Pharma) and the company’s former president (Sackler), alleging the firm falsely promoted the drug by downplaying the risk of addiction while it emerged as one of the most widely abused opioids in the U.S...allegations...said the company falsely introduced OxyContin in the 1990s as a safe and effective treatment for chronic pain...However, the California’s lawsuit alleges that Purdue and Sackler knew in 1997 that drugs containing oxycodone...were widely abused. Still, company representatives marketed it as not being addictive and downplayed the potential for abuse, the suit states...READ MORE

Nicole Grassano, PTNN, Pharmacy Week in Review, this weekly video program provides our readers with an in-depth review of the latest news, product approvals, FDA rulings and more.

USP released new and revised standards to help ensure the quality of compounded medicines. The updates pertain to the USP General Chapters on compounding nonsterile medicines (USP <795> Pharmaceutical Compounding—Nonsterile Preparations), compounding sterile medicines (USP <797> Pharmaceutical Compounding— Sterile Preparations) and new standards for compounding radiopharmaceutical drugs (USP <825> Radiopharmaceuticals—Preparation, Compounding, Dispensing, and Repackaging)...READ MORE

Colorado passed a new law to help slow down the ongoing opioid epidemic in the United States. Instead of giving an opioid prescription, doctors can instead recommend the use of medical marijuana to alleviate symptoms of their conditions...A bill that allows doctors to prescribe medical marijuana to patients instead of opioid has been signed into law in Colorado....Governor Jared Polis signed Senate Bill 13, which aims to help curb opioid addiction. The law will be effective starting Aug. 12...READ MORE

The Canadian government has assured the pharmaceutical industry that new features of its plan to cut drug costs would apply only to new medicines, Health Canada said…The new features of the government’s proposed regulations, which would take into account cost-effectiveness of medicines and their likely impact on government budgets, would be limited to new drugs, Health Canada told Innovative Medicines Canada and BIOTECanada, the patented drug industry’s main lobby groups...The original cost-benefit analysis estimated the new regulations would cost drugmakers C$8.6 billion ($6.4 billion) over 10 years. As an alternative to the proposed changes, drugmakers offered to voluntarily give up C$8.6 billion in revenue over the same period...Exactly how much the new rules will reduce prices depends on implementation details that have not yet been decided...READ MORE