Borrowing and sharing of prescription medications is a serious medical and public health concern. A survey of nearly 7,500 women of reproductive age found that this is common practice among more than one-third of this population, according to a report published online ahead of print in Journal of Women's Health, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.

JAMA's editor, Catherine D. DeAngelis, said her journal had been duped by a ghostwritten manuscript in 2002 that compared Vioxx with two competitors' drugs for knee pain, and she acknowledged that editors bore some responsibility, writes Philly Inquirer's Kari Stark.

The number of prescriptions written out for antibiotics in Sweden last year increased for the third year in a row.

Consumers who pick up their prescription medications at a pharmacy drive-through window might be jeopardizing their own safety in the name of convenience.

While prescription medications work successfully to cure an ailment in some people, in others the same dose of the same drug can cause an adverse reaction or no response at all.

Although prescription medications that may increase the risk of birth defects are commonly used by women in their childbearing years, only about half receive contraceptive counseling from their health care providers, according to a large-scale study from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine reported in the Sept. 18 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Inexpensive pill box organizers are an easy, successful, and cost-effective tool to help patients take their medications as prescribed, according to a new study of low-income urban residents living with HIV infection by authors from the Berkeley School of Public Health and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).

Over the past two decades, spending for mental health treatment shifted sharply from inpatient care to prescription medications, and Medicaid picked up a growing share of the cost, according to a study published today in Psychiatric Services.

A woman’s mouth has a lot to say, even when it’s not talking. Things that alter the female body, such as prescription medications to help prevent diseases such as osteoporosis or depression, diabetes, or a vitamin deficiency, can affect a woman’s oral health, according to John Svirsky, DDS, MED, who will lead a discussion titled “Drugs I Have Known and Loved for Diseases That We Catch” during the 55th annual meeting of the Academy of General Dentistry (AGD) in San Diego.

According to the prescription drug bill passed by the senat today, FDA will be required to monitor the pharmaceutical companies and the medications they make three years after the drugs are approved. This is a very significant move by the Senat to helping FDA to ensure the safety of prescription drugs.

In front of hundreds of aspiring pharmacy students, Sen. Richard T. Moore, D-Uxbridge, presented the Safe-Rx Award - recognizing Massachusetts as the top e-prescribing state in the nation - to Gov. Deval L. Patrick at the Face of Pharmacy event today.