Elisabeth Rosenthal

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Drug manufacturers have become one of the biggest spenders on TV advertising in the U.S. | COURTESY/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

With TV drug ads, what you see is not necessarily what you get

The pharmaceutical industry has invented a new art form: finding ways to make their wares seem like joyous must-have treatments, while often minimizing lackluster efficacy and risks.

Sep 10, 2024

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In its early years, GoFundMe funded honeymoon trips, graduation gifts, and church missions to overseas hospitals in need. Now it has become a go-to platform for patients trying to escape medical billing nightmares. | ERIC HARKLEROAD/KFF HEALTH NEWS

GoFundMe has become a health care utility

GoFundMe has become a go-to platform for patients trying to escape medical billing nightmares

Feb 15, 2024

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THOMAS BREHER/PIXABAY

The FTC is attacking drugmakers’ ‘patent thickets’

The Federal Trade Commission has challenged the validity of over 100 drug product patents in an effort to increase competition and lower prices

Feb 1, 2024

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TOWFIQU BARBHUIYA/UNSPLASH

A peek at big pharma’s playbook that leaves many Americans unable to afford their drugs

Patents to extend monopolies, manufacturers agreements to use expensive branded drugs in combination pills and other tactics are costing U.S. consumers

Aug 22, 2023

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SHUTTERSTOCK

Denials of health insurance claims are rising — and getting weirder

To keep revenues high, insurance companies appear increasingly likely to employ computer algorithms or people with little relevant experience to issue rapid-fire denials of claims

May 31, 2023

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FRITZ LIEDTKE/OREGON HEALTH & SCIENCE UNIVERSITY

Analysis: Necessary Or Not, COVID Booster Shots Are Probably On The Horizon

Booster shots are likely to be here before long because of the outdated, 60-year-old basic standard the Food and Drug Administration uses to authorize medicines for sale.

Jul 21, 2021

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SHUTTERSTOCK

Why We May Never Know Whether The $56,000-A-Year Alzheimer’s Drug Actually Works

Scientists may have to wait many years to find out whether Aduhelm is actually effective because the drug was approved using FDA's accelerated pathway.

Jul 13, 2021

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A medical laboratory scientist in Seattle reviews samples of purified genetic material to detect COVID-19 cases. | DAN DELONG/KAISER HEALTH NEWS

Analysis: Why We’ll Likely Never Know Whether a COVID Lab Leak Happened in China

China has great scientists, but they work for an authoritarian government where politics always comes first, making it dangerous to reveal something that makes China look bad.

Jun 29, 2021

Telemedicine Is a Tool — Not a Replacement for Your Doctor’s Touch

Many of the new types of telemedicine being promoted by start-ups more clearly benefit providers’ and investors’ pockets, rather than yielding more high-quality and cost-effective medicine for patients.

May 6, 2021