FDA & Prescription Drugs

• A special place in Hell for tobacco executives

  Gerry McGill | June 11, 2009 1:20 PM | 10 CommentsBiloxi & Gulfport, MS

  I hope there is reserved a special place in Hell for tobacco company executives. First there were flavored cigarettes. Guess what age group they were aimed at? Then I have been receiving junk emails...

• Drug Manufacturers Sued Over Marketing of Cholesterol Drugs Vytorin and Zetia

  Gerry McGill | January 29, 2008 1:22 PM | 0 CommentsBiloxi & Gulfport, MS

  The Associated Press has reported that drug manufacturers Merck & Company and Schering-Plough Corporation, the makers of the popular cholesterol drugs Vytorin and Zetia, are being sued in states across the country, including Mississippi, over allegations that the two companies misled consumers into thinking the drugs were more effective than generic cholesterol drugs.

• Merck Recalls Unsterilized Vaccine; 1.2 million Doses Pulled

  Courtney Mills | December 13, 2007 9:30 AM | 0 CommentsBiloxi & Gulfport, MS

  Pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. recalled some 1.2 million doses of Hib vaccine, after it was revealed through quality control that the vaccines had not undergone proper sterilization techniques. Production equipment used to manufacture the vaccines had not been properly sterilized, so these lots had to be recalled.The vaccine, known as Haemophilus influenza type b, prevents the spread of...

• Bayer Halts Sales of Trasylol Globally

  Gerry McGill | November 06, 2007 3:27 PM | 0 CommentsBiloxi & Gulfport, MS

  Bayer AG halted worldwide sales Monday of its anti-bleeding drug Trasylol at the request of U. S. and foreign health officials pending further analysis of a Canadian study that suggests it's linked to a 50 percent higher risk of death than the other drugs in the clinical trial. The Food and Drug Administration asked the company to stop selling the drug, used to prevent excessive bleeding during...

• Jury Awards $7 Million in Accutane Trial

  Gerry McGill | October 12, 2007 2:00 PM | 0 CommentsBiloxi & Gulfport, MS

  A Pensacola, Florida jury yesterday awarded $7 million to a Pensacola man who said that the manufacturer of Accutane failed to warn him that the use of the controversial acne drug could cause a gastrointestinal disease. The Pensacola jury deliberated for two days before finding that Swiss drug-maker Hoffman-La Roche failed to warn that use of Accutane could potentially lead to a condition known...

• FDA Issues Health Advisory On Codeine, Nursing Mothers

  Courtney Mills | August 17, 2007 2:33 PM | 0 CommentsBiloxi & Gulfport, MS

  The FDA issued new important information about the use of codeine in mothers who are nursing children.Because of the way certain individuals metabolize codeine, which breaks down into morphine in the liver, there runs the risk of having extremely high levels of morphine excreted into breast milk. Some women metabolize morphine at a very rapid rate, causing the blood level of morphine to spike. ...

• First Accutane Trial Yields $2.6 Million Verdict

  Gerry McGill | July 09, 2007 3:58 PM | 0 CommentsBiloxi & Gulfport, MS

  A New Jersey jury awarded $2.619 million to a man who claimed the acne drug Accutane caused his inflammatory bowel disease. The man claimed that the drug's manufacturer failed to warn customers of the serious side effects that caused him to have multiple surgeries, including the removal of his colon. Introduced in 1982, Accutane has been prescribed to more than 13 million patients...

• Diabetes Drug Avandia Increases Heart Risks

  Gerry McGill | June 25, 2007 2:56 PM | 0 CommentsBiloxi & Gulfport, MS

  A study by Dr. Steven Nissen, a well-known cardiologist from the Cleveland Clinic, which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine on May 21, concluded that Avandia increases a patient's risk of a heart attack by 43% and the risk of death from cardiovascular causes by 64%. The study confirms that 60,000 to 100,000 reported heart attacks from Avandia users may be linked to the drug...

• Heart Stent Fails Test and Pulled From Market

  Shannon Weidemann | May 09, 2007 7:59 AM | 0 CommentsBiloxi & Gulfport, MS

  A heart stent that is used in Europe, Asia, and Latin America has failed testing in the United States and will be pulled from the market. The CoStar drug coated stent did not work as well as another already in use in the United States. The maker of the stent, Conor Medsystems will not seek FDA approval for the defective medical device. The clinical trial showed that, after eight months, CoStar...