Feds Make a Pharma Patent Grab
A Biden administration ploy could give the federal government control over drug prices.
Pharmaceuticals
The Sindex: Cigarette Prices Outpacing Inflation
The Reason Sindex tracks the price of vice: smoking, drinking, snacking, traveling, and more.
COVID Vaccine Injuries Deserve a Day in Court
Injury claims for COVID vaccines are subject to a different process than other vaccines.
A New Pain Medication Could Reinforce the Disastrous Crackdown on Prescription Opioids
When the government is systematically interfering with medical decisions, a non-opioid alternative may not actually increase treatment options.
Major Pharmacies Give Cops Patient Records Without a Warrant, Lawmakers' Investigation Finds
Three major pharmacy chains admitted to encouraging staff to hand prescription records over to law enforcement without a warrant, and without a legal review.
The Case for Letting Medicare Bureaucrats Haggle With Drug Makers
Medicare's new price-setting process for drug purchases is better than its current one if the result is lower government spending.
The High Costs of Biden's Price-Controlled Drugs
Americans will be sicker and deader in the long run than they otherwise would have been.
Prohibition Gave Us Tranq-Laced Fentanyl
Mixing other drugs with xylazine is driven by the economics of prohibition.
Did Fox Really Fire Tucker Carlson for Crossing the 'Red Line' of Criticizing Big Pharma, as RFK Jr. Claims?
If so, the network failed to enforce the supposed rule before and after cancelling its top-rated host.
Patient Privacy at Risk in Senate Bill Aimed at Pharmacy Managers
Prosecutors could end up with a trove of patient-level data regarding highly personal drugs like Viagra, abortion pills, and more.
The Abortion Debate Is Messy. Two Lawsuits Against the FDA May Make It Worse.
Litigation over abortion drugs turns disagreements about individual rights into a bureaucratic tussle.
I Finally Caught COVID. The Government Made the Experience Even Worse.
Thanks to onerous regulations, life-saving drugs are more expensive and harder to get.
Texas Man Files Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against Friends Who Helped His Ex-Wife Obtain an Abortion
"I know either way he will use it against me.... And after the fact, I know he will try to act like he has some right to the decision," said the woman in text messages to her friends named as defendants in the suit.
Short on Adderall? Blame DEA Production Caps
Each year, the DEA sets production limits for certain drugs, including some ingredients in common amphetamine pills like Adderall.
The End of Obesity?
The advent of effective new weight loss drugs offers hope for millions of overweight people.
FTC Investigating, but Not Thwarting, Amazon Acquisition of One Medical
Since the Federal Trade Commission didn't sue in time, the deal went through. But will FTC Chair Lina Khan keep trying to attack Amazon for its bigness?
The Fight To Criminalize Opioid Prescribing
Over 88 percent of opioid overdose deaths now involve either heroin or fentanyl. Targeting prescriptions is not an efficient way to address mortality.
Biden's Drug Price Controls Will Kill More Patients in the Long Run
And increase total health care costs to boot.
How To Use Drugs in Space
It's best to avoid sparking up a doobie on a spaceship, but there are other ways to consume substances in the cosmos.
It's Long Past Time for the FDA To Approve Over-the-Counter Birth Control
Despite experts recommending that birth control be sold over the counter, the U.S. still treats the pill like it's 1960.
Blame the Government for the Adderall Shortage
Limiting the supply of a controlled substance does not remove demand. Users simply look elsewhere, including more unsavory sources.
Some Patients Report Being Denied Autoimmune Drugs over Abortion Fears
Paralyzing caution reveals the risks of vague anti-abortion legislation.
The FDA Will Consider Whether To Approve a Birth Control Pill for Over-the-Counter Use
If approved, the drug could increase access to effective birth control.
Updating Coronavirus Vaccines Is Good, But a Universal Coronavirus Vaccine Would Be Better
Time for a new Operation Warp Speed?
Mark Cuban's Drug Company Could Save Medicare Billions
The new company uses a simple approach to provide lifesaving drugs to consumers at radically discounted prices.
Did Prescription Opioids Cause The Overdose Epidemic?
Doctors Adriane Fugh-Berman and Jeffrey Singer debate the harms of prescription opioids
Dopesick
The new Hulu miniseries promotes pernicious misconceptions about opioids, addiction, and pain treatment.
Two Courts Debunk Persistent Opioid Myths
Both rulings emphasized that opioids have legitimate medical uses and concluded that drug companies could not be held responsible for abuse of their products.
Biden's Drug Price Controls Would Make Americans Sicker and Shorten Their Lives
The plan would reduce supply while increasing demand, resulting in harmful shortages.
Abolish the FDA
The role of the state is to protect rights and guard against fraud, not to prevent people from making risky choices.
Ronald Bailey: Covid-19 Should Be Our Last Pandemic
Technological breakthroughs mean we'll never again have to suffer with disasters like the novel coronavirus—if politicians will get out of the way.
What It's Like To Treat Opioid Addiction in Appalachia
Psychiatrist Sally Satel on her eye-opening year at a clinic in Ironton, Ohio
In Defense of COVID Billionaires
Billionaires may well have enabled our greatest (only?) policy successes in 2020.
Let Volunteers Expose Themselves to COVID-19 To Speed Up a Vaccine
"Economists are accustomed to thinking about tradeoffs," says economist and Nobel laureate Alvin Roth. "It appears that at least in some parts of the ethics community, they are not."
The Trump Administration's $765 Million Kodak Deal Is More Proof That 'Economic Nationalism' Is a Scam
The Trump administration's "economic nationalist" agenda is little more than a cronyist attempt at propping up domestic companies with taxpayer cash.
The Panic About China Cutting Off America's COVID-19 Drug Supply Was Fake News
The Food and Drug Administration now says there is no evidence that any country attempted to cut off America's essential pharmaceuticals.
The Trump Administration Wants To Subsidize Domestic Drug Manufacturing. The First Contract Looks Like a $350 Million Grift.
A member of the five-month-old company's board has been touting bogus stats about America's supposed dependency on Chinese-made drugs.
Are We Seeing Irrational Exuberance Over COVID-19 Coronavirus Vaccine News?
Stocks rise steeply on good news about mRNA vaccines.
Researchers Around the Globe Are Racing To Discover and Create COVID-19 'Game Changers'
None have yet emerged that can clearly stem the tide of the ongoing pandemic.
What a Headache: California Regulators Want To Label Acetaminophen a Carcinogen
The science is unsettled, and a new warning label would probably just confuse people.
Terminal Patients Got Drugs Without FDA Approval. It Added Years to Their Lives.
The Right to Try movement, which recently became federal law, allows doctors to prescribe experimental treatments that haven't been approved for sale by regulators.
FDA Chief and Vaping Opponent Scott Gottlieb Is Leaving the Food and Drug Administration
When and wherever public health conflicted with personal freedom, Gottlieb advocated for the former.
Sen. Warren Has a Plan to Socialize Pharmaceuticals: Reason Roundup
Plus: Tumblr porn filters catch company's own examples of permitted content and how the GOP learned to love bailouts.
Drug Companies, Scared of Regulation, Inch Toward Price Transparency
"Our vision for a new, more transparent drug-pricing system does not rely on voluntary action," says HHS Secretary Alex Azar.
Sears Is Filing for Bankruptcy Because Capitalism Has Given Us Better Options: Reason Roundup
Plus: Parkour robots, price transparency for drugs, and Hillary Clinton defending Bill over the Lewinsky affair
There Is No Such Thing as a Free Pharma Lunch (Anymore)
Initiatives to curb drug-maker influence have endangered medical workers, patients, and the healthcare system.
Expect Fully Legal Weed Within 5 Years, Says Former Top Pharma Lobbyist and Congressman Billy Tauzin
He has been a Democrat, a Republican, a lobbyist, and a cancer survivor. Now he wants to end the war on weed.