Good morning, everyone, and welcome to another working week. We hope the weekend respite was relaxing and invigorating because that familiar routine of meetings, deadlines, and the like has just returned with a vengeance. But you knew this would happen, yes? Think of it as the cycle of life. To cope, we are firing up the coffee kettle and indulging in cups of stimulation. Please feel free to join us. Meanwhile, here are some tidbits to help you along. Hope your day goes well and do stay in touch …
The feds reached a tentative deal with Mallinckrodt to pay a $35 million fine but admit no wrongdoing following a six-year probe for allegedly diverting the generic oxycodone painkiller to the black market, the Washington Post reports. The Drug Enforcement Administration contends the company failed to report suspicious orders as 500 million of its pills ended up in Florida between 2008 and 2012 — 66 percent of all oxycodone sold in the state — and this could have resulted in nearly 44,000 federal violations and exposed it to $2.3 billion in fines.
While in Congress, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price acted to help kill a rule that would hurt drug company profits shortly after his broker bought him up to $90,000 worth of pharmaceutical stocks, ProPublica reports. He made a personal appeal to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services about a Medicare Part B drug rule, which was meant to change a system under which the government reimburses doctors the average sales price for drugs administered in their offices or inside clinics. The six companies in which he invested opposed the rule.
About the Author Reprints
