FDA & Prescription Drugs

• Drug Safety Becoming A Problem: Death From Drugs Increases

  Jenny Albano | September 12, 2007 12:31 AM | 0 CommentsMontgomery, AL

  Deaths and serious injuries from popular drugs has almost tripled from 1998 to 2005, an analysis of U.S. drug data found. Deaths and injuries from medications increased from 34,966 to 89,842 during the study of reports to the FDA. They analyzed excerpts of reports on serious side effects received by the FDA between January 1998 and December 2005. A total of 467,809 serious complications were...

• Study Suggests Actos Protects Heart, But Avandia Does Not

  Jenny Albano | September 11, 2007 11:37 PM | 0 CommentsMobile, AL

  A study published on Tuesday, September 11, found that Actos, a type 2 diabetes drug, reduces the risk of heart attack, stroke and death, but may raise the risk of heart failure. According to another study, Avandia, another diabetes drug, increases the risk of heart attack and heart failure significantly.Actos lowered the risk of heart attack, stroke and overall death by 18 percent, while...

• FDA Issues Warnings on Warfarin

  Courtney Mills | August 17, 2007 1:50 PM | 0 CommentsMobile, AL

  The FDA has issued health warnings on the use of blood thinners in certain individuals. Warfarin, an anticoagulant agent, is prescribed by doctors in the United States to patients who have heart trouble or irregular heartbeats.Warfarin is popularly marketed under the prescription brand name Coumadin, and has demonstrated severe complications in patients of certain genetic make-up. These...

• Should drug makers disclose doctors on payroll?

  Staff Writer | July 20, 2007 11:19 AM | 0 CommentsMontgomery, AL

  An article from WorstPills.org's press room (http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/release.cfm?ID=2467) details the testimony of a physician before a Senate Commitee. Dr. Peter Lurie argued that Federal Law should mandate pharmaceutical companies to make their payments to doctors public knowledge. "Current state laws that require the disclosure of pharmaceutical company payments to physicians are...

• Dangerous Avandia side effects reported

  Staff Writer | July 03, 2007 11:29 AM | 0 CommentsMontgomery, AL

  The May 2007 New England Journal of Medicine published a sudy on the possible risks of using Avandia, a popular type 2 diabetes drug. Widely prescribed by physicians, Avandia (generic name rosiglitazone) has been linked with heart attack and heart failure, according to the study. An article from WorstPills.org (http://www.worstpills.org/member/newsletter.cfm?n_id=538) details the findings:"These...

• Vioxx Heart Attack Risk Begins Earlier

  Jenny Albano | July 03, 2007 11:17 AM | 0 CommentsMobile, AL

  A new study, approved for publication in the New England Journal of Medicine found that heart risks from the drug Vioxx began much sooner than Merck & Co. stated. The FDA approved Vioxx to treat the signs and symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis in adults and children.Vioxx was pulled from the market after an FDA-funded study found that the drug doubled the risk of heart attack after 18 months of...

• Alli Side-Effects May Outweigh Benefits

  Staff Writer | June 18, 2007 9:32 AM | 0 CommentsMontgomery, AL

  A new diet drug has hit the shelves with the FDA's approval, but users may want to be wary of the side effects. Alli, manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline, is supposed to help people lose 50% more weight than other dietary supplements.Alli blocks enzymes that digest fat, preventing the body from absorbing about a quarter of the fat eaten. The undigested fat is then excreted. One study of Alli showed...

• More information about Lybrel

  Staff Writer | May 29, 2007 8:11 AM | 0 CommentsMontgomery, AL

  In the news this past week, you may have heard about a new birth control pill called Lybrel, which frees women from the nuisance of having a menstrual period. Lybrel was approved by the FDA and should be in pharmacies sometime this summer. The new drug is a low-dose version of the traditional birth control pill, and it contains 90 micrograms levonorgestrel and 20 micrograms ethinyl estradiol. It...

• Consumers beware of TV drug ads

  Staff Writer | May 27, 2007 11:06 AM | 0 CommentsMontgomery, AL

  An article from the WorstPills.org newsletter (http://www.worstpills.org/member/newsletter_pdf.cfm?n_id=528) this month warns consumers to be wary of television drug ads funded by big pharmaceutical companies. Many of these ads introduce new drugs to consumers and ask them to speak to their physicians about the benefits of using them. The ads for these medications mean big money to...

• Ambien sleep aid side effects

  Staff Writer | May 25, 2007 11:43 AM | 0 CommentsMobile, AL

  The prescription drug Ambien (genericly named zolpidem) has been reported to cause serious side effects, including disorientation, sleep walking, and more, according to an article published on WorstPills.org. (http://www.worstpills.org/member/newsletter.cfm?n_id=529)A Democratic representative from Rhode Island reported crashing his car near the Capitol building in Washington while disoriented...