Tag Archives: prescription drugs

Swiss drug maker Novartis has been sued by a U.S. Attorney for allegedly paying kickbacks to pharmacies that converted thousands of patients to one of its drugs. The civil fraud suit accuses the company of disguising the kickbacks as rebates and discounts for Myfortic, an immunosuppressant drug that helps kidney transplant patients avoid organ rejection. “Novartis co-opted the independence of certain pharmacists and turned them into salespeople for one of its drugs,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a …

Five million Americans take stimulant medication as a treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. In people with ADHD, these medications have a calming effect. In other people, they provide a potentially addictive jolt of focus and purpose. Abuse of these easy-to-get drugs is increasing dramatically, especially among young adults.   Emergency Room Visits Emergency room visits due to stimulant abuse more than doubled between 2005 and 2010. Visits involving young adults quadrupled. Half of these visits were the result of …

The U.S. Supreme Court today heard arguments in a case that will further refine to what extent the makers of generic pharmaceutical drugs can be sued in state court. In Bartlett v. Mutual Pharmaceuticals, the justices will decide if federal law that governs the design of generic drugs preempts state consumer protection laws in cases where the drugs injure patients. Karen Bartlett was blinded and suffered horrific skin problems in 2004, with two-thirds of her body becoming an open wound, …

In two recent cases, the EEOC settled with employers who had fired workers because of positive drug tests for prescription drugs. But in states where medical marijuana is legal, can employers fire employees who test positive but have prescriptions for the drug?   Drug Tests & Disability Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), of course, employers are forbidden from discriminating against workers based on their disabilities. Nor can an employer discriminate against an employee based on its perception – …

An Ohio company has settled with EEOC for $50,000 after firing an employee who tested positive for a prescribed medication for her bipolar disorder. The agency accused the company of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act.   Adverse Reaction at Work Chassity Brady was a quality control lab technician in the Braselton, Ga. facility of Dayton Superior Corporation, a concrete and masonry construction company, according to the EEOC. After Brady had an adverse reaction at work to a drug prescribed …