Putting drug prices front and center at the Food and Drug Law Institute's (FDLI) annual conference Thursday, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb took on some of the current rules and restrictions that prevent true market-based pricing and competition.

As Gottlieb was speaking at FDLI, the government watchdog group Public Citizen and the Baltimore City Health Department were calling on the Trump administration to address the high price of specific drugs used to reverse life-threatening opioid overdoses. The groups urged the government to use its march-in rights to enable generic competition for Kaleo Inc.'s naloxone auto-injector Evzio and Adapt Pharma Ltd.'s naloxone nasal spray Narcan.

Read the entire story.

The Trump administration should invoke government authority to slash prices of a life-saving overdose drug or provide funding to expand access amid the coast-to-coast opioid epidemic, Baltimore's health department and a national advocacy group said Thursday. 

"What's short is our willpower to do something about it," said Baltimore Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen, who issued an innovative blanket prescription for naloxone in 2015.

Read the entire story.

Cocaine deaths rose 52% between 2015 and 2016. A BuzzFeed News analysis shows the role of fentanyl in this staggering trend.

A new city health project aims to evaluate Baltimore’s hospitals on their efforts to improve treatment for opioid use disorders.

Leaders from Baltimore’s 11 hospitals joined the city’s mayor and its health commissioner to announce the new effort on Monday. The initiative is intended to identify “best practices” for responding to the opioid epidemic.

Read the entire story.