Four pharmaceutical companies have filed hundreds of patents to keep their drugs out of the hands of generic competition and prolong their “unprecedented profits,” according to a report published Thursday. The excessive use of the patent system — by drugmakers Bristol-Myers Squibb, AbbVie, Regeneron and Bayer — keeps the prices of the medications at exorbitant levels, often ...

Blue Shield of California wants its members to get health advice as easily as they can buy sunscreen or toothpaste—and it’s teaming up with Walgreens so they can do all of those things in one place. The insurer and the drugstore giant are launching new Health Corners in 12 Walgreens stores in the San Francisco Bay area ...

A U.S. judge on Monday denied the Justice Department’s bid to stop UnitedHealth Group (UNH.N) from buying Change Healthcare (CHNG.O), in a blow to the U.S. administration’s tougher enforcement of antitrust issues. Change shares rose 7% after the close of trading. The Justice Department had filed a lawsuit in February aimed at stopping the $8 billion acquisition, saying ...

Medicare Advantage is better about coaxing seniors to get preventive healthcare while traditional Medicare lands its beneficiaries in higher quality hospitals, an analysis of more than 60 studies shows. “Enrollees in Medicare Advantage were more likely to get routine check-ups and immunizations, while those in traditional Medicare were more likely to receive care in the highest-rated ...

Christina Green hoped cataract surgery would clear up her cloudy vision, which had worsened after she took a drug to fight her breast cancer. But the former English professor said her 2019 surgery with Ophthalmology Consultants didn’t get her to 20/20 vision or fix her astigmatism — despite a $3,000 out-of-pocket charge for the astigmatism ...

Dr. Nelson Onaro conceded last summer that he’d written illegal prescriptions, although he said he was thinking only of his patients. From a tiny, brick clinic in Oklahoma, he doled out hundreds of opioid pills and dozens of fentanyl patches with no legitimate medical purpose. “Those medications were prescribed to help my patients, from my own ...