Posts tagged Drug Products

• Respiratory Inhaler May Pose Greater Stroke Risk

  Joe Saunders | March 19, 2008 9:05 PM | 0 CommentsTampa Bay, FL Category: FDA & Prescription Drugs
  

  The FDA is looking into whether Boehringer Ingelheim' respiratory inhaler poses a greater risk of stroke. According to the FDA, the data submitted by the German drug manufacturer, shows that its Spiriva Handihaler poses a greater risk of stroke compared with a placebo. FDA said it has not yet analyzed the figures, which were compiled from 29 patient studies. The FDA has asked doctors to report...

• Direct-to-Consumer Advertising by Drug Companies

  Jim Clark | March 06, 2008 3:36 PM | 0 CommentsTampa Bay, FL Category: FDA & Prescription Drugs
  

  The idea of drug companies advertising the prescription medicines they manufacture on TV and in other consumer directed media has always been offensive to me. I have often wondered if other consumers like me consider the fact that the drug products these companies advertise are for conditions that never go away. In other words, with few exceptions the products do not heal anything, they just...

• Heparin Finger Pointing Has Already Started

  Brenda Fulmer | March 06, 2008 8:01 AM | 0 CommentsTampa Bay, FL Category: Defective & Dangerous Products
  

  "A series of independent assessments, inlcuding one by the agency's own Science Board, have found that the F.D.A. is increasingly overwhelmed by its many responsibilties and is incapable of protecting the public from unsafe drugs, medical devices and food - particularly from China." While the Food & Drug Administration continues its investigation into contaminated Heparin blood thinner...

• FDA issues public health advisory on Chantix

  Brenda Fulmer | February 05, 2008 9:23 AM | 0 CommentsTampa Bay, FL Category: FDA & Prescription Drugs
  

  On February 1, 2008, the FDA issued a public heath advisory (http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2008/NEW01788.html) regarding new safety warnings regarding the smoking-cessation drug Chantix (varenicline) indicating, "It appears increasingly likely that there may be an association between Chantix and serious neuropsychiatric symptoms." Chantix, a non-nicotine prescription medication...

• Drug Companies Pull Vytorin TV Ad

  Joe Saunders | January 23, 2008 2:20 PM | 0 CommentsTampa Bay, FL Category: FDA & Prescription Drugs
  

  A week after a study showed that Vytorin is no more effective in reducing cholesterol than the company's generic equivalent, Merck and Schering-Plough withdrew their direct-to-consumer marketing ads. Vytorin, a combination of Zetia and Merck's Zocor, lost patent protection in 2006. The marketing campaign was a familiar one to television viewers and was dubbed "food and family" depicting in a...

• What You and Your Physician Don't Know Can Hurt You

  Brenda Fulmer | January 22, 2008 8:33 AM | 0 CommentsTampa Bay, FL Category: Defective & Dangerous Products
  

  "When you prescribe drugs, you want to make sure you're working with best data possible; you wouldn't buy stock if you only knew a third of the truth about ."Over the past several years, drug manufacturers have lauded themselves for their decision to finally come clean, and publish all of their research (whether good or bad for them) in peer reviewed journals in order to ensure that the medical...

• Evidence Mounts on HRT Breast Cancer Dangers

  Brenda Fulmer | January 22, 2008 7:56 AM | 0 CommentsTampa Bay, FL Category: Defective & Dangerous Products
  

  Yet another study was released earlier this month showing that women who use combination hormone replacement therapy drugs face much greater risks of developing certain types of breast cancer. This latest study from researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center noted that women taking HRT drugs had a four-fold (400%) increased risk of developing lobular breast cancer and was the...

• FDA Warns About Anemia Drug Risks

  Joe Saunders | January 08, 2008 11:46 AM | 0 CommentsTampa Bay, FL Category: FDA & Prescription Drugs
  

  In a new warning about certain anemia drugs, the FDA has noted that studies are showing that patients with breast or advanced cervical cancers died more rapidly or their tumors grew at an advanced rate than those who were not treating with anemia drugs known as ESAs (erythropoiesis-stimulating agents). According to the FDA, "all eight studies show more rapid tumor growth or shortened survival...

• First Federal Ortho Evra Trials Scheduled

  Brenda Fulmer | December 31, 2007 6:05 PM | 0 CommentsTampa Bay, FL Category: Defective & Dangerous Products
  

  On December 6, 2007, Judge David Katz, the federal judge who oversees the Ortho Evra multi-district litigation proceedings in Cleveland issued a scheduling order for the first trials to be conducted in the federal system. Judge Katz oversees more than 1,400 lawsuits pending against Johnson & Johnson (http://www.jnj.com/home.htm) and its subsidiaries relating to the controversial Ortho Evra...

• Specialized Treatment for HRT Patients With Lobular Breast Cancer

  Brenda Fulmer | December 31, 2007 4:15 PM | 0 CommentsTampa Bay, FL Category: Defective & Dangerous Products
  

  A study from Turin, Italy published recently in Endocrine Related Cancer noted that former users of hormone replacement therapy drugs who are diagnosed with lobular breast cancers may require specialized treatment based upon the unique characteristics of their tumors. The researchers noted a "growing body of evidence" to "support the association between the use of hormone replacement therapy...