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Pharmacy

About 89 percent of the credit rating changes in the pharmaceutical industry in the last five years have been downgrades, according to a new report from S&P Global Ratings.  

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Barker unveiled a  plan Jan. 23 to rein in the rising cost of prescription drugs in the state by allowing direct negotiation with drugmakers and increasing state oversight of expensive medications, according to The Boston Globe.

Theravance Biopharma Inc., headquartered in South San Francisco, will cut 14 percent of its workforce in a cost-saving move as it works to launch one drug and expand other drugs into clinical trials, the San Francisco Business Times reports.

In a 171 page report, the World Health Organization concluded that cancer medication prices are "impairing" the ability of governments to provide access to the potentially lifesaving treatments, STAT reports.

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Drug giant Bristol-Myers Squibb saw a fourth-quarter profit of $1.3 billion in 2018, up from a loss of $2.3 billion in the same quarter one year prior, The Wall Street Journal reports.

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