News You Can Use

FDA Questions Over-The-Counter Cholesterol Drug

The government is questioning if too many of the wrong people will take cholesterol-lowering Mevacor if it's sold without a prescription, days before Merck & Co. makes its third try to move the drug over the counter.

Merck says selling a low dose of this long-used medication on drugstore shelves, next to the aspirin, could get millions of people at moderate risk of heart disease important treatment that they otherwise may miss.

A preliminary Food and Drug Administration review released Tuesday agreed that nonprescription Mevacor would be "a reasonably safe and effective" option-if consumers used it as directed. Read more

NCPA Statement Urging Congress To Include Pharmacy Provisions In Medicare-Medicaid Legislation, USA

Sen. Max Baucus , chair of the Senate Finance Committee, is negotiating directly with House leadership on a must-pass Medicare bill this year. via MediLexicon

Key issues still simmering

As Congress closes the book on 2007, several issues of priority to hospitals remain unresolved. via Hospital Connect

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