Login
Texas Sues Eli Lilly for Allegedly Bribing Providers to Prescribe Drugs
Texas filed a lawsuit against Eli Lilly over bribery allegations.
The filing, which was announced on Tuesday afternoon, claims that Lilly used various practices to illegally induce medical providers in the state to prescribe Lilly’s products over its competitors. The complaint specifically calls out two programs that Lilly provided for HCPs.
The first is a free nurses program, which saw the drug company provide nursing care for patients who received its medications. The second was a reimbursement support service. According to Texas State Attorney General Ken Paxton, these programs resulted in Lilly medications being prescribed for patients on Medicaid. He says that millions of dollars in claims were filed with the state’s Medicaid program that were “tainted by Eli Lilly’s illegal marketing and quid pro quo arrangements.”
In the lawsuit’s announcement, Paxton said, “Big Pharma compromised medical decision-making by engaging in an illegal kickback scheme,” said Attorney General Paxton. “Eli Lilly fraudulently sought to maximize profits at taxpayer expense and put corporate greed over people’s health. I will not stand by while corporations unlawfully manipulate our healthcare system to line their own pockets.”
Not Adhering to Tamiflu Guidelines Found to Be Common in Pediatric Hospitals
Clinicians across the country show considerable nonadherence to guidelines for outpatient use of oseltamivir (Tamiflu) to treat children with flu, according to a study today in Pediatrics.
The study was conducted from March to June 2024 at seven US children’s hospitals and their affiliated clinic with 452 participant pediatric clinicians. Clinicians were given four clinical influenza vignettes, three of which represented scenarios warranting treatment with oseltamivir per national recommendations.
Overall, clinicians were less likely to recommend treatment with antivirals if the patient vignette described someone with symptoms more than 3 or 4 days in length. When symptoms were described as lasting 2 days, 30.9% of clinicians recommended treatment, compared to just 1.8% when symptoms lasted 4 days.
New Research Confirms Weight-Loss Drug Link With Sudden Vision Loss
Drugs such as Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro (known as semaglutide and tirzepatide) have changed the way clinicians manage diabetes and obesity around the world.
Collectively known as GLP-1 agonists, these drugs mimic the hormone GLP-1. This limits both hunger and interest in food, helping users lose weight, and helps control blood sugar levels.
But two new studies published today show that people taking these drugs may have a small increased risk of serious eye conditions and vision loss.
Here’s what you need to know if you’re taking or considering these medications.
Non-arteritic anterior ischaemic optic neuropathy, or NAION, is a rare but devastating eye condition that occurs when blood flow to the optic nerve is suddenly reduced or blocked. It’s also called an “eye stroke”.
Flu Protection Comes With a Prize at Kentucky State Fair Which Opens This Week
People who get their flu shot while attending the Kentucky State Fair will receive a $20 Kroger gift card from the Kentucky Association of Health Plans. The Kentucky State Fair is Aug. 14-24 at the Kentucky Expo Center in Louisville. The Kentucky Association of Health Plans will have a flu vaccine clinic in the Healthy Horizons Pavilion in South Wing B of the center. The clinic will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, except on Sunday.
A spokesperson for the Kentucky Association of Health Plans said he expects around 1,500 people to get their shots at the clinic. The organization hopes promoting the flu vaccine in this way will help minimize the spread of flu this season and keep hospitalizations down.
“No one wants to be sidelined by the flu,” Tom Stephens, president and CEO of the Kentucky Association of Health Plans, said in a statement. “Getting vaccinated now reduces the risk of severe illness and hospitalization later — which means better health outcomes and lower costs for everyone, including patients.”
6 in 10 Healthcare Workers With Symptoms of Respiratory Disease Say They Test for COVID
Over one third (36%) of Irish healthcare workers (HCWs) reported a symptomatic respiratory illness in 2024 and 2025, with 63% saying they tested for COVID-19, and only 37% and 22% reporting receipt of influenza and SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, respectively, survey results show.
The Trinity College Dublin–led research team collected monthly online questionnaire data from 893 self-selected HCWs from all disciplines at two hospitals for at least 4 months from September 2024 to February 2025.
“HCWs still remain at increased risk of communicable infections, particularly viral upper respiratory tract infections,” they wrote. “In addition to the risks these infections pose to the infected HCWs, there are also associated risks of nosocomial outbreaks amongst vulnerable patient groups.”
The study findings were published today in Antimicrobial Stewardship & Healthcare Epidemiology.
Nearly 12% of Americans Have Used GLP-1 Weight Loss Drugs
Nearly 12% of Americans have used GLP-1 drugs for weight loss, including about one-fifth of women aged 50 to 64, according to a new RAND report.
Surveying a nationally representative sample of 8,793 Americans, researchers found that 11.8% have used GLP-1 agonists and 14% say they are interested in using the drugs. Meanwhile, 74% say they do not plan to take the medications.
Among those who have used GLP-1 drugs, about half report they have experienced nausea and about one-third experienced diarrhea—the two most-common side effects associated with the medications.
The report is the most-recent and largest survey to date that estimates how many Americans have used the drugs that have revolutionized weight loss care. The report outlines use of GLP-1 drugs by both age and sex.
