The goal is to prevent opioid disorders before they happen. Colorado should devote a share of its lawsuit settlements on data-supported prevention methods.
pharmaceutical companies
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: Drug makers charge hospitals less for some medicines. Consumers aren’t getting the savings
For a real New Year’s resolution, we are calling on Colorado’s U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper to help us account for billions spent on a healthcare program that leaves struggling families holding the tab. The Federal 340B program is becoming the poster child for federal programs run amok, allowing billions designated for affordable […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: Rising drug prices hurt rural, minority Coloradans most of all
Colorado’s two U.S. senators, John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet, are in a unique position to hold Big Pharma accountable, and lead the way to reduce prescription drug prices. As a physician who has worked at Clinica Tepeyac, a well-regarded private healthcare facility that provides free or low-cost healthcare to the Latino community in Denver, as […]
Posted inHealth, News, Politics and Government
Colorado already allows prescription drug imports from Canada. Lawmakers want to open it up to more countries.
By Patty Niebert, The Associated Press/Report for America Colorado lawmakers are considering a bill to add more countries to a state program that imports prescription drugs from Canada. The state House Health and Insurance committee passed a bill Wednesday that would expand the program if the federal program is also increased. In 2020, under former […]
Posted inBusiness, Health, News, Politics and Government
Rising insulin costs force 40% of Colorado diabetics to ration its use, AG’s report says
More than 40% of Coloradans with diabetes responding to a survey said their insulin costs are so high that they dangerously ration their own use of the lifesaving drug at least once a year, according to a state attorney general’s report. Insulin costs for Colorado patients rose 262% in the past 10 years, a massive […]
Posted inCOVID, Health, News
What you need to know about remdesivir, the experimental coronavirus drug that just arrived in Colorado
A slim ray of hope amid the coronavirus pandemic landed in Colorado this week: The state received its first federal shipment of the experimental drug remdesivir. The antiviral drug is a twice-failed misfit of a pharmaceutical invention that now, suddenly, has a new chance at glory following studies that found it could potentially improve the […]
Posted inBusiness, Coloradans, COVID, Health, News, Politics and Government
Colorado’s rural pharmacies wrestle against big business to remain community cornerstones
CHEYENNE WELLS – Ted Billinger Jr. closed his pharmacy in this prairie town on March 13, 2019, as the worst storm on record hit Colorado. He delivered a prescription for a child with the flu and one to the local nursing home, went home, had a heart attack in his backyard and died. For nearly […]
Posted inHealth, Opinion, Opinion Columns
Nicolais: Some sun in the dark clouds of the opioid epidemic
Colorado lost 578 people to opioid overdoses in 2017 according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Five hundred and seventy-eight friends, family members, neighbors and co-workers. And that is just the surface of the opioid epidemic we hear about so often but have so much difficulty combating. The Colorado Sun has an entire tag […]
Posted inHealth, News, Politics and Government
With objections from Canada and drug companies, Colorado’s plan to import prescription medicines could be in trouble
To Colorado officials charged with developing one of the nation’s first state programs to import cheaper prescription drugs from Canada, the announcement last month by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar seemed like great news. Not only was the Trump administration changing course after initially being skeptical of such importation schemes, but it […]
Posted inCrime and Courts, Health, News
The opioid maker being sued by Colorado for fanning the overdose epidemic says everything it did was FDA-approved
Even as lawsuits across the country continue to churn out revelations about the aggressive marketing practices of opioid-maker Purdue Pharma, the company has asked a judge to dismiss the state of Colorado’s lawsuit against it. Its argument: All of its marketing was consistent with the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of its blockbuster pain pill […]