Consumers have been warned about certain unapproved products claiming to prevent, treat or cure the flu. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) urged consumers to be wary of online pharmacies and other retailers claiming to sell flu cures not reviewed and approved by the...

Patients with health plans with value-based contracts for diabetes, high cholesterol, and HIV medication benefited from significantly cheaper co-pays than patients on other plans, according to new data from the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA). On average, these...

Last year was a record-breaking year for generic drug approvals in the United States. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved 1,027 generic drugs, 843 of which were full approvals, with tentative approvals making up the remainder. Tentative approvals are generic drugs considered ready...

Apace Packaging LLC has issued a nationwide voluntary recall of one lot of the antiviral medication acyclovir due to a product mix-up. Acyclovir is a widely used medication prescribed to treat several infections, notably infections caused by the herpes virus, such as genital herpes, cold sores,...

Asthma management among children has improved in recent years, with a smaller percentage of children hospitalized as a result of the condition, according to the latest Vital Signs report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).   Since the last study, the percentage of...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has added a new warning to clarithromycin labels in light of a clinical trial which concluded the antibiotic increases the risk of death years later in patients with heart disease. Under the new recommendations, the drug should not be prescribed to patients...

Nasal influenza vaccines could be set to make a return for the 2018-19 flu season after a vaccine advisory group for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) voted to include FluMist in the immunization options for the coming year.  FluMist provides a route of administration for...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has expanded the approval of Imfinzi (durvalumab) to provide a therapy to slow the progression of cancer in certain patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). AstraZeneca first gained accelerated FDA approval for Imfinzi in May 2017. Imfinzi is an...

A nationwide voluntary recall of the seizure medication divalproex sodium delayed-release tablets has been issued by the manufacturer Unichem Pharmaceuticals. The recall was issued earlier this month as a precautionary measure due to the possibility the product may be contaminated with traces of...

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) now formally recommends Shingrix (zoster vaccine recombinant, adjuvanted) as the vaccine of choice against shingles. It is only the second shingles vaccine to gain US Food and Drug Administration approval; the first was Merck’s drug...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the radiopharmaceutical Lutathera (lutetium Lu 177 dotatate) as a treatment for certain cancers of the pancreas and gastrointestinal tract. The drug, developed by pharmaceutical group Advanced Accelerator Applications, is the first radioactive...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have turned their attention to companies illegally marketing products to help with opioid withdrawal and addiction. The agencies sent letters to the marketers and distributors of the products with warnings about their...

In the latest step taken by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to address the nation's opioid abuse epidemic, the agency has changed the indication of cough medicines containing opioids to exclude all pediatric patients.  Following the latest safety labeling changes, opioid cough and...

Lynparza (olaparib tablets) is the first poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor indicated for the treatment of patients with breast cancer whose tumors have a specific inherited genetic mutation. Lynparza is already approved in the United States as a treatment for a number of other cancers,...

Diabetes is one of the most prevalent conditions in the United States, with figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggesting almost one in ten people live with the condition, the equivalent to 30 million people across the country.  The majority of cases - nine out of ten...

Over the course of 2017, the number of approvals granted by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reached a 21-year high. More than 1,000 generic drugs were approved by the agency, according to FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, while first-time generic drug approvals numbered 74. Novel drug...

Last month, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced plans to speed up the review process for generic drug applications, with the goal of providing patients with more generic medicine options. Generic drugs account for nine out of ten prescriptions in the United States, according to the...

Juluca (dolutegravir and rilpivirine), the first two-drug regimen for certain patients with HIV is now available in pharmacies across the United States. In November 2017, Viiv Healthcare, owned by pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline, gained US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced new measures to streamline its generic drug application review process. The agency is working to reduce the number of review cycles required for generic applications before they can be approved for use in the United States, FDA Commissioner...

Health insurance customers generally enjoy two main benefits with regards to prescription drugs. Firstly, insurance policies often entitle holders to cheaper medication. Second, a low co-pay is usually set, although this can vary between policies and between drugs. When you require a prescription,...