Pharmaceuticals

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the brand-name drug industry's main trade group, spent liberally to shift the conversation on prices during the last presidential campaign.

The Republican tax plan could reduce or eliminate federal tax credits that reward companies for developing drugs to treat rare diseases. People who benefit from the medicines have objected.

Drug companies and medical device makers in Puerto Rico are still struggling with power and staffing shortages. One device manufacturer says the future of his industry on the island is uncertain.

For more than three decades, pharmaceutical companies have claimed a 50 percent tax credit for the cost of clinical trials of drugs for rare diseases. The credit is now in jeopardy.

Senators cited ProPublica reporting that found drug companies have been making patients pay for oversize eyedrops and more liquid cancer medications than they need.

When eyedrops dribble down your face, it's not your fault. Drugmakers have long known that their drops of medicine exceed the capacity of the human eye. Why didn't companies make the drops smaller?

This is the first step in a long game to develop clearer prescription drug pricing laws around the country, health policy experts say.

A bill passed by the California Legislature requires drugmakers to give 60 days' notice before raising a drug's price by 16 percent or more over two years, and to justify the price increase.

Mavyret, recently approved by the Food And Drug Administration, can cure hepatitis C in eight weeks, at a cost of $26,400. Though still expensive, that's well below the price of other options.

Industry says it costs about $2.7 billion to bring a cancer drug to market. But oncologists who ran the numbers put the average closer to $650 million. Drugs are priced way too high, the doctors say.

The blood thinner warfarin, which prevents blood clots, owes its existence to some cows who got very sick after eating spoiled hay — and to a chemist who spent years trying to figure out why.

The pharmaceutical company Alkermes is trying to increase the number of people taking Vivitrol for their opioid addiction by marketing the drug to judges, who have the power to influence treatment.