A new analysis by ProPublica finds that many doctors in the U.S. prescribe brand-name drugs to Medicare patients when generics can be dramatically cheaper — and it's costing taxpayers hundreds of millions a year.

The FDA recommends making hydrocodone a Schedule II narcotic, like its more powerful relative, oxycodone.

Makers of patented drugs sometimes pay generic drug makers not to copy their drugs when they go off patent, allowing them to keep charging high prices. The U.S. Supreme Court says the FTC can challenge such deals.

The prescription drug plan has created millions of senior customers for the pharmaceutical industry over ten years.

It pays to shop around for prescription drugs.

Drug manufacturers can charge very different prices for essentially the same generic medicine.

With addiction to pain pills at epidemic levels, the Food and Drug Adminstration is taking action

GlaxoSmithKline, the huge British drug-maker, will pay $3 billion in fines and compensation to the U.S. government and the states. They are in trouble for marketing drugs for off-label uses of its drugs.

The American Pain Foundation abruptly closes its doors on the heels of a government investigation into the epidemic of painkiller abuse.