Â鶹ŮÓÅ

Consumer-friendly ratings of the benefits of new drugs. Limits on what patients pay. Requiring drug companies to disclose how much they actually spend on research. With the public concerned about the high cost of new medications, these are some of the proposals from a policy center often aligned with the Obama administration. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 9/18)

Legislation to control rising drug prices was introduced in Congress last week, and federal prosecutors are investigating drug price increases. But the chief financial officer of a leading drug wholesaler said Wednesday that generic price inflation would continue, even as the rate of increase has eased in recent months. Michael C. Kaufmann, CFO of Cardinal Health, told financial analysts in New York that corporate takeovers in the generic industry had reduced the number of manufacturers, which can mean price increases, because fewer firms are competing. (Sell, 9/17)

Eli Lilly and Co's new Jardiance pill slashed deaths by 32 percent in patients with type 2 diabetes at risk of heart attack and stroke, a finding that could make it a mainstay diabetes treatment and triple its use, according to researchers and analysts. Lilly shares jumped as much as 9 percent after data from the trial was released Thursday at a medical meeting in Stockholm. (Pierson, 9/17)

The Food and Drug Administration warned doctors that bronchoscopes may transmit infections among patients when inadequately cleaned, the latest alert by the regulator about the risk of reusable medical scopes. The agency recorded 109 reports of infections or contamination related to bronchoscopes in the past five years, including 50 in 2014 alone, according to its safety notice. "A small number" of the incidents showed that the devices remained contaminated even when manufacturers’ cleaning instructions were followed, the agency said. (Tozzi, 9/17)