FDA & Prescription Drugs

• Long-Standing Problems At FDA Confirmed

  Tom Methvin | October 24, 2006 2:07 PM | 0 CommentsMontgomery, AL

  Over the past few years, we have frequently written about the many problems at the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Recently, a survey by the Union of Concerned Scientists confirmed what many medical and healthcare experts have felt relating to the performance of the FDA. Dr. Sidney Wolfe, Director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group, issued the following statement relating to...

• Alabama state court in Vioxx spotlight

  Staff Writer | October 24, 2006 1:17 PM | 0 CommentsMobile, AL

  One of today's top Reuters headlines talks of a new barrage of Vioxx litigation over this defective drug that has been proven to cause strokes and heart attacks. Though a case in Texas was recently dropped by a plaintiff just two weeks before trial, several others move forward and will soon go to trial, including one in an Alabama state court. Drug manufacturer Merck & Co. is facing more than...

• The Risks Of Taking Fosamax Appear To Be Great

  Tom Methvin | October 17, 2006 2:06 PM | 0 CommentsMontgomery, AL

  Last month we wrote about the mounting problems associated with the popular osteoporosis drug Fosamax. Since that time it has become most apparent that the problems are widespread. As a result, the Fosamax litigation scene will be very active. Osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ), a disfiguring condition that leads to the breakdown of the jawbone and loss of teeth, is clearly a most serious matter....

• How Drug Companies Use And Abuse Medical Journals

  Tom Methvin | October 10, 2006 1:33 PM | 0 CommentsMontgomery, AL

  New Jersey Superior Court Judge Carroll Higbee, who oversees all the Vioxx litigation in New Jersey, recently granted a new trial in a Vioxx case won by Merck in 2005. The judge reasoned that Merck had withheld evidence of three deaths from an article that was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. This evidence skewed the article that may have influenced thousands of physicians when...

• Schering-Plough Settles With The Federal Government

  Tom Methvin | October 04, 2006 1:35 PM | 0 CommentsMontgomery, AL

  Schering-Plough Corp. will pay $435 million to settle the federal government's case against the drug maker arising out of the company's drug sales and marketing practices. The federal investigation also concerned the company's clinical trial programs. Schering-Plough will pay $255 million to resolve civil aspects of the previously disclosed investigation, which involves the drugs Intron and...

• FDA Official Recommends Antibiotic Withdrawal

  Staff Writer | July 23, 2006 2:19 PM | 0 CommentsMobile, AL

  The 2004 approval of the antibiotic Ketek, is a "mistake," according to FDA safety official Dr. David Graham. Graham suggested immediate withdrawal of the controversial antibiotic, citing its toxicity and lack of adequate safety research. Over five million prescriptions have been written for Ketek, which has been linked to reports of liver damage, blurred vision, loss of consciousness, and death.