Americans living with rheumatoid arthritis now have another generic medication option to consider.

The Breast Cancer Research Fund (BCRF) has pledged $48.5 million to support breast cancer research efforts in 2015 and 2016, with grants to 240 grantees on five continents; this announcement comes as the foundation prepares for two research symposia during the month of October, with the first of these events being a research symposium and luncheon called “Understanding Women’s Risk for Breast Cancer and Other Cancers.” 

While physicians are equipped to treat patients, they can't make all the decisions for them, so it is imperative that patients educate themselves about the potential risks and alternatives associated with their care in order to make informed decisions; this topic was the focus of a recent event hosted by the Alliance for Health reform, during which a panel of health analysts spoke about tools patients can use to make better decisions about their healthcare.

According to a report by the Food & Drug Administration, some medicines may contain ingredients that cause photosensitivity -- photosensitivity is what makes a person sensitive to sunlight and cause rashes or other unwanted effects like sunburn-like symptoms -- and a range of products, including those applied to the skin or any medicines taken by the mouth or injected, can cause these side effects.

Americans suffering from moderate to severe hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) now have access to an FDA-approved treatment, due to the fact that the FDA has finally approved its drug, which is called Humira, the North Chicago, Illinois-based AbbVie announced today; this announcement comes as the result of 17 years of development and 12 years of clinical trials.

The drug life-cycle of the 4.3 billion prescriptions Americans fill out every year is not over until the medicine has been consumed in its entirety or discarded of properly; accidental exposure or intentional misuses are direct results of improper medicine disposal, but, thankfully, Deputy Director for Regulatory Programs in the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research at the FDA Dr. Douglas Throckmorton knows how best to dispose and take care of them.

Inactivity is one of the biggest risk factors for heart disease, but it can be difficult to manage in light of so many jobs that require workers to sit at a desk all day; however, primary care physician Michael Rakotz, M.D., director of chronic disease prevention with the American Medical Association's Improving Health Outcomes initiative, offers simple tips to decrease your risk for heart disease, even when work requires long periods of physical inactivity.

GlaxoSmithKline has announced that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has given a positive opinion that recommends marketing authorization; Mepolizumab will be commercialized under the name Nucala, and the group will become an add-on treatment for severe refractory eosinophilic asthma found in adult patients.

Molecular reference laboratory Symbiodx, located in the Pacific Northwest, has partnered with multi-sided technology platform Cure Forward to enhance precision medicine; the new collaboration will make it possible for patients to have easier access to their genomic data, meaning there will exist a greater chance for them to be involved in relevant clinical trials, as part of Symbiodx's goal to provide next generation sequencing (NGS) assay for cancer. 

British pharmaceutical company Mylan is introducing Paliperidone, a generic version of Janssen's Invega, in extended-release tablets in 1.5 mg, 3 mg, 6 mg and 9 mg dosages in the U.S. Paliperidone is used to treat schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder. It is used in conjunction with monotherapy and as an adjunct to mood stabilizers or antidepressants in adults.

In a U.S. Food and Drug Administration Drug Safety Podcast for health care professionals, Lesley Navin, an advanced practice nurse from the Division of Drug Information, announced that FDA would be changing the requirements for the monitoring, prescribing, dispensing and receiving of the schizophrenia medicine Clozapine. The changes were made in response to safety concerns.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration currently conducting benzodiazepine nasal spray clinical trials.

Communication and cooperation are key, and must be a team effort.

ViiV Healthcare unveiled 24-week data on Friday from the Phase IIIb/IV STRIIVING study, an open-label study to determine the efficacy, safety and tolerability of changing from an antiretroviral therapy (ART) to the once-daily, fixed-dose dolutegravir-based regimen, Triumeq in virologically suppressed adults diagnosed with HIV-1.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration conducted a public meeting last week about patient-focused drug development for Huntington's and Parkinson's diseases. The purpose of the meeting was for FDA officials to solicit patient perspectives on the effects of Huntington’s disease and Parkinson’s disease on daily life and gather patient opinions on treatment approaches.

Merck said it is presenting new data about the anti-tumor activity of Keytruda on nine difficult-to-treat cancers at the European Cancer Congress (ECC) running through Tuesday in Vienna, Austria. Keytruda is a humanized monoclonal antibody that blocks the interaction between PD-1 and its ligands, PD-L1 and PD-L2.

Amgen said the Food and Drug Administration has accepted for priority review a supplemental new drug application (sNDA) for Kyprolis (carfilzomib) for Injection. The drug is indicated for use in patients with relapsed multiple myeloma. The sNDA will expand the current indication to include Kyprolis in combination with dexamethasone for patients who have received previous therapy.

Website allows people to estimate medical costs under Affordable Care Act choices

In response to Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton's proposal to regulate prescription-drug prices, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) President and CEO John Castellani issued a statement this week to explain why the changes would do more harm than good.

The National Health Council (NHC) praised the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service (CMS) for adopting a proposal to apply individual out-of-pocket cost limits to people who purchase family-coverage health insurance plans.CMS recently announced the decision in a letter sent to employers and media outlets.