October 14th, 2011 University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) researchers have found that the use of the diabetes medications Byetta® and Januvia® may increase the risk of serious problems with the pancreas. Januvia® and Byetta® are both used to treat type...
July 11th, 2011 A Northern California study of children and their mothers suggests that a woman taking SSRI antidepressants, such as Zoloft, especially during the first trimester of pregnancy, may have an increased risk of giving birth to a child with autism. The women ...
June 17th, 2011 The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) notified healthcare providers and patients of the possible risk of bladder cancer in people who are treated with Actos® for more than one year. The FDA warning is based on an interim review of an ongoing study. ...
June 16th, 2011 The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has informed the public of a newly discovered danger for drugs called 5-alpha reductase inhibitors (5-ARIs). Men who take these drugs may have an increased risk of being diagnosed with a high-grade form of prost...
April 27th, 2011 Nine patients have filed suit against Merck, claiming they suffered sexual dysfunction from the hair loss medication, Propecia® (finasteride). Propecia® is designed to treat male pattern hair loss (MPHL). Over the years, patients have complained they’ve ...
April 7th, 2011 The U.S. Department of Justice plus nine states and the District of Columbia last fall requested that they be allowed to intervene (participate) in a whistle-blower lawsuit against drug maker Wyeth. The lawsuit contends that the drug company illegally pro...
March 25th, 2011 Some researchers believe the cholesterol medication Crestor® (rosuvastatin) can increase the severity of heart failure in certain patients. Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), produced naturally in the body, is necessary for the basic functioning of cells. Clini...
March 7th, 2011 The FDA notified healthcare professionals and patients about a possible connection between Topamax® and certain birth defects. The agency sent a letter March 4, 2011 to inform healthcare professionals that the label would be updated to include information...
March 3rd, 2011 The FDA notified healthcare professionals about new findings that link Multaq® to severe liver injuries, Jan. 14, 2011. The agency said there were two reports of acute liver injuries in Multaq® patients that required liver transplants. The FDA sa...
February 4th, 2011 The FDA announced that is has made a change regarding cardiovascular risks to the Avandia® (rosiglitazone) label and patient Medication Guide, Feb. 4, 2011. The FDA announcement also said that Avandia®'s drug label was updated to reflect tighter ...
November 19th, 2010 Xanodyne Pharmaceuticals, maker of the painkillers Darvocet® and Darvon® has pulled both drugs from U.S. market because of potential damage to the heart. The Darvocet® and Darvon® recall was announced Nov. 19, 2010. Both drugs contain the active ingredie...
August 10th, 2010 Drug company Bayer has reportedly issued more than 10 million pages of documents regarding its oral contraceptives Yaz and Yasmin. Many women are suing Bayer for the birth control pills' alleged health risks, which claimants say caused diseases in the ga...
July 27th, 2010 The side effects that are associated with Accutane® are relatively well known, but less attention is typically paid to generic versions of the drug that use the same medication, isotretinoin. Isotretinoin, the active ingredient in Accutane®, is also fou...
July 19th, 2010 A recent study has found that the adverse side effects associated with isotretinoin, the active ingredient in Accutane®, may be reduced if the patient takes smaller doses. The study, led by Marius Rademaker, was conducted at the Tristram Clinic in Hamilt...
June 22nd, 2010 A recent study published the American Journal of Gastroenterology, isotretinoin, whose brand name is Accutane, can cause a number of inflammatory bowel diseases. Accutane was introduced in America in the 1980s as a treatment for acne but there have been ...
June 14th, 2010 The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has come under fire for its recent decisions regarding the drug Accutane. The agency, which is similar to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, was criticized by the Lancet medical journal for the way that it approves...
June 9th, 2010 The maker of the acne product Accutane has settled a lawsuit alleging that the drug caused one patient to develop a bowel disease. Accutane is made by pharmaceutical giant Roche and is supposed to reduce the amount of oil released by glands in the skin. ...
July 29th, 2009 With a mounting number of lawsuits being filed against Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals, plaintiff’s attorneys across the nation are beginning to call this the newest mass tort. The injury lawsuits against the major pharmaceutical company all allege serio...
April 9th, 2009 The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced a voluntary Raptiva recall, April 8, 2009. The Psoriasis drug’s manufacturer, Genentech, announced the voluntary Raptiva recall and has begun phasing the drug off the U.S. market. Raptiva will no longe...
December 8th, 2008 Two officials in the safety division of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) concluded in their recent analysis, published on the FDA website Dec. 4, that people of all ages who have asthma should stop taking four very widely used asthma medicatio...
December 2nd, 2008 A woman living in Canada filed a defective drug lawsuit against Glaxo Smith Kline, the distributor of Paxil, a drug prescribed to treat depression. According to the lawsuit, Shannon Cote, 29, was prescribed Paxil after developing depression during her pre...
November 17th, 2008 U.S. District Judge Rodney Sipple announced that he elected to use the defendants’ proposed Plaintiff’s Fact Sheet when filing NuvaRing® MDL lawsuits. The fact sheet requires all plaintiffs involved in NuvaRing® lawsuits to disclose their history of psych...
October 21st, 2008 A small clinical study reported recently in New Scientist magazine found that men who were taking an antidepressant such as Paxil showed significant increases in sperm damage — that is, sperm with fragmented DNA — that would decrease their fe...
September 25th, 2008
A man from Virginia filed a personal injury lawsuit against Amylin Pharmaceuticals, the manufacturer, and Eli Lilly and Co., the co-marketer of the diabetes drug Byetta (R). The lawsuit, filed in the San Diego Superior...
September 5th, 2008 A group of four drugs used to treat rheumatoid arthritis will get stronger warnings regarding the risk of potentially fatal fungal infections, the Food and Drug Administration announced on Thursday. The agency said the drugs, which include Humira, Remica...
September 3rd, 2008
The diabetes drug Byetta has been linked to the deaths of four more patients, according to a new report by the makers of the drug - Eli Lilly and Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. The Food and Drug Administration had linked the drug to two d...
August 13th, 2008
Nearly 200 reports of adverse events have been reported by patients following injections of Vivitrol, an alcohol dependence drug made by Alkermes Inc., the Food and Drug Administration announced on Tuesday.
Among the complicati...
July 31st, 2008 After months of investigation, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has definitively tied three patient deaths to contaminated heparin. Heparin is a widely used blood thinning medication, primarily administered to dialysis and cardiac surgery patients....
July 10th, 2008 The consumer advocacy group Public Citizen is seeking heightened warnings on Botox and a similar injectable over the risk of death and serious injury caused by spread of the drugs to vital organs. According to the group, 16 deaths are associated with use...
July 10th, 2008 Allergan Inc. is being sued for failing to warn consumers of the dangers associated with Botox, the company’s blockbuster wrinkle treatment. The Complaint The lawsuit was filed on Wednesday on behalf of more than a dozen plaintiffs and alleges th...
July 9th, 2008 A class of antibiotics known as fluoroquinolones needs heightened warnings about the risk of tendon rupture and tendonitis, said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday. Fluoroquinolone antibiotics include: Cipro (ciproflaxin) Avelox ...
June 24th, 2008
America's U.S. Watchdog today announced the launch of their national investigation involving Digitek.
Digitek is a heart medication that was recalled l...
May 28th, 2008 Earlier this week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requested that a drug company based out of Florida recall their dietary supplement. The drug recalled is known as Xiadafil VIP Tabs and is manufactured by SEI Pharmaceuticals. Drug Found to ...
May 27th, 2008 Truckers and drivers of commercial vehicles should not be given Chantix, said the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) last week. The agency is responsible for overseeing the interstate trucking industry. Anti-Smoking Drug Chantix is th...
May 16th, 2008 A rigorous study involving the heart surgery drug Trasylol is likely to seal the drug’s fate, as researchers are left with little doubt of the greater likelihood of death in patients given the anti-bleeding medication. Linked to Risk of Death Tra...
May 15th, 2008 Medical device maker Medtronic has issued a voluntary recall of heparin-coated bypass equipment, including pumps, reservoirs and blood oxygenators. The company said the recall is a precautionary measure and that no reports of injuries have been linked to ...
May 5th, 2008 The families of people who died from contaminated heparin injections testified before Congress last week, expressing anger and grief over manufacturing and regulatory safety failures. “I watched my husband and my best friend slip away before my eye...
April 30th, 2008 A new study suggests that women taking the osteoporosis drug Fosamax are twice as likely to develop a chronic heart condition known as atrial fibrillation. The condition is marked by an irregular heartbeat and causes dizziness, fatigue and fainting. The...
April 23rd, 2008 Hundreds of injuries and at least 81 deaths have been linked to contaminated heparin, the Food and Drug Administration reported this week. On Monday, FDA officials said contaminated heparin has been identified in 11 countries including the United States...
April 22nd, 2008 The American Heart Association is recommending a thorough heart exam and electrocardiogram test for children who are prescribed attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) drugs like Ritalin, Adderall and Strattera. Cardiovascular Risks ADHD drugs h...
April 10th, 2008 The death toll associated with the blood thinner heparin has increased to 62, the Food and Drug Administration reported after a recent analysis. Most of the deaths were reported between December 2007 and February 2008, though the reports date as far bac...
April 1st, 2008
The maker of NuvaRing® is being sued by the widower of a 32-year-old woman who died after developing a fatal blood clot while using the popular contraceptive.
Untimely Death
Jackie Kell...
March 24th, 2008 Twenty-three lots of heparin-containing blood thinner have been recalled by B. Braun Medical Inc. as a precautionary measure after the company’s supplier discovered possible contamination. B. Braun’s supplier, Scientific Protein Laboratories...
March 20th, 2008
The Food and Drug Administration said this week that it was conducting a safety review of Spiriva, a respiratory drug administered by way of an inhaler, after studies linked it to a slightly higher risk of stroke.
Spiriva is used to treat chro...
March 14th, 2008 A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel is recommending restrictions on the use of anemia drugs for cancer patients. The panel recommendation comes in response to growing safety concerns over the risks associated with the anemia drugs Aranesp and ...
March 11th, 2008 Three Japanese companies have issued a recall of the anti-clotting drug heparin as a precautionary measure, said the Food and Drug Administration on Monday. Chinese-Sourced Heparin Contaminated? The heparin was produced for the Japanese firms by Scient...
March 7th, 2008 On March 6, 2008, the State of Alaska provided its opening arguments in a lawsuit against the maker of the schizophrenia drug Zyprexa. The lawsuit contends that the pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly played down the diabetes and weight gain effects of Zypre...
March 3rd, 2008 Actavis Inc. has expanded its recent recall of fentanyl painkiller patches to include all lots sold in the United States. The company said the expansion is a precautionary measure because it cannot guarantee that all patches are without defect. Overdose ...
February 21st, 2008 The heart surgery drug, Trasylol, increases the risk of death and kidney damage in patients, two new studies have confirmed. Trasylol (aprotinin) is given to patients undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery to control bleeding. The drug entered the U...
February 19th, 2008 Another fentanyl patch recall was issued on Monday over a defect that could cause the patches to leak. This is the second recall issued for the prescription patches in the past week. Fentanyl is an extremely potent painkiller. Direct contact with the fe...
February 13th, 2008 Approximately 32 million fentanyl-containing pain patches are being recalled by Johnson & Johnson over a manufacturing flaw that could lead to unintentional overdose. The patches, sold under the brand name Duragesic and containing the potent narcotic fen...
February 6th, 2008 A government run diabetes trial was halted 18 months early after a safety analysis revealed an increased risk of death in patients whose blood sugar levels dipped too low. The 10,000 patient trial was examining the effectiveness of aggressive diabetes t...
February 1st, 2008 A group of drugs used to treat epilepsy, bipolar and mood disorder have been linked to a twofold increased risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors, according to the Food and Drug Administration. Analysis Reveals RiskIn a large-scale analysis of 199 clini...
January 31st, 2008 The maker of the popular antipsychotic drug Zyprexa is in talks to settle state and federal claims over the company’s marketing practices for more than $1 billion, potentially the largest fine ever paid by a drug maker for breaking federal laws gove...
January 29th, 2008 A new lawsuit has been filed against Merck & Co. over its osteoporosis drug Fosamax. The suit claims the drug caused a Connecticut woman to suffer multiple stress fractures in her legs as well as suppressed bone regeneration. Merck is already facing ...
January 25th, 2008
The consumer advocacy group Public Citizen is seeking heightened warnings on Botox and a similar injectable over the risk of death and serious injury caused by spread of the drugs to vital organs.
According to the group, 16 deaths are associate...
January 3rd, 2008 Anemia drugs known as erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs) may speed up cancer growth and lead to earlier death in some patients, the Food and Drug Administration announced today citing two new studies. November WarningThe class of drugs includes Pro...
December 24th, 2007 The Food and Drug Administration issued another warning for the Duragesic and other fentanyl-containing pain patches, which have been associated with hundreds of accidental deaths. In the new warning, the agency said patients and doctors often fail to u...
December 12th, 2007 A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association reaffirms previous findings about the diabetes drug Avandia—that is, it carries a significantly increased risk of heart failure, heart attack, and death. Observational Study ...
December 6th, 2007
The bed-wetting drug desmopressin may cause potentially fatal seizures in some patients, according to a new warning issued by the Food and Drug Administration earlier this week.
Desmopressin is manufactured by several companies and sold as a t...
November 21st, 2007 Scientists are currently investigating Chantix, a drug manufactured by Pfizer Inc., that is meant to help smokers quit their habit. More research is being done on the drug since there have been reports of increased thoughts of suicide and violent behavi...
November 15th, 2007 At the urging of the Food and Drug Administration, GlaxoSmithKline is adding a new warning to its once-popular diabetes drug Avandia . An increased risk of heart attack will now appear in addition to heart failure in Avandia's existing “black box” warning...
November 14th, 2007 The warning on three once-widely-used anemia drugs has been strengthened to highlight the risk of heart attack, worsening cancer, and death. The new changes expand on a black box warning added to the drugs earlier this year that urged doctors to exercise ...
November 7th, 2007 Recent research suggests that birth control pills may cause a potentially dangerous buildup of plaque in the arteries. Researchers presented their findings at a meeting of the American Heart Association on Tuesday. The findings came as a shock to Belgian...
November 5th, 2007 Sales of the heart surgery drug Trasylol are being suspended as concerns continue to mount over the increased risk of death, the Food and Drug Administration announced Monday. The FDA action comes just weeks after a Canadian study was halted amid growin...
October 31st, 2007 First trimester use of the organ rejection drug CellCept is linked to an increased risk of spontaneous abortion and fetal birth defects, according to a Food and Drug Administration announcement. CellCept, a Roche Holding AG drug, gained FDA approval in ...
October 26th, 2007 Bayer AG announced yesterday that it was halting a clinical trial of its heart surgery drug Trasylol because of evidence of an increased risk of death from hemorrhaging. Trasylol , generically known as aprotinin, gained approval by the Food and Drug Adm...
October 25th, 2007 A government advisory panel recommended a ban on cough and cold medicines for children under the age of 6. In its decision, the panel stated that the drugs have not been proven safe and effective and in some cases may even be harmful. More than a dozen i...
October 17th, 2007 The diabetes drug Byetta has been linked to acute pancreatitis, a potentially fatal condition in which the pancreas becomes inflamed, according to a new Food and Drug Administration warning. About Byetta Byetta gained FDA approval for use in the treat...
October 12th, 2007 A jury found drug giant Wyeth responsible for the breast cancer of three women and ordered the company to pay $134.5 million in damages. The verdict is the largest against Wyeth in cases stemming from its hormone replacement therapy drugs. Wyeth is curr...
October 8th, 2007 Strong new warnings were added to the label of the top-selling antipsychotic Zyprexa last week, alerting patients and physicians to the increased risk of high blood sugar and weight gain—both risk factors for diabetes. Zyprexa has been on the market for...
October 1st, 2007 The Food and Drug Administration finalized on Friday its earlier action to strengthen the label on certain dyes used for magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI. The dyes will now carry a bold black box to warn of a potentially fatal side effect in some kidney...
September 26th, 2007 The Food and Drug Administration issued a warning today about the risk of potentially fatal overdoses with Fentora, a narcotic painkiller manufactured by Cephalon. The action comes less than two weeks after the company sent a letter to doctors notifying t...
September 21st, 2007 Skin patches used to administer drugs, such as the Duragesic pain patch and the contraceptive Ortho Evra , are still being prescribed even though the Food and Drug Administration has issued warnings regarding their dangers. Duragesic Fentanyl Patch La...
September 14th, 2007 The powerful narcotic Fentora, used to treat acute pain in cancer patients, has been linked to four deaths. Since its launch last October, approximately 78,000 prescriptions have been written for the drug. According to drug maker Cephalon Inc., three of...
September 13th, 2007 The controversial Bayer AG drug Trasylol, used to prevent blood loss in heart-bypass patients, should remain on the market, a Food and Drug Administration panel recommended yesterday. Trasylol has been linked to an increased risk of kidney failure, hear...
September 12th, 2007 The once-popular diabetes drug Avandia significantly raises the risk of heart failure and heart attack, according to a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association . A second study casts further doubt on the safety of the drug. ...
September 11th, 2007 Prescription drug-related adverse events and deaths have increased nearly threefold since 1998 when the Food and Drug Administration implemented a system for reporting serious side effects, researchers said yesterday. According to a new report in the Ar...
August 15th, 2007 The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced today that the controversial diabetes drug from GlaxoSmithKline, Avandia, will now carry a "black box" warning on its label, advising patients and doctors that use of Avandia presents an incr...
July 30th, 2007 Dr. David Graham, a medical officer in the Food and Drug Administration's Office of Surveillance and Epidemiology, said today that the Type 2 diabetes treatment drug Avandia should be pulled from the market in light of the cardiovascular risks it presents...
July 13th, 2007 Reports of heart problems linked to the diabetes drug Avandia soared after the May 21 publication of an analysis describing potential cardiovascular risks of Avandia treatment. The study, released by The New England Journal of Medicine, has caused a furor...
June 19th, 2007 The nonprescription drug Alli (pronounced like the noun "ally") hit the shelves in February 2007 as the first over-the-counter diet drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Alli has some embarrassing side effects — fre...
June 13th, 2007 Use of the anti-depressant drug Paxil during pregnancy has been linked to a very serious birth defect in infants - PPHN, or persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn. Paxil (paroxetine HCl) is one of a group of drugs called SSRIs (selective seroton...
May 30th, 2007 Thirty-six-year-old Andrew McCarrell of Moody, Alabama was awarded $119,000 for his past medical expenses and $2.5 million in compensatory damages to cover his future medical costs and for pain and suffering in a jury verdict awarded yesterday. His lawsui...
May 25th, 2007 The FDA conducted its own analysis of the risks of heart attack and other heart problems associated with the Type 2 diabetes drug Avandia, and had found significantly increased risks long before the present controversy over Avandia erupted May 21 with the...
May 23rd, 2007 In a warning to healthcare professionals yesterday, the Food and Drug Administration said that Novartis AG drug Exjade may cause acute renal failure and death. Exjade is an FDA approved drug used to remove excess iron in patients two and older who must ...
May 22nd, 2007 The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a safety alert today concerning the drug Avandia (rosiglitazone), which was approved by the FDA in 1999 as a treatment for type 2 diabetes, a serious disease that affects approximately 18 to 20 million pe...
May 11th, 2007 The company that makes the pain relief drug OxyContin, Purdue Pharma LP, agreed Thursday to pay $600 million as a penalty for misleading and defrauding consumers and physicians about the addictive properties of its product. Another $34.5 million in penalt...
May 10th, 2007 The U.S. Senate voted 93-to-1 on Wednesday to pass a new bill authorizing important new powers for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Drafted by senators Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Michael B. Enzi (R-Wyo.), the bill provides for increased funding a...
May 9th, 2007 Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of rebates are being paid to physicians and dialysis centers each year in the U.S. by the pharmaceutical giants Amgen and Johnson & Johnson. The rebates are provided to doctors who choose to use the pharma companies’ ...
May 8th, 2007 The Food and Drug Administration announced last week that all antidepressant labeling will be revised to highlight the increased risk of suicide in young adults Antidepressants are currently required to carry a bold black box warning to alert patients t...
May 8th, 2007 The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a public health advisory on May 3, 2007, notifying healthcare professionals and patients that Zelnorm , a prescription drug used to treat irritable bowel syndrome and constipation, has been taken off the mar...
April 19th, 2007 Anemia patients getting treatment at large, for-profit kidney dialysis chains are often over-treated with epoetin—an anemia drug sold as Epogen and Procrit—increasing their risk of suffering potentially life-threatening side effects, a new study finds. ...
April 16th, 2007 An advisory panel of federal drug regulators rejected Merck & Co.'s application to sell its newest painkiller Arcoxia, citing serious concerns that the drug is linked to cardiovascular events including heart attacks and strokes. Arcoxia is Vioxx's s...
April 11th, 2007 The Food and Drug Administration said that the label on a Johnson & Johnson drug administered to treat bladder conditions should have warnings about the drug's potential to cause agitation or hallucinations in children. The Proposed Label Change T...
April 10th, 2007 An arthritis drug exalted by its manufacturers as the replacement for its Vioxx – which has been pulled from the market because of the cardiovascular risks associated with its use – is now thought to be just as dangerous by a number of doctors. “If it's...
April 6th, 2007 Bextra , the popular cox-2 inhibitor recalled by Pfizer, is the subject of another lawsuit. Rita Fohne has filed her lawsuit against Pfizer in Madison County, Illinois, seeking compensation for the personal injury and economic damages she allegedly sust...
April 5th, 2007
Ibuprofen, the painkiller found in Motrin and Advil, may increase the risk of heart problems in patients who take aspirin daily to lower cardiovascular risk, a new study has found.
The study was published in the Annals of the Rheumatic Disease...
April 3rd, 2007 Permax (generically known as peroglide), a drug used in the treatment of Parkinson's disease, has been pulled from United States shelves because it has been associated with an increased risk of heart valve damage. Food and Drug Administration officials ...
April 2nd, 2007 Novartis AG will no longer sell their constipation drug after a study found that it was linked to an increased chance of stroke, heart attack and an increase in chest pain that could become a heart attack, said federal officials. The Swiss drug maker ag...
March 28th, 2007
Under pressure from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), manufacturers of anemia drugs implemented new, sterner black box warnings on bottle labels. The updated labels include a notice warning doctors to monitor patients' hemoglobin levels.
March 26th, 2007 After disclosures alerting the Food and Drug Administration that the pharmaceutical industry has been paying millions of dollars to physicians, the FDA is seeking to exclude scientists with substantial financial ties to medical device and drug companies f...
March 6th, 2007
An analysis of Food and Drug Administration policy by researchers at Harvard University School of Public Health (HSPH) and at Brigham & Women's Hospital determined that the FDA should allow greater access to its drug safety information to allow for gre...
February 28th, 2007 Men who take the widely used over-the-counter painkillers that contain acetaminophen, aspirin or ibuprofen seem to be at an increased risk of developing high blood pressure, a study found. The drugs are the three most commonly used in the United States,...
February 13th, 2007 The Food and Drug Administration said Ketek, an antibiotic manufactured by drug giant Sanofi-Aventis, can no longer be marketed as treatment for two common sicknesses, and will now be required to carry a stronger warning on its label. Ketek should only ...
February 7th, 2007 A new study reports that Trasylol, a drug used in open-heart surgery to prevent bleeding, increases the patient''s long-term risk of death by almost 50 percent. If Trasylol use is halted, an estimated 10,000 deaths around the world could be prevented ov...
February 6th, 2007 Low-dose birth control pills containing desogestrel can greatly increase the risk of potentially fatal blood clots, according to the research of a consumer advocacy group. While all contraceptive pills are associated with an increase in risk of blood cl...
January 30th, 2007 A Philadelphia state jury found Monday that Prempro, Wyeth''s hormone replacement therapy (HRT) drug, caused an Arkansas woman''s breast cancer. The drug maker Wyeth will have to pay $1.5 million in compensatory damages, according to a court official. Wye...
January 29th, 2007 Makers of the drug Lucentis have issued a warning that the drug used to treat age-related blindness has been linked with an increased incidence of stroke. The makers, Genentech, sent a letter to a group of 1,500 eye specialists warning that early result...
January 19th, 2007 Eli Lilly & Co., makers of Zyprexa, have settled about 18,000 claims alleging that it did not adequately warn patients or vendors that it can cause diabetes, but about 1,200 plaintiffs are holding out, and more suits are being filed by state governmen...
January 16th, 2007 A new study has found that over-the-counter cold medications can be hazardous and even deadly to infants. The government research found that more than 1,500 children under two years old were admitted to emergency rooms for problems caused by taking thes...
January 10th, 2007 The associate director for science and medicine at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Drug Safety, David Graham, told U.S. advisers “there really doesn’t appear to be a need” for COX-2 drugs. Last September, popular arthritis painkiller ...
January 10th, 2007 Drug Maker Sued for Woman''s Amputation Drug maker Wyeth and Co. must pay about $6.8 million to a woman who had to have her arm removed after she was injected with one of its drugs. In the Supreme Court''s opinion, the court said that drug companies c...
January 9th, 2007 Researchers have found a huge increase in the rate of bleeding in the brain associated with warfarin an anticoagulant drug. The researchers from the University of Cincinnati also found that the rate of brain hemorrhages has increased tenfold with the...
January 8th, 2007 According to the Lancet Journal, more long-term data on the efficacy and safety of anti-obesity drugs such as Xenical (orlistat), Acomplia (rimonabant), and Meridia (sibutramine) need to be documented before medical professionals can be certain if the ben...
January 5th, 2007 Two drugs prescribed to treat Parkinson''s disease and similar hormonal disorders may cause severe damage to heart valves, according to two studies published in The New England Journal of Medicine. The drugs in questions are Permax (pergolide) and Dosti...
January 4th, 2007 The manufacturer of the popular antidepressant Paxil is facing yet another lawsuit filed by a South Carolina couple who claim the drug directly caused their daughter to suffer a birth defect. Product Liability Lawsuit When Kimberly Dismuke was pregnant...
December 21st, 2006 For more than one year, drug manufacturer Eli Lilly and Co. played down the blood-sugar risks of its best-selling schizophrenia drug Zyprexa, failing to reveal important clinical trial results, according to internal company documents. A 2000 confidentia...
December 20th, 2006 The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has proposed tougher label warnings for common over-the-counter painkillers such as Tylenol or aspirin, that would address the risk for stomach ulcers and liver damage. These warnings would apply to anti-inflammator...
December 14th, 2006 A U.S. Food and Drug Administration panel of experts is urging the makers of at least 12 antidepressant drugs to expand their label warnings after studies indicated the medications increased the risk of suicidal behavior in a broader span of patients than...
December 13th, 2006 The manufacturers of dietary supplements will soon be required to tell federal drug regulators of any reported severe reactions to their products, as part of new legislation that is cracking down on this lightly monitored industry. The new measure, whic...
December 11th, 2006 Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline PLC is facing two new lawsuits that allege their popular antidepressant drug, Paxil, causes serious birth defects including heart abnormalities and deaths when used during pregnancy. According to the lawsuits—filed b...
December 7th, 2006 A widely used hair-loss drug for men has been found to change prostate cancer test results, causing skewed interpretations that could hide the presence of cancer cells, according to a new study. Men that use Merck & Co.''s Propecia “should be aware ...
December 1st, 2006 The popular antidepressant drug Paxil has been linked to fetal heart malformations and should be avoided during pregnancy if possible, warns an American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists advisory group. While a few previous studies have yet to ...
November 17th, 2006 A new study indicates that high dosages of a popular drug used for the treatment of anemia in cancer and dialysis patients may raise the risk of heart complications and death. According to researchers, these findings suggest that epoetin—sold under the ...
November 15th, 2006 A popular antibiotic that has been linked to rare cases of severe live damage including several deaths faces more scrutiny by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a panel of outside medical experts will thoroughly evaluate the risks and benefits of Ke...
November 8th, 2006 A patient who suffered serious injury after using the popular blood-thinner Plavix has filed the first lawsuit against the drug maker accusing the company of intentionally withholding vital safety information in the name of profit. Dorothy Hall took Pla...
November 1st, 2006 Woman who use birth control pills may be slightly more prone to developing breast cancer earlier on in life, with the highest risk for those who take oral contraceptives prior to having their first child, the results of a new analysis indicates. Researc...
October 30th, 2006 The parents of a two-year-old boy who was born with a serious, life-threatening birth defect allegedly caused by maternal use of the popular antidepressant Paxil, have filed a lawsuit against the drug manufacturer seeking compensation for their losses and...
October 24th, 2006 New research indicates that preschoolers taking Ritalin—a popular drug prescribed for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)—are more prone to suffer side effects than children over six years of age. While Ritalin provided clea...
October 18th, 2006 A new government run study has found that some medications seem to cause a disproportionate number of adverse events that oftentimes require visits to the emergency room, and sometimes even hospitalization. Study Details The study, conducted by the fe...
October 16th, 2006 A new study involving juvenile and adult hamsters uncovered some clues as to why young children and teens may experience aggression and even suicidal thoughts when taking the popular antidepressant Prozac. Researchers compared the behavior between adole...
October 9th, 2006 Bristol-Meyers Squibb has strengthened the label warning on its blood-thinning drug, Coumadin, generically known as warfarin. The new label includes a black box, and warns of the increased risk of “fatal bleeding” associated with the drug''s use. The re...
October 5th, 2006 A Philadelphia jury—in the first phase of a defective drug lawsuit filed against Wyeth—awarded a women and her husband $1.5 million in compensation after they found that a hormone replacement therapy drug at least partially resulted in her breast cancer. ...
October 5th, 2006 A Philadelphia jury—in the first phase of a defective drug lawsuit filed against Wyeth—awarded a women and her husband $1.5 million in compensation after they found that a hormone replacement therapy drug at least partially resulted in her bre...
September 21st, 2006 A new study on mice has established a link between the popular acne drug Roaccutane to depression and suicidal thoughts and behavior. Since the drug''s Food and Drug Administration approval in the 1980s, serious concerns have been raised about the psych...
September 20th, 2006 The family of a one-year-old boy who died from acetaminophen toxicity after being given Infants’ Tylenol was awarded $5 million in a wrongful death lawsuit filed in Philadelphia. According to the suit, the baby’s parents were not aware that Infants’...
September 19th, 2006 A new study finds that hormone therapy drugs commonly used in men to treat prostate cancer may heighten the risk of diabetes and heart disease, indicating such therapy should be prescribed more prudently, researchers announced. GnRH Drugs to Treat Prost...
September 12th, 2006 Some antidepressants that have been associated with increasing the risk of suicide may now also be linked to violence, a new study suggests. Researchers found that patients using the antidepressant Paxil, manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline, were two times ...
September 5th, 2006 The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, who once turned an eye from custom drug blending, now pledges to take a harder look at how pharmacists compound bulk ingredients. Compounding pharmacies where various ingredients are blended to create custom treatm...
August 30th, 2006
Consumer advocacy group Public Citizen petitioned the Food and Drug Administration this week urging them to order drug makers to add stronger label warnings to Cipro and similar antibiotics.
Petitioners cited the serious risk of tendon rupture...
August 28th, 2006 A Texas jury awarded $772,500 to the family of a woman who died in 2004 from a leak in the Duragesic patch she was using to help ease pain after a car accident. The state court found the two Johnson & Johnson entities that manufacture the pain patch are...
August 24th, 2006 Drug manufacturers of stimulant medications used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder are following the Food and Drug Administration''s request to add stronger warning labels notifying consumers of the serious risks linked to the drugs. Gla...
August 23rd, 2006 A new study warns that approximately one in three patients who took the acne drug Accutane experienced a rise in cholesterol levels and more than 40 percent showed increased levels of triglycerides, or blood fats—a higher percentage than what previous stu...
August 15th, 2006 New findings published in The Journal of Clinical Oncology found that two of the most popular treatments for breast cancer—the drug Herceptin and radiation therapy—can cause cardiovascular problems in breast cancer patients. These studies stem from earl...
August 8th, 2006 New research suggests that antiseizure drug valproate is linked to a significantly higher rate of serious birth defects in babies compared with other similar drugs evaluated in the study. According to the new study, published in the journal of Neurology...
August 7th, 2006 A new study indicates that daughters of women who took a popular pregnancy drug have two times the risk of developing breast cancer compared to other women their age. Diethylstilbestrol (DES) is a synthetic oestrogen that was widely prescribed to pregna...
August 3rd, 2006 A woman whose child was born with half a heart has filed a lawsuit against her doctor and the maker of Paxil, alleging that the drug caused her son''s birth defect. Paxil is a popular anti-depressant manufactured by Glaxo Smith Klein. Recently, however,...
July 24th, 2006 A new study found that the popular cancer-fighting drug Gleevec may cause severe congestive heart failure. Gleevec, manufactured by Novartis Pharmaceuticals, is a top-selling drug with worldwide sales totaling more than $1 billion so far this year. Even...
July 10th, 2006 A Houston jury found Johnson & Johnson responsible for the death of a Texas woman who died after a patch containing pain-killing drugs leaked, delivering a lethal dose. Michaelynn Thompson, 42, wore the Duragesic patch to manage pain from injuries susta...
June 20th, 2006 Novartis AG announced a worldwide recall of its Triaminic Vapor Patch yesterday after reports of serious associated health risks, including seizures. The patch, an over-the-counter cough suppressant for children two years of age and older, is applied to...
June 15th, 2006 A United States senator is accusing the Food and Drug Administration of attempting to cover up information pertaining to its review of the controversial antibiotic Ketek . The Senate Finance Committee, led by Republican Charles Grassley, is currently re...
June 9th, 2006 Two men filed personal injury lawsuits against Pfizer, alleging that the pharmaceutical giant concealed serious health risks associated with its popular cholesterol drug Lipitor. The lawsuits accuse Pfizer of promoting Lipitor as a safe drug with minima...
June 9th, 2006 A new study has found that a popular class of blood pressure drugs known as ACE inhibitors nearly triples the risk of birth defects if taken during the first trimester. ACE inhibitors have long been linked with birth defects, but previous studies had li...
June 5th, 2006 A lawsuit filed in a Florida federal court is claiming that Merck, the maker of Fosamax, was negligent in promoting its popular osteoporosis drug. According to the complaint, Merck knew that Fosamax was defective but continuously concealed its potenti...
June 2nd, 2006 Drugs that once seemed safe for patients with cancer or osteoporosis have recently been linked to a rare bone disease that has doctors perplexed and patients worried. Osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ) is a serious, sometimes disfiguring, condition that cau...
May 30th, 2006 A federal judge approved a settlement that will cover more than 40,000 people who suffered injury from the controversial fen-phen diet pills that were pulled from the market in 1997. This agreement, known as the seventh amendment to the Nationwide Diet...
May 25th, 2006 A new study estimating that attention-deficit hyperactivity drugs send thousands to the emergency room annually is renewing the debate over the risks associated with the highly prescribed medications. Physicians with the Centers for Disease Contro...
May 23rd, 2006 A recent study shows that patients who use non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), which include over-the-counter pain medications like ibuprofen and naproxen, face an increased risk of hospitalization for heart failure. Dr. Consuelo Huerta and ...
May 22nd, 2006 The Food and Drug Administration approved the popular but controversial arthritis drug Remicade on Friday for use in children with Crohn''s disease. The approval comes just two days after a study linked the drug to an increased risk for malignancies and s...
May 17th, 2006 A new study conducted by researchers at the Mayo Clinic found that rheumatoid arthritis patients taking Humira or Remicade stand an increased risk for developing several types of cancer or serious infection. The drugs already have warning labels that ...
May 12th, 2006 The FDA issued a statement today warning doctors of the increased risk of suicidal behavior in young adults taking the antidepressant Paxil. The warning came after researchers at GlaxoSmithKline, the maker of Paxil, discovered a direct link between t...
May 8th, 2006
At least 45 unexplained child deaths occurred between 2000 and 2004, which the FDA suspects may have been caused by the use of atypical antipsychotic drugs.
Atypical antipsychotic drugs are currently only approved to treat adults suffering fro...
May 2nd, 2006 Bristol-Myers Squibb announced its plans yesterday to take the antibiotic Tequin off the market. Tequin, an antibiotic prescribed for chronic bronchitis, sinusitis, pneumonia, urinary tract and other infections, has been associated with serious blood-s...
April 28th, 2006
Children under the age of two should not use Phenergan (Promethazine HCL) because of the potential for fatal respiratory problems, according to the FDA warning. Phenergan is an antihistamine used to control nausea and post-operative pain as well as to ...
April 28th, 2006
New Jersey legislators have agreed to consider a bill that would effectively phase-out children’s vaccines containing mercury by 2009.
Mercury is a toxic element sometimes used in vaccines. For the past several years, scientists have conduct...
March 27th, 2006 A class action lawsuit filed against Paxil manufacturer Glaxo SmithKline charges the drug company with fraud, negligence, strict liability, and breach of warranty and claims Glaxo SmithKline should be held liable for Paxil-induced suicides in youths acros...
March 23rd, 2006 Yesterday, a Food and Drug Administration pediatric advisory panel voted against recommending a “black box” warning for popular attention deficit hyperactivity disorder drugs like Novartis AG''s Ritalin and Shire Plc''s Adderall. The federal advisory co...
March 21st, 2006 On Wednesday, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory committee will debate whether the FDA should require attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder drugs to carry an updated label. The new label would warn millions of ADHD drug users of the possible ...
March 14th, 2006 In one of the first lawsuits of its kind, parents David and Sheila McKay are suing an online pharmacy and physician for negligence and wrongful death after their 19-year-old son killed himself as a result of what they believed to be antidepressant drugs h...
March 10th, 2006 A recent observational study found commonly used antidepressants like Prozac and Paxil may significantly increase the risk of death in patients with coronary artery disease. Dr. Lana L. Watkins and her colleagues at Duke University evaluated symptoms of...
March 7th, 2006 Two of the most popular asthma medications, Advair and Serevent, will carry the strongest warning label alerting consumers of the heightened risk of death associated with an ingredient found in these drugs. The new “black box” warning cautions users of ...
March 2nd, 2006 Tequin, one of the most widely prescribed antibiotics used to treat pneumonia and other infections, is believed to lead to serious blood-sugar complications in users. Studies released yesterday by the New England Journal of Medicine concluded that Tequi...
February 10th, 2006 The Food and Drug Administration advisory committee voted for the strictest possible warning on attention deficit disorder drugs including Novartis AG''s, Ritalin and Shire''s Adderall. The new black box label will warn millions of consumers of the possib...
February 9th, 2006 The Food and Drug Administration is examining the safety of attention deficit disorder (ADHD) drugs like Adderall and Ritalin following the reported deaths of 51 people in the U.S. This is not the first time federal regulators and medical professionals ha...
February 8th, 2006 The Food and Drug Administration has issued a formal Public Health Advisory to doctors regarding the serious side effects associated with the heart surgery medication Trasylol. Trasylol is used by heart surgeons for the prevention of excessive blood loss ...
January 30th, 2006 The parents of a severely brain damaged and disabled teenager are suing doctors and pharmaceutical companies Eli Lilly and PAR Pharmaceuticals Inc. for the Prozac related suicide attempt of their young daughter. 19-year-old Sarah Lowery is now severely ...
January 26th, 2006 A drug commonly administered during heart surgery to control bleeding is now causing reason for serious concern among patients and medical professionals. Trasylol (aprotinin), which was approved for use by the FDA in 1993, has shown to substantially incre...
January 25th, 2006 The pending release of the over-the-counter weight loss medication Xenical is causing unrest in the medical field. The product, which will be marketed under the name Alli, was favored in an 11-3 vote by an FDA advisory panel on Monday, for release as an o...
January 23rd, 2006 The case of David Hari, convicted of first-degree murder, has been overturned by the Illinois Supreme Court for failure to inform the jury that the defendant was taking the antidepressant drug Zoloft at the time of his actions. 43-year-old David Hari was ...
January 19th, 2006 A selectively worded preamble to the recently passed new drug labeling guidelines is causing controversy among lawyers, Congress, and citizen watch groups. The “federal preemption” included in the guidelines scheduled for release in June, suggests that pe...
January 6th, 2006 GlaxoSmithKline and the FDA are both warning the public about a new study linking eye problems in diabetic patients who take the diabetes drugs Avandia or Avandamet. The eye problems, known collectively as macular edema, are the result of leaking blood ...
January 2nd, 2006 Several high profile groups around the country, including the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) based in Los Angeles, CA are calling on Pfizer to remove advertising for Viagra that the groups say promotes unsafe activity. The full-page ads ran in several...
December 28th, 2005 A pseudoephedrine lawsuit filed in Oklahoma is being closely watched around the country because it is the first of its kind. The suit is being filed by the widow of an Oklahoma State Trooper who was killed by an illegal drug dealer and manufacturer on t...
December 27th, 2005 A recent study of antidepressant use shows that there has been a remarkable drop in use by children. The high profile cases and US Food and Drug Administration warnings have been seen as effectively slowing down the dangerous drug''s prescription rates in...
December 21st, 2005 Drug giant Eli Lilly and Co., manufacturer of such blockbuster drugs as Prozac and Zyprexa have pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge as a part of a legal settlement with the US government. The US charged that Eli Lilly had been marketing its drug Evista fo...
December 8th, 2005 A Beijing based law firm will file a collective lawsuit against Merck & Co. next year. Currently, the law firm is looking for former Chinese Vioxx users who have suffered from side effects. Vioxx was taken off the worldwide market in September 2004 ...
November 30th, 2005 Swiss drug manufacturer Novartis is warning fertility doctors that its breast cancer drug, marketed under the name Femara (letrozole), has been associated with birth defects. The safety warning was prompted by reports that Femara was being used to help a ...
November 28th, 2005 In response to expiring drug patents and massive litigation over its recalled painkiller Vioxx, Merck & Co. has announced it would eliminate 7,000 jobs, or 11% of its worldwide work force, and close some manufacturing plants. Merck said it would cut j...
November 22nd, 2005 The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has just sent an “approvable” letter for the diabetes drug muraglitazar (Pargluva), but a consumer group and two clinical trial experts have told the agency it should not be approved. According to watchdog group Pub...
November 17th, 2005 Meridia is just one of two weight-loss drugs currently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, but some experts have questioned the drug''s effectiveness. Although the formula of improved diet and exercise is a known way to achieve weight loss,...
November 8th, 2005 Legislation promoted by Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R-Va.) and attached to a multi-department appropriations bill was passed last year with little notice, but this year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and many drug makers and doctors objected to its renewa...
October 21st, 2005 Pargluva, a new diabetes drug that seemed headed for Federal Drug Administration approval has been linked to serious side effects including death, heart attacks and strokes. The FDA has held off the drug''s approval, though only after recent studies showe...
September 28th, 2005 GlaxoSmithKline and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are warning healthcare professionals that a study has linked Paxil to double the risks of serious birth defects among infants born to women taking Paxil during the first trimester of pregnancy comp...
September 20th, 2005 A recent study has shown that five new antipsychotic drugs used often in schizophrenics and other mentally ill patients have not been proven to be a more effective treatment than an older, less expensive drug. The study underlies criticism by consumer ri...
July 29th, 2005 For the first time ever, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will withdraw approval of a veterinary drug because it has caused the emergence of antibiotic resistant bacteria that threaten human health. Bayer’s Baytril was licensed in 1996 to treat r...
July 26th, 2005 Canada has issued an advisory regarding the erectile dysfunction drugs Viagra, Cialis and Levitra, alerting patients to “seek immediate medical attention” if they experience sudden vision loss or other vision-related problems when taking the medications. ...
July 18th, 2005 The FDA warned Friday, July 15th that a painkilling skin patch marketed under the name Duragesic by Janssen, a company owned by Johnson & Johnson, could cause drug overdoses that may have resulted in 120 deaths. The agency is currently investigating ...
July 15th, 2005 The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has asked Purdue Pharma to stop the sale and marketing of its potent new pain drug, Palladone, after just five months on the market. The decision was made after the agency acquired new information regarding the inter...
July 13th, 2005 An FDA advisory committee unanimously recommended three asthma medications – Serevent, Advair and Foradil – remain on the market, but urged more research to determine whether the medications might worsen asthma in certain patients. The panel was aske...
July 1st, 2005 Republic Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, says he is “troubled” by how long it is taking the FDA to change Viagra labeling to include a possible link to vision loss that has been reported to the agency in 38 Via...
June 13th, 2005 A recent vision loss scare has shaken the world of erectile dysfunction sufferers. Some men have been experiencing non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION) within 36 hours after ingesting sildenafil citrate, known to the public as Viagra. ...
June 3rd, 2005 McNeil Consumer & Specialty Pharmaceuticals, maker of Tylenol, said it was issuing a voluntary recall on several children’s products because label information may be confusing and lead to overdosing. Included in the drug recall are all lots an...
May 21st, 2005 The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has started issuing alerts to patients and doctors on its new site Drug Watch. Including emerging drug-safety concerns, as well as dangers presented by drugs prescribed for unapproved uses, the new site is in respons...
May 16th, 2005 After a controversial year of drug recalls, the FDA was under attack for failing to adequately protect consumers from dangerous drugs. Currently, the FDA has the Adverse Event Reporting System, or AERS, to collect voluntary reports of possible reactions ...
May 11th, 2005 Off label uses of medication are uses and routes of taking a particular medication that have not been approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration. Since the 1960s the FDA has required that all prescription drugs sold in the United States be prov...
April 21st, 2005 The FDA has requested 14 drugmakers to check their study data to see if use of epilepsy drugs results in suicidal behavior or thoughts, giving the drugmakers six months to respond. Sales of anti-seizure drugs in the U.S. during 2004 were the fifth- l...
April 18th, 2005 According to a study among smokers in Norway who took over-the-counter drugs like Advil, Motrin and Aleve for at least six months, they had twice the risk of dying of a heart attack, stroke or other heart-related problem. The study was trying to de...
April 11th, 2005 The Food and Drug Administration asked Pfizer Inc. to withdraw its arthritis drug Bextra because of the risks of increased heart attacks, strokes and a potentially fatal skin disease called Stevens Johnson syndrome. Bextra’s removal from the market o...
April 7th, 2005 Pfizer Inc. has agreed to pull Bextra off the market in response to an FDA request, making it the second COX-2 inhibitor to be pulled off the market because of cardiovascular risks. Last September, Merck & Co.’s Vioxx was pulled off the market after a...
April 4th, 2005 According to a new study, if provided by experienced psychotherapists, cognitive therapy may be as effective as antidepressant drugs in initial treatment of moderate to severe depression. The study included 240 people with moderate to severe depress...
March 23rd, 2005 After COX-2 painkillers – Vioxx, Celebrex and Bextra- came under scrutiny when cardiovascular risks were associated to the drugs some drugmakers saw this as an opportunity to try to capitalize on the events. Vioxx went off the market in September 20...
March 15th, 2005 The consumer advocacy group Public Citizen submitted a petition to the FDA a year ago asking the agency to immediately withdraw the anti-cholesterol drug Crestor, but the agency has denied its request. Crestor belongs to a group of drugs called sta...
March 8th, 2005 Analysts are reassessing their earnings forecasts and are warning that at least $270 million of profits could be lost in the current financial year following the seizure of two major GlaxoSmithKline drugs by the FDA – diabetes treatment Avandamet and a...
March 7th, 2005 A long-awaited 10-year study involving nearly 40,000 women provides the first strong evidence of the benefits of healthy women taking aspirin regularly. Researchers reported aspirin does not protect women against heart attacks in the same way it does ...
March 7th, 2005 In the early 1990s, a homeopathic brand called Hyland’s crossed over as a “natural” remedy to be sold alongside mainstream drugs on store shelves. Homeopathic benefits belief is based on the idea that natural substances in small amounts can stimulate ...
March 4th, 2005 A Republican lawmaker who has remained neutral for weeks, Sen. Michael B. Enzi, said Thursday that recent internal reforms by the Food and Drug Administration did not do enough to protect patients from drugs with potentially deadly side effects. Enzi...
March 4th, 2005 A dozen consumer groups have called on the FDA to examine the scientists on its advisory committees, excluding doctors or researchers with close industry ties from the group. The advocacy groups sent a letter to the agency saying the FDA should ...
March 2nd, 2005 The FDA has announced that Crestor is being relabeled to add a warning that starter doses should be reduced in Asian-American patients, as well as some other higher risk patients. A clinical trial found that levels in Asian patients were double thos...
March 2nd, 2005 The FDA announced a revised drug labeling for the cholesterol-lowering drug Crestor would be added, warning of the serious muscle damage called rhabdomyolysis. A clinical trial found levels of Crestor in Asian patients were double those of Caucasians ...
February 28th, 2005 After a panel of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration voted last week to allow the possible return of Vioxx, as well as voting to allow Celebrex and Bextra to remain on the U.S. market, The New York Times, then The Associated Press, reported that 10 mem...
February 25th, 2005 Merck & Co. and Pfizer Inc. have been criticized for their aggressive marketing campaigns for its COX-2 drugs, putting scrutiny on pharmaceutical advertising as a whole. Between December 2003 and November 2004, pharmaceutical ad spending increased 30 pe...
February 25th, 2005 A three-day FDA Advisory Committee meeting has wrapped, but the COX-2 drugs controversy is still not resolved. Although the panel of government medical experts advised keeping the drugs, including Pfizer Inc.’s Celebrex and Bextra, on the market, new wa...
February 18th, 2005 The advisers to the FDA strongly favor keeping Celebrex on the market, but the panel is split over Bextra’s benefit. Vioxx, which was removed from the market last September, is still not on sale by a vote of just 17-15. Although the FDA does not hav...
February 18th, 2005 A jury found Tuesday that the hormone replacement therapy drug, Prempro, manufactured by Wyeth, caused a woman's breast cancer, awarding her and her husband a $3 million verdict. A previous jury also found Wyeth guilty in the same case, but that verdict...
February 17th, 2005 Plaintiffs who decided to opt out of a class action lawsuit have been offered a comprehensive settlement offer from Wyeth for fen phen side effects. Half of the diet drug combination fen phen, Redux and Pondimin were withdrawn in 1997 after dis...
February 16th, 2005 A 15-year old boy, Chris Pittman, was convicted by a jury on two counts of murder in the 2001 killings of his paternal grandparents. The defense attorney for Pittman argued popular antidepressant Zoloft drove the boy to kill. Zoloft is one of ...
February 10th, 2005 According to new research, the herbal supplement St. John’s Wort is as effective in treating both moderate and severe depression as one of the most popular prescription antidepressants, Paxil. Published in the online edition of the British Medical Jo...
February 4th, 2005 The Wall Street Journal reports the National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded research that will be made public at not cost within 12 months of publication in a scientific journal. The original proposal of an initiative that NIH Director Elias Z...
January 30th, 2005 California based Kaiser Permanente, the largest HMO in the United States, has banned Pfizer Inc.''s Bextra because of "an issue of patient safety," according Beverly Hayon, a spokeswoman for Kaiser. Kaiser ordered its pharmacies to stop dispensing B...
January 28th, 2005 Purdue Pharma’s popular and controversial prescription drug OxyContin has avoided being named in a certification of a class action lawsuit claiming harm, including addiction. OxyContin contains a very strong narcotic pain reliever similar to morphine...
January 24th, 2005 Public Citizen consumer group urged the FDA today to immediately order painkillers Celebrex and Bextra off the market. The two COX-2 inhibitor drugs manufactured by Pfizer Inc. have been controversial since Vioxx, another painkiller in the same famil...
January 24th, 2005 Public Citizen petitioned the FDA to immediately remove two popular Pfizer Inc. drugs from the market because of concerns they increase the risk of heart attacks in patients. Celebrex and Bextra belong to a class of drugs called COX-2 inhibitors, whi...
December 30th, 2004 Vioxx and Celebrex were used for years and were so popular they both became blockbuster drugs. In recent months, a major turn of events has forced people to look at the drug industry and the drug agency overseeing it with a critical eye. Merck & Co. a...
December 27th, 2004 According to a study in the December issue of the American Journal of Public Health, African Americans do not receive the same healthcare as whites. The study estimates more than 886,000 deaths could have been prevented from 1991 to 2000 if African Amer...
December 27th, 2004 The FDA and the drug industry it is supposed to regulate have been the target of harsh criticism in recent years. The last couple of months have brought even more attention to the issue of public safety. The debate is intensifying, involving the FDA, dru...
December 27th, 2004 A prominent cardiologist, chairman of cardiovascular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Dr. Eric J. Topol, urged the government to reassess its policy of allowing prescription drugs to be advertised directly to consumers in yesterday''s Journal of the Amer...
December 20th, 2004 After Pfizer Inc. announced its best selling arthritis drug Celebrex is linked to an increased risk of heart attacks and strokes, the company has agreed to the FDA''s request to pull Celebrex ads from TV, radio, newspapers and magazines. According to ana...
December 20th, 2004 The FDA says it is working with the National Institutes of Health to review available scientific information on naproxen, sold under the brand name Aleve by Bayer, after the decision to halt a clinical trial studying the effect of naproxen on patients at...
December 20th, 2004 The little economic data or corporate news is expected to keep U.S. stocks held firm during the holiday week, excluding the pharmaceutical industry. On Friday, December 17, drugmaker shares were hit after several announcements were made. Pfizer Inc....
December 17th, 2004 Pfizer has announced patients taking its arthritis drug Celebrex in a long-term cancer-prevention trial had more than twice the number of fatal or non-fatal heart attacks as those taking a placebo. The National Cancer Institute sponsored the Celebrex t...
December 16th, 2004 The Ohio Supreme Court ruled a lawsuit accusing OxyContin manufacturer, Purdue Pharma, of irresponsibly marketing the drug cannot move forward as a class action. Those who filed OxyContin complaints alleged they became addicted to the drug and lost the...
December 16th, 2004 When people are suffering symptoms of a cold or flu, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warns consumers should be cautious of taking more than one medication at a time. The two drugs could share ingredients, causing an increased risk of dangerous overd...
December 9th, 2004 ABC News uncovered new documents suggesting GlaxoSmithKline, maker of popular antidepressant Paxil, failed to disclose the possibility that an increased risk of suicidal behavior among children using Paxil could occur. The company also failed to warn of t...
December 9th, 2004 Pfizer Inc., the world''s biggest drugmaker, will warn doctors of the elevated risk of blood clots, heart attacks and strokes its painkiller Bextra has been linked to when taken by cardiac-surgery patients. The drug company will also highlight exi...
December 8th, 2004 Australian health authorities are looking into issuing new strong warnings for SSRI antidepressant drugs, which includes popular drugs Zoloft and Prozac. British regulators have already increased warnings about stopping the drugs suddenly. Doctor...
December 7th, 2004 Ever since Accutane made its 1982 U.S. debut, intended to treat severe forms of acne that failed to respond to other treatments, it has been the source of medical and regulatory controversy. Now, a Florida lawsuit against Accutane drugmaker Hoffmann-La R...
December 6th, 2004 British health authorities have tightened warnings on popular antidepressants. Doctors have been urged to use the antidepressants sparingly, as well as to consider non-drug interventions like counseling. After safety concerns with antidepressants con...
November 26th, 2004 Researchers in the UK warned in the journal Diabetes Care that on rare occasions, treatment with Avandia might cause a profound decrease in high-density lipoprotein, or the HDL good cholesterol, and an increase in fasting triglycerides. Dr....
November 23rd, 2004 The FDA announced today a national registry for women of childbearing age prescribed the drug Accutane has been set up. Accutane is a powerful acne medication that can cause serious birth defects, including brain and heart damage, even in small amounts. ...
November 22nd, 2004 An editorial in the Journal of the American Medical Association is one of just several articles to appear in next week’s edition that focuses on the FDA’s ability to effectively monitor drug safety. Following the September Vioxx recall, more critics have...
November 18th, 2004 Two studies published in Archives of Disease in Childhood found the use of prescribed antidepressants and other drugs among children throughout the world are increasing. In all nine countries surveyed between 2000 and 2002, except Canada and Germany, r...
November 18th, 2004 A senate hearing regarding Vioxx began Thursday, November 18 following the massive drug recall announced by manufacturer Merck & Co. at the end of September. Inquiries about both the FDA and Merck''s knowledge about Vioxx safety concerns and when...
November 15th, 2004 Pfizer is the target of a class action lawsuit filed November 12 alleging the company violated the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act. The suit is seeking up to $75,000 per class member with allegations that Pfizer failed to prov...
November 11th, 2004 According to a study presented at the American Heart Association scientific meeting, Avandia rival diabetes drug Actos was more effective in diabetics with high levels of triglycerides and low levels of HDL, the good cholesterol. Actos was shown to ...
November 10th, 2004 After a prominent cardiologist Garret FitzGerald reported a pooled analysis of clinical trial results showed patients taking Pfizer''s Bextra arthritis drug were twice as likely to have a heart attack or stroke as those taking a placebo, Pfizer fired ...
November 8th, 2004 A black box warning is the strongest warning available for prescription drugs. Following the Vioxx recall, Pfizer''s rival painkillers Bextra and Celebrex have also been under scrutiny. Both of Pfizer''s drugs belong to the same Cox-2 drug class that Viox...
November 7th, 2004 Eli Lilly and Co. currently faces about 125 Zyprexa lawsuits after studies showed its antipsychotic drug is linked to higher rates of diabetes, weight gain and high blood pressure in users. Now using a new legal tactic to stall the filing of potentially h...
October 29th, 2004 According to the Public Citizen consumer group, 29 patients taking AstraZeneca Plc''s statin drug Crestor have developed kidney damage. Public Citizen first issued an FDA petition in March 2004 for the immediate ban of Crestor in the U.S. After comple...
October 15th, 2004 The FDA directed manufacturers of all antidepressant drugs to revise its product labeling to include a boxed warning and expanded warning statements that notify health care providers of an increased risk of suicidality, or suicidal thinking and behavior, ...
October 13th, 2004 In November 2000, the FDA asked companies using PPA (phenlypropanolamine) in their cold products to voluntarily take the products off the market because of possible health risks, including links with hemorrhagic stroke in first time female users. Now, Ba...
October 12th, 2004 Eli Lilly issued a warning about Zyprexa schizophrenia drug after it was linked to 49 adverse events worldwide, eight of them being fatal. The company issued the warning after a review of the deaths showed Zyprexa intramuscular had been prescribed at ...
October 10th, 2004 Crestor (rosuvastatin) cholesterol lowering drug is manufactured by AstraZeneca, the U.K.''s second largest drugmaker. The company has just announced it has 7.5 percent of new U.S. prescriptions, which is an increase from the company''s last update in...
October 5th, 2004 Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is approved to relieve hot flashes, night sweats and other menopausal symptoms. In addition to the risk of heart attacks, stroke and breast cancer, women receiving combination HRT are at double th...
September 6th, 2004 GlaxoSmithKline''s biggest selling product used to be its antidepressant drug Paxil. Over the years, the safety of Paxil has been questioned, and Paxil was never FDA approved for patients younger than the age 18 because of studies showing it was not effec...
August 21st, 2004 Eli Lilly and Co. has responded to the loss of revenue from its once blockbuster selling antidepressant drug Prozac by issuing a companywide hiring freeze and other "strict measures". Lilly is trying to overcome the over $2 billion a year loss in revenue ...
August 16th, 2004 Atrial fibrillation, the most common type of irregular heartbeat, can be expected in one in four adults over the age of 40. Currently, nearly 2.3 million Americans suffer from atrial fibrillation, a type of arrhythmia that significantly increases risk of ...
August 12th, 2004 Crestor, a cholesterol lowering drug, was approved for the U.S. one year ago, quickly generating sales of $465 million through the end of the second quarter. AstraZeneca''s nearly $4 billion in annual sales of the drug has been the target of some controve...
August 3rd, 2004 Public Citizen consumer group has been pushing government regulators to pull Crestor from the market because of safety concerns. Now, the group has argued AstraZeneca should be the subject of an FDA criminal investigation for illegally delaying the submis...
July 31st, 2004 A Warsaw, Poland man has named Eli Lilly and Co. the target of a lawsuit because he claims the company''s Zyprexa drug gave him diabetes and other health problems. Zyprexa is a drug treatment for schizophrenia and manic depression but has recently been th...
July 30th, 2004 The August 2004 issue of Mayo Clinic Health Letter discusses secondary hypertension, a less common high blood pressure that can occur and leave suddenly. People are surprised after years of following healthy diets, exercise and relaxation techniques when ...
July 23rd, 2004 An $11.55 million Rezulin lawsuit award has been upheld to a woman whose husband died after suffering liver failure. The man was hospitalized of liver failure in 1999, a month within being prescribed Rezulin, and died one week later. Rezulin, a diabetes d...
July 23rd, 2004 Janssen Pharmaceutic Products, the makers of the anti-psychotic drug Risperdal, sent a letter to the health care community outlining the potential health risks associated with the medication. This action is in compliance with the FDA''s request that...
July 8th, 2004 The increase in Zyprexa safety concerns is injuring sales according to Prudential Financial''s research note. Zyprexa maker Eli Lilly is a leading global pharmaceutical company. The major schizophrenia drug has led to the "neutral weight" rating currently...
July 3rd, 2004 A $60 million settlement in an Illinois class action lawsuit has been reached with Rezulin diabetes drug maker Pfizer Inc. The lawsuit, filed in 2002, alleged Rezulin caused liver problems in five percent of the people who used it, which contradicts adver...
June 25th, 2004 Public Citizen consumer group has been against the approval of Crestor cholesterol drug, citing evidence of increased incidence of rhabdomyolysis, a condition that causes muscle deterioration. The FDA still approved Crestor and said the toxicity was only ...
June 7th, 2004 Just weeks after Pfizer and its Warner-Lambert Co. unit were penalized $430 million in federal and state courts for selling Neurontin for purposes that have not yet been FDA approved, the company is again under fire for fraudulent marketing practices. The...
June 1st, 2004 The world''s largest drug manufacturer, Pfizer, Inc., agreed to pay at least $400 million in order to settle civil charges regarding kickbacks to encourage doctors to prescribe the anti-epileptic drug Neurontin for other purposes. The settlement i...
May 30th, 2004 The FDA recently issued a public health advisory warning certain antidepressants can cause sudden worsening of symptoms. The agency recommended manufacturers add new warnings to prescription inserts for antidepressants Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, Luvox, Celexa...
May 20th, 2004 By ANNA WILDE MATHEWS Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Pfizer Inc.''s drug Neurontin, at the heart of a controversy over an illegal marketing scheme, is facing a new challenge: a petition asking the Food and Drug Adm...
May 20th, 2004 Drug manufacturer Bristol-Meyers announced Wednesday that it will no longer make or sell Serzone, an antidepressant that has been linked to potentially deadly liver complications and has already been withdrawn in major markets including Europe and Canada...
May 17th, 2004 The drug company that makes the powerful pain killer OxyContin is developing a formula to prevent abusers from getting a high, but the development is not coming fast enough for many, including Pennsylvania Attorney General Jerry Pappert. Last Tuesda...
April 21st, 2004 Eli Lilly and Company requested a judicial panel consolidate the large, and still growing, number of Zyprexa lawsuits in Indiana. The request was denied but about two-dozen federal cases around the country, in addition to future cases, will be consolidat...
April 19th, 2004 The filing of the first nationwide Zyprexa class action lawsuit has been announced against Zyprexa maker Eli Lilly and Company. The Zyprexa class action lawsuit represents all U.S. Zyprexa users. The most popular atypical antipsychotic mediation, Zyprexa ...
April 15th, 2004 Pfizer, the world''s largest drugmaker, bought Warner-Lambert three months after the company issued a Rezulin recall in 2000. The Rezulin recall has resulted in lawsuits after allegations of liver damage leading to death, liver transplant, or damage. ...
March 25th, 2004 Eli Lilly and Co. is already under federal investigation for its marketing practices but has just announced it is under investigation for its antipsychotic drug Zyprexa and antidepressant Prozac. Depending on the outcome of the federal investigation, the ...
March 22nd, 2004 At last month''s FDA meeting families of suicide victims emotionally asked the drug agency to provide stronger warnings on antidepressants. The warnings come a year after British health authorities first became alarmed about how newer generation antid...
March 20th, 2004 Bayer''s Baycol cholesterol drug was recalled in August 2001 and is now linked to over 100 deaths. The company has so far paid $842 million to settle 2,224 cases but still faces 9,948 more Baycol cases. Now the company is facing a class action in Pennsylv...
March 19th, 2004 Safety concerns about Lariam anti-malaria pill continues to be raised. After a Fort Carson Green Beret committed suicide weeks after returning home from Iraq, the Defense Department researchers have asked for a blood sample. The soldier was believed to ha...
March 19th, 2004 The most popular selling atypical antipsychotic medication and Eli Lilly and Co.''s best selling drug has been the target of three more Zyprexa lawsuits after claims of serious cases of diabetes and pancreatitis was diagnosed. Lawsuits have already been f...
March 17th, 2004 According to new data, once an effective dose has been reached Zyprexa and Risperdal have been shown to have inferior results in terms of anti-aggressive effects compared to clozapine. Published in the April 2004 issue of the Journal of Clinical Psychopha...
March 15th, 2004 Depakote is currently the mot prescribed branded treatment for patients with mania associated with bipolar disorder and the most prescribed branded treatment for epilepsy. Made by Abbott Laboratories, the company just had a victory after proving a generic...
March 15th, 2004 Public Citizen has sued the FDA, calling the agency "grossly negligent" for failing to issue a Serzone ban despite having already been taken off the market in Canada and Europe, with sales to end in Australia and New Zealand in May. The consumer watchdog ...
March 11th, 2004 Pfizer''s Parke-Davis unit sells Neurontin, a large selling epilepsy drug. The company is currently facing a lawsuit over the marketing of Neurontin after a former employee has accused the company of giving doctors misleading information and kickbacks to ...
March 11th, 2004 The Justice Department is investigating how Pfizer Inc., the world''s largest drug company, marketed its diabetes drug Rezulin. In Maryland, a federal grand jury wants testimony from former Warner-Lambert Co. employees regarding Rezulin. In 2000, Pfizer b...
March 10th, 2004 Eli Lilly and Co. is already under federal investigation for possible improper marketing of an osteoporosis drug, but now, the government may also look into the way Zyprexa antipsychotic drug was promoted as well. The entire class of neurological antipsyc...
March 5th, 2004 The Pentagon announced in late February that it would look into whether a widely-used anti-malarial drug that the Army developed could be causing suicides. The announcement, made to Congress, came as a surprise, since the Pentagon had asserted only one mo...
February 20th, 2004 Zyprexa''s maker Eli Lilly & Co. announced it had warned doctors of using Zyprexa schizophrenia treatment amongst elderly patients with dementia. A letter was issued to U.S. doctors on January 15, 2004 to warn of increased risks of death and stroke when e...
February 18th, 2004 The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an advisory to consumers about the potential risk of severe liver injury resulting from the use of dietary supplements containing kava. A plant indigenous to the South Pacific, kava (also commonly referred ...
February 3rd, 2004 Hormone replacement therapy used to be a common treatment method for all women going through menopause. In July 2002, the views on hormone replacement therapy drastically changed when a US trial was ended after five years, three years early because of the...
February 3rd, 2004 Hormone replacement therapy used to be a common treatment method for all women going through menopause. In July 2002, the views on hormone replacement therapy drastically changed when a US trial was ended after five years, three years early because of the...
February 3rd, 2004 The FDA has begun series of public hearings in order to determine if SSRI antidepressants like Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft are safe for children and teenagers. The lucrative $12 billion a year industry has been controversial amongst children and teenagers. Over...
January 28th, 2004 A widely prescribed class of antipsychotic drugs increases the risk of diabetes, warned a group of four prominent medical organizations. Their statement seconds the concerns of US regulators and researchers. A statement published in the February...
January 27th, 2004 Cancer patients have been warned against using herbal remedies and food supplements during treatment due to serious adverse effects that can be suffered. Medicinal plants are an industry of quickly growing proportions, estimated at a worth of over $60 bil...
January 27th, 2004 In September 2003, the FDA decided Zyprexa labeling changes needed to be made. This decision was the result of a multi year review of all available data, including case reports, epidemiologic studies, and clinical trial data. The new Zyprexa labeling warn...
January 25th, 2004 p>A patent infringement case has finally made its way to trial after nearly three years. The case involves Eli Lilly and Co. against three smaller drug companies in order to determine if the defendants will be able to sell generic versions of Lilly''s blo...
January 22nd, 2004 Pfizer''s profits are suffering, attributed to the $1.5 billion charge in personal injury claims from its diabetes drug Rezulin. The drug company is also under a government investigation due to the marketing practices of Neurontin epilepsy and pain medica...
January 22nd, 2004 A federal grand jury indicted a Virginia doctor on 95 counts, including 14 counts of illegally dispensing medication leading to death or bodily harm and 64 counts of prescribing medication without reason. The doctor was accused of contributing to seven de...
January 21st, 2004 A survey published this month in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that an increasing number of American parents are beginning to question the need for vaccines for their children, as well as the need to follow the recommended schedule for...
January 13th, 2004 In March 2000, Rezulin was abruptly recalled from the market. The FDA''s action surprised the doctors across the country that had been using the popular diabetes drug Rezulin. Frantically, doctors sifted through patient files in hopes of quickly locating ...
January 11th, 2004 There are 120 million overweight or obese Americans, and this rate continues to escalate. Weight problems increase risk of cancers, diabetes, and heart disease, and over the past five years the number of Americans diagnosed with diabetes has increased 27%...
November 26th, 2003 A study was released showing evidence that cheap, older generic schizophrenia drugs are as effective as Eli Lilly and Co.’s expensive Zyprexa treatment. Following this study, Zyprexa stock fell. Also hurt by the Zyprexa study results was...
November 25th, 2003 A new study has revealed Zyprexa schizophrenia drug may not be a much more effective treatment than older and cheaper medications. These Zyprexa findings are surprising to many, especially since Zyprexa maker Eli Lilly & co. paid for the...
May 28th, 2002 Meridia (sibutramine) has been pulled from the market in Italy after being linked to two deaths and at least 28 other deaths around the world and is now under review by European regulators. Meridia has been on the U.S. market since 1998, but the FDA is cu...
May 21st, 2002 Public Citizen has already petitioned the FDA for the immediate removal of Meridia weight loss pill, and on May 21, 2002, the group said they had obtained a report of an FDA inspection of Abbott facilities in Abbott Park, Illinois. This recent FDA report ...
March 20th, 2002 After Public Citizen issued a petition to the FDA remove Meridia from the U.S. market, Abbott Laboratories, Meridia’s maker, issued a statement claiming the petition was based on incorrect conclusions. Abbott believes that Public Citizen has not cons...
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