Officials in Nebraska used fentanyl to execute a death row inmate on Tuesday, marking the first time the powerful opioid has been used to carry out the death penalty in the United States.
In only the second-ever case of its kind, a pharmaceutical company sued Wednesday to stop the state of Nevada from using an untested drug in a lethal injection.
According to United States law, studies of potential medicines and diagnostics are supposed to make their results publicly available within 12 months. But up to half of studies don’t follow the rules—and no one has ever faced penalties.
A comprehensive analysis of drug company spending on doctors in the last five months of 2013 shows the most-promoted products typically were not cures, breakthroughs, or top sellers.
Nearly every large drug maker based in the United States had at least one academic medical center official on its board, raising questions about their independence.