Morning Break: Pill Mills and Heroin; New PAH Drug; 'Affluenza' Teen on the Lam



A crackdown on Florida "pill mills" may have also reduced heroin overdose deaths. (Washington Post)

Bayer is voting with its pocketbook for the so-called CRISPR gene editing technology, promising up to $335 million in funding for a small Swiss company involved in the field.

Remember the teen who blamed "affluenza" for causing him to drive drunk and kill four people? He's now the subject of a massive manhunt after skipping a probation appointment -- and perhaps the country.

Need Medicare drug spending data? CMS has opened a new "dashboard" to provide easier access for policymakers and researchers.

Farmers and ranchers use antibiotics to make livestock grow bigger -- does it work for people, too? (The Atlantic)

Selexipag, an IP prostacyclin receptor agonist, was approved by the FDA for pulmonary arterial hypertension and will be sold as Uptravi, according to maker Actelion, which said the drug should reach pharmacy shelves next month.

And an investigational drug for posterior uveitis met its primary endpoint in a phase III trial, says manufacturer pSivida.

A drug cost-effectiveness group blasted GlaxoSmithKline's pricing for the asthma drug Nucala (mepolizumab) as three times what it's actually worth. (Reuters)

Long term care insurance: It's baffling. (New York Times)

"Should physicians use the 'copy-paste' function to document in the EHR?" Jeremy Zasowski weighs in.

Cancer looks quite different in the developing world than it does in the U.S. (New York Times)

It just gets worse for Martin Shkreli.

The E. coli outbreaks linked to the Chipotle restaurant chain appear to be winding down, the CDC reported, with no new cases reported since November.

Former President Jimmy Carter's 28-year-old grandson Jeremy apparently died of a heart attack, his brother says, although authorities have not yet officially declared a cause of death.
