Are you paying more for prescription drugs than you were a year ago? If so, you're not alone. A Consumer Reports survey found that 56 million Americans – about one-third of the adults taking a prescription drug – saw their drug costs go up in the past 12 months.
PhRMA is the lone major trade group not supporting President Trump's new North American trade deal after the drug industry lost crucial intellectual property protections in the agreement. The loss was a blow to a powerful industry group that has long held sway in Washington.
Health care industry earnings fell 18% in the third quarter of this year, compared with the same period in 2018, due in part to the costs associated with opioids litigation, according to the Axios tracker of almost 170 health care companies. Yes, but: The industry still churned out a 6.1% profit margin, and health care stocks are at the highest they've been all year because Wall Street foresees a very profitable election year.
The cost of treatment for infants in US hospitals who had been exposed to opioids rose by more than $250 million over four years, according to a study published Monday. In 2012, total hospital costs to treat neonatal abstinence syndrome were $316 million. By 2016, according to the study published in the Journal of the America Medical Association Pediatrics, that number was up to $572.7 million.
Bausch Health, once known as Valeant Pharmaceuticals, will pay more than $1 billion to settle litigation over a stock plunge that investors suffered after it became the poster child of drug company price gouging several years ago.
It's been a little over a month since I published “3 Ways To Invest $2000 In Healthcare”, a quick analysis of how to establish a few positions in the healthcare sector. I discussed three ETF's, including the diversified Vanguard Health Care (VHT), which has been outperforming the S&P 500 since the October lows. The other two were the iShares U.S. Medical Devices (IHI) and the iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology (IBB).