Pharmaceutical companies have introduced new medicines to treat dependence, reverse overdoses, and deal with opioids side effects, but few effective alternatives to addictive painkillers have emerged from the laboratory.

Alex Azar isnt likely to shy away from the topic of sky-high medication prices -- but it may be insurers and drug plans that feel the heat as much as his former industry.

President Donald Trump named former Eli Lilly & Co. executive Alex Azar to lead the Department of Health and Human Services after agencys past chief resigned amid blowback over his taxpayer-funded private jet travel.

President Donald Trump on Thursday will declare widespread opioid abuse a public health emergency, while resisting a controversial move that might have tapped federal funds sought by hurricane-stricken Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico.

Of the more than 50,000 drug-related deaths in the U.S. in 2015, close to two-thirds involved opioids, according to the CDC.

PhRMA will require members spend at least $200 million a year on research and development and that their R&D spending is at least 10 percent of global sales.

Investors believed the election of Trump would be a boon for free-market health care, but now Trump is going after big pharma.