AT A PACKED STATE HOUSE hearing Thursday on legislation to rein in the cost of pharmaceuticals, MassBIO CEO Robert Coughlin and two of his national colleagues were pitching the same […]
Drugs
Posted inHealth Care
NJ doc disciplined for prescription scam
A correction has been added to this story. THE STATE BOARD OF REGISTRATION in Medicine has disciplined a New Jersey-based physician for prescribing prescription drugs over the internet without ever […]
Posted inDrug Addiction
Was ‘Reefer Madness’ right?
IN THE MID-1930s, a church group financed a film intended to frighten parents about the dangers their children face from marijuana. “Reefer Madness” portrayed cannabis as a powerful drug capable of […]
Posted inOpinion
State shouldn’t define pharmaceutical ‘value’
THERE’S A REASON that Americans get access to new cancer medicines two years earlier, on average, than patients in Europe: prices in the United States respond to medical needs and […]
Posted inOpinion
Cost of drugs in the US is an outrage
THE HIGH COST OF PHARMACEUTICALS in the United States is an embarrassment. Americans don’t consume more prescription medications than their counterparts in other developed countries but, on a per capita […]
Posted inDrug Addiction
Commission torn over supervised injection sites
MEMBERS OF A STATE COMMISSION see some theoretical benefits from establishing supervised drug injection sites, but when it comes to the feasibility of actually establishing such programs, consensus was harder […]
Posted inOpinion
Baker’s Orwellian drug pricing policy
THE BAKER ADMINISTRATION recently released its budget proposal for one of their most high-profile issues: drug prices in the Medicaid program. To the surprise of many in the biopharmaceutical industry, there are […]
Posted inDrug Addiction
Pharma faces different type of drug trial
WHITE-COLLAR CRIME may be conducted in executive suites or empty speaking halls, but its victims can all too quickly wind up in the same place as those killed by a […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics
Baker backs rate-setting for high-cost drugs
THE BAKER ADMINISTRATION is seeking legislative authority for MassHealth to negotiate prices directly with the manufacturers of high-cost drugs that have little or no competition and, if that effort fails […]
Posted inOpinion
Four reasons medication-assisted treatment may not help inmates
IN DECEMBER, a federal district court judge in Massachusetts ordered the Essex County jail to provide an entering inmate methadone so that he could continue his successful methadone treatment of […]
Posted inOpinion
We need better tools to control pharma prices
FROM THE BEGINNING of the Baker-Polito Administration, managing MassHealth has been a top priority. We are pleased with the progress made to date, including its first major systems overhaul in […]
Posted inHealth Care, Opinion
Taming MassHealth drug costs
IT’S ELECTION SEASON, and the focus of politicians has again moved to “skyrocketing” drug prices. When officials with the Massachusetts Medicaid program, MassHealth, and other senior state officials recently threatened […]
Posted inOpinion
E-scripts for opioids save lives
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER recently signed into law a bill to mitigate the state-level effects of the ongoing opioid crisis. Like other such legislative efforts at both the federal and state […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Do your job, lawmakers tell pot agency
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE AS THE CANNABIS CONTROL COMMISSION weighs asking legislators to revisit the marijuana law to clarify requirements related to the agreements marijuana businesses are required to enter […]
Posted inDrug Addiction
Opioids’ path of destruction in construction
DIFFERENCES IN HEALTH patterns among different population groups is a well-established fact. Indeed, it forms the foundation for an entire field of health research, epidemiology, which has contributed enormously to […]
Posted inHealth Care
Feds reject Baker bid to rein in pharmacy costs
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT on Wednesday rejected a bid by the Baker administration to rein in pharmacy spending by restricting which drugs would be covered under its MassHealth program. “While it […]
Posted inOpinion
Middlemen drive up patient drug costs
AS LEADERS OF organizations dealing with two of the most difficult chronic conditions to treat – hemophilia and HIV/AIDS – we consistently hear stories about how patients living with these […]
Posted inUncategorized
Worcester County emerging as marijuana central
WITH THE JULY 1 TARGET DATE for legal pot sales looming, Worcester County is emerging as marijuana central in Massachusetts. According to data presented at the Cannabis Control Commission meeting […]
Posted inDrug Addiction, Health Care
Recovery coaches could be game changers on opioid addiction
IN 2017, five people died each day from opioid-related overdoses in Massachusetts. That’s nearly 2,000 families who lost a loved one. The opioid epidemic is one of the most serious […]
Posted inOpinion
Too many municipal marijuana bottlenecks
APPLICATIONS FOR ADULT-USE MARIJUANA licenses have begun to pour into the state’s newly created Cannabis Control Commission with likely several hundred applications expected in 2018 alone. The commission has quickly […]
Posted inOpinion
How we end the opioid epidemic
IT’S DIFFICULT TO WATCH OR READ the news without seeing another family torn apart by the opioid crisis. The epidemic is so widespread that it’s been declared a national public […]
Posted inOpinion
Electronic opioid scripts save lives
A HEARING EARLIER this month on Beacon Hill underscored the critical need for Massachusetts-specific solutions to the nation’s opioid crisis. As the Legislature prepares next steps to address this critical […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, State House News Service
Lelling doesn’t budge on pot stance
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE OPIOID CRIMES ARE HIS TOP drug enforcement priority, but US Attorney Andrew Lelling told reporters Wednesday that his enforcement of federal marijuana laws could ensnare anyone […]
Posted inEconomy
Debit card payer pulls plug on pot dispensaries
THE HARDLINE STANCE from the top federal prosecutor in the state about pot enforcement has caused a company that processes debit transactions for medical marijuana dispensaries to stop accepting the […]
