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As stories of jacked-up drug costs make news, and discussions of health-care reform pepper the campaign trail, Novartis CEO Joseph Jimenez sat down with The Washington Post to talk about how he views his responsibility as leader of one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies. (Cunningham, 9/24)

Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli was lambasted this week by medical groups, a presidential candidate and his own industry for raising the price of a 62-year-old drug by more than 5,000 percent. He reversed course under pressure Tuesday night, but not before the national attention struck fear into the hearts of biotech investors over increased scrutiny of drug prices, sending stocks plummeting. Turing may have been an egregious example, but it's not the only one raising eyebrows for skyrocketing price tags. Bernstein analyst Ronny Gal pointed out many companies ratchet up drug prices when the market presents an opportunity. (Tirrell, 9/24)

Prescription drugs are costly and most Americans agree that they pay too much for them. Recent headlines illustrate that point clearly – from presidential candidates' promising to tackle the issue, to a CEO initially announcing a jump in the cost of a parasitic-fighting medicine. And with America's total spending on prescription medicine reaching its highest rate in 13 years, policy groups are listening and are coming up with their own plans for reining in costs. But while citizens are feeling the burden of drug costs, so is the government through publicly funded insurance plans. (Leonard, 9/24)

A federal judge on Thursday handed a rare court loss to U.S. antitrust enforcers, declining to block Steris Corp., a U.S. infection-prevention company, from acquiring U.K.-based Synergy Health PLC. U.S. District Judge Dan Polster in Cleveland rejected a request by the Federal Trade Commission to issue a preliminary injunction halting the merger, saying the FTC hadn’t met its burden of showing the deal was likely to damp competition in the U.S. (Kendall, 9/24)