Posts tagged drug products

• Yet More Evidence that Aredia and Zometa Cause Jaw Osteonecrosis(2)

  Brenda Fulmer | August 21, 2007 2:39 PM | 0 CommentsPinellas, FL Category: FDA & Prescription Drugs
  

  The latest study from the Journal of the National Cancer Institute has confirmed that use of IV bisphosphonate drugs Aredia (pamidronate) and Zometa (zoledronic acid) in cancer patients substantially increases the risks of osteonecrosis of the jaw. A number of small studies have previously noted an increased risk, but this was the first study to analyze a larger number of patients.Investigators...

• Florida Jury Awards $28.5 Million in Misfilled Prescription Lawsuit Against Walgreens

  Joe Saunders | August 21, 2007 12:09 PM | 0 CommentsSarasota, FL Category: FDA & Prescription Drugs
  

  A jury in Bartow Florida awarded the family of a cancer patient $28.5 million who was given the wrong prescription, suffered a stroke, and subsequently died. According to the Associated Press article, "Beth Hippely was prescribed Warfarin, a blood thinner, in 2002 to treat breast cancer. The prescription filled at a Walgreens pharmacy was 10 times what her doctor prescribed, court documents...

• Drug Spending Rises As Regulation Slows

  Brenda Fulmer | August 20, 2007 2:02 PM | 0 CommentsPinellas, FL Category: FDA & Prescription Drugs
  

  Pharmaceutical companies spent $30 billion in the United States to market drugs over the past decade. With such a huge increase in spending on samples, marketing, and the ubiquitous direct-to-consumer ads, one would think that the FDA's expenditures and its enforcement efforts would have increased as well. Sadly, the FDA sent only 21 warning letters to drug companies in 2006 for deceptive...

• Laxative Linked to Kidney Problems

  Staff Writer | August 20, 2007 10:51 AM | 0 CommentsPinellas, FL Category: FDA & Prescription Drugs
  

  Fellow Injury Board blogger Jennifer Moore has an interesting post about a laxative that is causing kidney problems. The laxative, Fleet Phospho-soda, is an over-the-counter medication used to flush the bowels in preparation for a colonoscopy. The laxative has been on the market for more than one hundred years and the FDA has listed it as safe when taken as a single dose medication. However,...

• Permax Recalled in Canada

  Brenda Fulmer | August 19, 2007 1:41 PM | 0 CommentsPinellas, FL Category: FDA & Prescription Drugs
  

  Sales of Permax, a once-popular drug prescribed for the treatment of Parkinson's disease and restless leg syndrome, will no longer be sold in Canada as of August 30, 2007, according to a joint announcement by Eli Lilly Canada and Health Canada, the Canadian equivalent of the FDA, on August 16, 2007. The recall by the Canadian government follows the withdrawal of Permax from the United States...

• Yet More Evidence that Aredia and Zometa Cause Jaw Osteonecrosis

  Brenda Fulmer | August 18, 2007 2:39 PM | 0 CommentsPinellas, FL Category: FDA & Prescription Drugs
  

  The latest study from the Journal of the National Cancer Institute has confirmed that use of IV bisphosphonate drugs Aredia (pamidronate) and Zometa (zoledronic acid) in cancer patients substantially increases the risks of osteonecrosis of the jaw. A number of small studies have previously noted an increased risk, but this was the first study to analyze a larger number of patients.Investigators...

• FDA Panel to Review Safety of Children's Cold Medicines

  Joe Saunders | August 16, 2007 6:46 AM | 0 CommentsSarasota, FL Category: FDA & Prescription Drugs
  

  The FDA will convene a panel to review the safety and efficacy of over the counter children's cold medicines. A group of doctors are pushing the FDA to put a warning on these over the counter products that they have not been proven safe and effective for children under six years of age. The petition was filed with the FDA earlier this year after a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention...

• Avandia, Actos Get Black Box Warnings

  Staff Writer | August 16, 2007 6:37 AM | 0 CommentsPinellas, FL Category: FDA & Prescription Drugs
  

  The FDA will require black box warnings for both Avandia and Actos, two diabetes drugs, for their link to an increase in heart failure. Both drugs have been known for quite some time to increase the risk of heart failure which is an inability of the heart to properly pump blood. Last month, the FDA convened an outside panel of medical experts to determine whether Avandia increased the risk of...

• Novartis Pulls Pain Relief Drug from Australian Market

  Joe Saunders | August 14, 2007 7:32 AM | 0 CommentsSarasota, FL Category: FDA & Prescription Drugs
  

  After two people died, Novartis AG has pulled its pain relief drug Prexige from the market in Australia. According to a story published in the Wall St. Journal, "Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration said it had received eight reports of serious liver reactions in patients taking the drug. "It seems that the longer people are on the medicine, the greater the chance of liver injury," its...

• Red Yeast Rice Fans Beware

  Sandy Grinnell | August 12, 2007 1:59 PM | 0 CommentsOrlando, FL Category: FDA & Prescription Drugs
  

  The FDA has issued a warning to consumers who use red yeast rice in an effort to control their cholesterol. The defective products are sold by two Internet retailers - Swanson Healthcare Products and Sunburst Biorganics and are sold under the following brand names: Red Yeast Rice, Red Yeast Rice/Policosonal Complex and Cholestrix. All three products contain lovastatin, an ingredient found in...