Court Ruling Allows The Washington Post to Access DEA's Opioid Database
A Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) database that contains detailed information about how opioids are distributed in the US will be made available to The Washington Post, as per a June 20, 2019, ruling at the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, according to a report from
Bloomberg Law
. The court ruled that DEA had failed to show "good cause" for keeping the database confidential. The decision is a reversal of an earlier decision in trial court. According to
Cleveland.com
, the ruling was sparked by requests by The Washington Post and the West Virginia-based newspaper chain HD Media for Automation of Reports and Consolidated Orders System data given to local governments in several states.
From NABP
Senate Committee Votes To Force Pharma To Justify Large Price Hikes
A key Senate committee voted to require drug companies to justify price hikes to the federal government if they exceed 10% in a year or 25% in a three-year span, advancing a proposal that also enjoys bipartisan support in the House. The measure, spearheaded by Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), was offered as an amendment to a broader health care bill being considered by the Senate's Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. Three other senators - two Republicans and one Democrat - co-sponsored the legislation, which the committee voted to include by a 16-7 margin.
By Facher, Published in Stat
Google And The University Of Chicago Are Sued Over Data Sharing
When the University of Chicago Medical Center announced a partnership to share patient data with Google in 2017, the alliance was promoted as a way to unlock information trapped in electronic health records and improve predictive analysis in medicine. On Wednesday, the University of Chicago, the medical center and Google were sued in a potential class-action lawsuit accusing the hospital of sharing hundreds of thousands of patients' records with the technology giant without stripping identifiable date stamps or doctor's notes.
By Wakabayashi, Published in The New York Times,
Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb Joins Pfizer Board
Former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Scott Gottlieb will join the board of directors of Pfizer, the company announced Thursday. Gottlieb stepped down in April after running the FDA for two years and is currently a resident at the American Enterprise Institute. One of his main priorities at the agency was to speed up the approval of new treatments, especially generic drugs and biosimilars - identical copies of a complex drug manufactured by a different company.
By Weixel, Published in The Hill
Drug Cost Bill Advances But GOP Resistance Spells Trouble
The bill would for the first time limit out-of-pocket costs medication costs faced by seniors to $3,100, starting in 2022. Currently there is no cap, and some Medicare recipients face copays rivaling a mortgage payment. It would also require drug companies to pay rebates to Medicare if they raise prices faster than inflation. Those inflation rebates are a problem for some Republican senators, who see them as a pathway to government price controls.
By Alonso-Zaldivar,Published in The Associated Press
