Current Events

Congress could send its sweeping opioids' package to President Trump by week's end after lawmakers reached an agreement late Tuesday night on a final bill to address the nation's public health crisis.

Federal lawmakers have been griping about drug pricing for years, led most recently by President Donald Trump, who famously declared even before he was elected that the industry is “getting away with murder.” A new study could very well fuel those complaints.

Bipartisan congressional leaders in both chambers on Tuesday night unveiled a massive bill aimed at fighting the epidemic of opioid abuse in the United States, capping months of work.

Fighting the crisis has been an area of bipartisan cooperation this year amid many fierce partisan battles raging with more publicity.

The 660-page bill takes a wide variety of actions aimed at fighting the crisis.

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Silicone breast implants were associated with increased rates of a variety of autoimmune complications, as well as melanoma and stillbirth -- and the FDA had something to say about it.

A review of data from the FDA's large post approval studies database found that silicone implants were linked to higher rates of Sjögren syndrome, scleroderma, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), stillbirth, and melanoma, reported Mark W. Clemens, MD, of MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, and colleagues, in the Annals of Surgery.

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TUESDAY, Sept. 18, 2018 (HealthDay News) -- Pharmaceutical companies appear to be engaging in price gouging during drug shortages, with costs rising at double the normal rate when medications are in limited supply, a new study claims.

Prices can be expected to rise about 20 percent for drugs facing a shortage, but only about 9 percent for medicines in good supply, researchers report.

AbbVie's signature drug Humira is used to treat a variety of autoimmune diseases, including arthritis and psoriasis. (David J. Phillip / Associated Press)

California’s insurance regulator has accused pharmaceutical giant AbbVie of using kickbacks and other illegal practices to boost sales of Humira, one of the best-selling prescription drugs in the world.

Investigators continue to probe a Medtronic plant that manufactured a small number of implantable defibrillators with a potentially serious problem, warning letters released last week by the Food and Drug Administration show.

The manufacturing problems at the plant in Juncos, Puerto Rico, that led to the recall happened in the months after Hurricane Maria's devastating sweep across the island last year, but a Medtronic spokeswoman said the issues were not storm-related.

In January, Medtronic sent out its first alerts to doctors and hospitals saying that 48 advanced Puerto Rican-made implantable defibrillators had a potential problem with electric arcing inside the device, and doctors should strongly consider removing them from some patients' chests.

Hundreds of other defibrillators affected by the same issue were pulled out of stockrooms and returned to Medtronic.

In total, the recall affected 951 devices, making it one of the smaller voluntary actions among recent heart device recalls.
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Something was a little fishy at Jonathan Law High School in Milford, Connecticut.

Kids were disappearing from class for longer and longer times, says Francis Thompson, the school’s principal.

“In the past year or so we’ve noticed an increase in the number of students going into the bathroom and they are spending more time,” Thompson told NBC News. “They were congregating. They were horsing around or sitting on sinks in the girl’s room and breaking them.
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General Motors' recall of more than 1 million full-size pickups and large SUVs for a steering malfunction – along with ones involving sausage and eggs – were the most notable product recalls of the week.

• GM: The automaker is recalling 1.02 million vehicles – certain 2015 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and GMC 1500 pickups, as well as 2015 Chevy Tahoe, Chevy Suburban, GMC Yukon and Cadillac Escalade SUVs – for defects that may result in a temporary loss of electric power steering. The defect could cause drivers to "have difficulty steering the vehicle, especially at low speeds, increasing the risk of a crash," according to GM.

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Thousands of federal lawsuits alleging harm from AbbVie’s AndroGel are on the cusp of being settled, marking the end of a long legal saga about the safety of testosterone therapy and the marketing tactics used to promote it.

An agreement has been reached between AbbVie and the plaintiffs on settlement terms, though the final settlement paperwork has yet to be executed, said Ron Johnson, an attorney for the plaintiffs.

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Recently recalled heart drug valsartan does not raise the risk of cancer in the short-term, according to a study.

The U.S. was among 23 countries to recall the drug used to treat high blood pressure and heart failure in July, after officials found traces of N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA)—a chemical compound linked to cancer—in products.

After studying data on 5,150 patients from the Danish health registries, the authors of the paper published in the BMJ concluded valsartan contaminated with NDMA did not appear to cause cancer in the short-term.
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