Generics lawsuit: 44 to 20

A whopping 44 states — but not Georgia — have filed a lawsuit against 20 generic-drug makers, alleging the companies engaged in illegal collusion and anti-trust activity — including raising the prices of drugs (by more than 1,000 percent in one case), and stifling competition. Defendants include Mylan, Novartis, Pfizer, and Teva.

A key element of the scheme, the complaint alleges, was an agreement among competitors to cooperate on pricing so each company could maintain a “fair share” of the generic drug markets. At the same time, the companies colluded to raise prices on as many drugs as possible, according to the complaint.

The call is coming from inside the house!

Most healthcare data breaches, it turns out, are inside jobs, according to a Verizon investigation.

It seems 59 percent of “threat actors” were internal, with the goal usually being some sort of financial gain. (Although 6 percent of breaches were apparently done for fun, and 3 percent were acting on a grudge.)

All in the family

Diabetic kids who argue with their family about the condition are more likely to have poor glycemic control than those who live on the same block as the Cleavers.

Even worse…

If any of those kids ends up with peripheral neuropathy, it’s going to impair their driving skills.

Motorists with diabetic peripheral neuropathy drive at slower speeds and are at increased risk for losing control of the vehicle compared with adults without peripheral nerve dysfunction.

Mirror, mirror

At a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Health, PBMs and drug makers agreed on who was to blame for high medication prices: the other guy.

Medical shocker

The health claims on breakfast cereal boxes are apparently bogus.

There was also not much of a connection, they found, between the positive claims and the nutritional content of the breakfast cereals. In fact, [study co-author Pierre] Chandon notes that the actual correlation was almost zero.