GLP-1s

Medicaid spending on medications to treat opioid use disorder and opioid overdoses increased from $394 million in 2011 to $928 million in 2016, according to new research from the Washington, D.C.-based think tank Urban Institute.

A study, published in JAMA Surgery, examined the incidence and predictors of opioid prescriptions at hospital discharge for patients who were treated for a traumatic injury.

The percentage of adult bariatric surgical patients using opioids dips in the initial postoperative months, but increases years later, according to a study published in the journal Surgery for Obesity and Related Disease.

Spinal fusion surgery patients administered intraoperative methadone require less intravenous and oral postoperative opioid use for pain management, according to a study published in the journal Anesthesiology.

Nonopioid pain medications are just as effective as opioid painkillers in the long-term treatment of osteoarthritis and chronic back pain, according to a study presented Friday at the 2017 Society of General Internal Medicine Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.

A Los Angeles grandmother in need of a kidney transplant received the life-saving organ from an unlikely donor — a 34-year-old man from Norman, Okla., who she had never met before.

Braeburn Pharmaceuticals (Princeton, N.J.). Braeburn Pharmaceuticals is a commercial stage pharmaceutical company focused on care for underserved populations. Its first product, Probuphine, treats opioid addiction. The company’s culture is built on mutual respect and encourages outside-the-box thinking, with team members…

Marietta, Ga.-based MiMedx Group's EpiFix diabetic foot ulcer treatment will now be covered by Hartford, Conn.-based payer Aetna.

Louisville, Ky.-based Humana will conditionally cover Sarepta Therapeutics' recently approved Duchenne muscular dystrophy drug.

Tampa, Fla.-based Moffitt Cancer Center and payer UnitedHealthcare launched a value-based payment model for lung cancer treatment effective Oct. 1.