Medical

New research finds that the banned appetite suppressant drug may cause damage to heart valves long after use has stopped. The new study, published in the journal BMC Medicine, reviewed the history of 5,743 people who had not taked the drug fenfluramine for more than a decade.
“Valve problems were common in individuals exposed to [...]

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is notifying health care professionals and patients that Tyco Healthcare Group LP (Covidien) is recalling one lot of ReliOn sterile, single-use, disposable, hypodermic syringes with permanently affixed hypodermic needles due to possible mislabeling. The use of these syringes may lead to patients receiving an overdose of as much as [...]

(OMNS, November 5, 2008) If you have often suspected that drug studies are rigged by
the pharmaceutical manufacturer, you are right. “Drug studies skewed toward study
sponsors,” reported The Washington Post. (1) “Industry-funded research often favors
patent-holders, study finds.” Specifically, the American Journal of Psychiatry study
authors said, “In 90% of the studies, the reported overall outcome was in [...]

Sedative Linked to Deaths in Patients With Prolonged Seizures
Patients treated for their prolonged seizures with the sedative propofol may be at high risk for complications and even death. New research presented at CHEST 2008, the 74th annual international scientific assembly of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP), shows that the use of propofol as [...]

11 percent possibility of failure after 3 years.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — PLEASANTON, CA — October 24, 2008—Thoratec Corporation is initiating a worldwide medical device correction of all serial numbers of the HeartMate II Left Ventricular Assist Systems (HM II LVAS) having Catalogue No. 1355 or 102139, which have been distributed since the beginning of clinical [...]

Off-label drug use is the use of a drug for treatment of conditions for which it has not been officially approved, so the use for such conditions is not on the drugs official label.  Off-label prescription of a drug is generally legal.  However, the promotion of off-label uses by a drug manufacturer is illegal.
In an [...]

 Following a recommendation from the European Medicines Agency, the huge pharmaceutical firm Sanofi-Aventis has halted the sale of the anti-obesity drug Acomplia in the EU. Acomplia joins An ever growing list of approved drugs that are found to be high risk after approval
“The risks of taking Acomplia are now greater than the benefits that the [...]

Eating fruit and vegetables can improve cancer patients’ response to chemotherapy
The leading cause of death in all cancer patients continues to be the resistance of tumor cells to chemotherapy, a form of treatment in which chemicals are used to kill cells.
Now a study by UC Riverside biochemists that focuses on cancer cells reports that ingesting [...]

Over 4,000 deaths linked to drug adverse reactions during the quarter.
According to a new report from Institute for Safe Medication Practices, a non-profit consumer watchdog, “A record number of deaths and serious injuries associated with drug therapy were reported to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the first quarter of 2008.”
The report detailed [...]

ETHEX Corporation announced today that it has voluntarily recalled three specific lots (77946, 81141 and 81142) of Dextroamphetamine Sulfate 5 mg tablets, as a precaution, due to the possible presence of oversized tablets. Oversized tablets may contain as much as about twice the labeled amount of the active ingredient. The recalled lots were [...]