FDA & Prescription Drugs

• 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.