One pharmacy benefit manager makes up one-third of the market, according to a May 23 report from Drug Channels. 

Teva Pharmaceuticals said it will shrink some of its generic drug manufacturing as the Israel-based drugmaker reports $20.7 billion in debt. 

The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists has announced the inaugural launch of a national membership organization aimed at supporting and advocating for policies that advance the role of pharmacist technicians in patient care.

The FDA on May 19 approved the first drug to treat patients with dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa — a rare genetic disorder that causes fragile skin and persistent sores. 

Corewell Health, based in Grand Rapids and Southfield, Mich., named Jason McCarthy, PharmD, as its next chief pharmacy officer May 17. 

A 2003 law prohibits Medicare Part D from covering weight loss drugs, but if that changes, this class of popular medications could cost Medicare tens of billions, the KFF reported May 18. 

A Buffalo, N.Y.-based biopharmaceutical company filed for bankruptcy and is attempting to sell its assets before a July 1 shutdown, according to court documents. 

The Federal Trade Commission is widening its inquiry into the pharmacy benefit manager industry to include two group purchasing organizations that negotiate drug rebates on behalf of PBMs. 

Legislation proposing transparency and oversight of the 340B drug discount program was passed May 17 by the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Health. The bill, H.R. 3290, will now advance to the full Energy and Commerce Committee.

The shortage of several generic forms of chemotherapy drugs used to treat breast, ovarian, lung and bladder cancers, among others, have risen to the level of what amounts to a "public health emergency," Amanda Fader, MD, a professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a president-elect of the Society of Gynecologic Oncology, said in a May 17 New York Times report. 

 Tallahassee (Fla.) Memorial Hospital is going through emergency supplies amid a national drug shortage to continue chemotherapy treatments for cancer patients, according to a May 15 report from WFSU. 

So far in May, 10 more drugs are in short supply, according to the FDA and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists.

Demand for more convenient and affordable healthcare options is giving rise to pharmacies becoming more trusted as a first point of care than ever by Americans — especially those in younger generations, according to a survey commissioned by Wolters Kluwer. 

Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse, N.Y., is using drones to deliver medications between its outpatient pharmacy and Upstate Community Hospital campus, the organization said May 16.

The corruption of the FDA's scientific culture is driving the deterioration of safety and effectiveness standards, David Ross, MD, associate clinical professor of medicine at Washington, D.C.-based George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, wrote in an opinion piece for The BMJ on May 15.

CVS Pharmacy has agreed to pay $6.15 million to resolve allegations that the company in some instances failed to follow prescription pricing procedures set by Massachusetts' workers' compensation insurance program.

The Supreme Court declined to hear Teva Pharmaceuticals USA's challenge to a $235 million award to GlaxoSmithKline in a patent dispute over a generic heart drug.

The Federal Trade Commission has filed an injuction in federal court seeking to block Amgen's acquisition of fellow drugmaker Horizon Therapeutics. 

Rising popularity of Novo Nordisk's Ozempic is making it more difficult to find, leaving some patients to turn to unauthorized alternatives, The New York Times reported May 16. 

A universal flu vaccine that protects against all known strains of the virus — both seasonal and pandemic — is now undergoing a phase 1 trial at Duke University in Durham, N.C.