Pharmaceutical industry

Merck corporate headquarters in Kenilworth, New Jersey.

New Merck pill could help treat COVID-19 symptoms for people without access to vaccines

Medicine

“There are a lot of people, particularly in developing countries, that have not had the opportunity to have vaccines,” James Love tells The World’s host Marco Werman. “And so, a treatment like this will really be important.”

People line up outside a hospital.

There’s a way for modern medicine to cure diseases even when the treatments aren’t profitable

Health & Medicine
Bernie Sanders sits in a bus next to a woman, a diabetes patient

Caravans to Canada: Americans desperate for affordable drugs spark concerns about shortages

Health & Medicine
Scientists at the National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg, Manitoba, prepare an experimental Ebola vaccine for shipment to the World Health Organization.

Many people want to give trial drugs a chance to save their lives. Here’s how they’ll have to do it

Medicine

New book tells story of ‘medication generation’ — 20-something with years on prescription drugs

Health & Medicine

FDA, at the behest of HHS, denies permission to sell Plan B in front of the counter

Health & Medicine

The FDA had been making plans to allow TEVA Pharmaceuticals to sell its Plan B contraceptive in front of the pharmacy counter to women of any age. But Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius intervened at the last minute to prevent it.

Patent expires on blockbuster Lipitor drug; generics on the way

Health & Medicine

After 20 years being the only game in town, Pfizer, the manufacturer of Lipitor, is about to get some competition in the space for treating those with chronic high cholesterol. The patent expired Wednesday and one generic drug is ready to hit the market. Others should arrive in six months.

Fighting the spread of fake drugs in developing world

Health & Medicine

Fake drugs prevalent in developing world, where scant regulation lets useless and sometimes dangerous medicine land on store shelves.

GlaxoSmithKline allows generic AIDS drugs

Health & Medicine

Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline says it will allow manufacturers to produce generic versions of all its HIV and AIDS medicines.

Personalized medicine

Health & Medicine

Most pharmaceutical drugs only work for about half the people who take them because our DNA can inhibit them from functioning in our bodies.