Rising drug prices have gotten a lot of attention lately, but the actual cost of prescription medications is more than just the dollars and cents on the bill. Researchers at Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at University of California San Diego estimate that illness and death resulting from non-optimized medication therapy costs $528.4 billion annually, equivalent to 16 percent of total U.S. health care expenditures in 2016.

An organic chemical compound shows effective antiviral activity against Ebola virus and several other viruses, according to a study led by Georgia State University. The researchers found benzoquinoline inhibited the ability of Ebola virus to multiply and reproduce in cell culture. The findings are published in the journal Antiviral Research.

By taking a high-cost drug with a low-fat meal - instead of on an empty stomach, as prescribed - prostate cancer patients could decrease their daily dose, prevent digestive issues and cut costs by 75 percent, according to a new study in the March 28, 2018, issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO).

A Vancouver-based research team led by Canada's most cited neuroscientist, Dr. Patrick McGeer, has successfully carried out studies suggesting that, if started early enough, a daily regimen of the non-prescription NSAID (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug) ibuprofen can prevent the onset of Alzheimer's disease. This means that by taking an over-the-counter medication, people can ward off a disease that,

Skin melanoma, a particularly insidious cancer, accounts for the vast majority skin cancer deaths and is one of the most common cancers in people under 30. Treatment for advanced melanoma has seen success with targeted therapies - drugs that interfere with division and growth of cancer cells by targeting key molecules - especially when multiple drugs are used in combination. While the combination of targeted therapies improves patient outcomes, any remaining cancer cells can lead to drug resistance.

A "game changing" new antibiotic which is capable of killing superbugs has been successfully synthesised and used to treat an infection for the first time - and could lead to the first new class of antibiotic drug in 30 years. The breakthrough is another major step forward on the journey to develop a commercially viable drug version based on teixobactin - a natural antibiotic discovered by US scientists in soil samples in 2015 which has been heralded as a "gamechanger" in the battle against antibiotic resistant pathogens such as MRSA and VRE.

Tuberculosis can be cured and could be eradicated. For this to happen, however, patients have to receive the right treatment. Researchers at the Makerere University and the University of Zurich were able to demonstrate that the levels of medication used are often too low. As a result, patients remained contagious with the dangerous disease for longer than necessary.