FDA & Prescription Drugs

• Fentora Misuse Causes Four Deaths

  Scott Kappes | September 17, 2007 12:10 PM | 0 CommentsGalveston Bay, TX

  The prescription medication Fentora has been implicated in four deaths this summer. The drug is intended for use in cancer patients suffering from intense pain and who are already tolerant of opioid drugs. Some doctors, however, are prescribing the drug for off-label uses, such as headaches and back pain. Fentora maker, Cephalon, responded to the deaths by issuing letters to doctors warning of...

• FDA to Investigate Chantix

  Scott Kappes | September 12, 2007 11:35 AM | 0 CommentsGalveston Bay, TX

  With people still perplexed by the actions and eventual shooting death of Carter Albrecht, the FDA has announced that it will be looking into the Albrecht case to see what role Chantix may have played in his violent behavior. Chantix is a stop smoking aid that was approved by the FDA in 2006, that many claim to be the best stop smoking aid they have ever tried. The label released by the Food and...

• Girlfriend Blames Chantix for Violent Episode

  Scott Kappes | September 10, 2007 11:09 AM | 0 CommentsGalveston Bay, TX

  In the wake of the shooting death of Sorta keyboardist, Carter Albrecht, last Monday, more attention has been given to the stop smoking aid Chantix. Chantix is a prescription medication that was approved last year to assist people in quitting smoking. Users almost always describe changes in their dreams, which they have nicknamed "Chantix dreams." While some only report crazy dreams, others have...

• Vioxx Class-Action Rejected by Supreme Court

  Scott Kappes | September 07, 2007 10:28 AM | 0 CommentsGalveston Bay, TX

  Vioxx manufacturer Merck & Co. scored a major legal victory yesterday as the New Jersey Supreme Court rejected a potential class-action lawsuit against the company. Class-action litigation would have probably resulted in Merck paying out around $20 billion before all was said and done. The court overruled two lower court decisions, deciding that a nationwide class-action suit was not the proper...

• Cardiac event risk in Vioxx user starts soon after use begins

  Christen Wiese | August 07, 2007 11:36 AM | 0 CommentsGalveston Bay, TX

  A study done by Dr. David Kerr of Britain's University of Oxford discovered that the increased risk of an adverse cardiac event happened sooner than originally thought for Vioxx users.The original conclusion from a past study conveyed that Vioxx posed a significant cardiovascular threat after 18 months of use. However, the new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in July 2007...

• The many effects of Paxil

  Allison Snoddy | June 26, 2007 4:10 PM | 0 CommentsGalveston Bay, TX

  Paxil is a prescription drug approved to treat depression, general anxiety disorder, social anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and post traumatic stress disorder. Although the FDA approved Paxil in 1993, there are many side effects that users should be aware of. Studies show that nearly twenty percent of all clinical trial patients in Paxil studies have had to discontinue treatment because...

• Avandia Warning

  Robert Binstock | June 20, 2007 9:50 AM | 0 CommentsGalveston Bay, TX

  The FDA has been criticizing the handling of Avandia for the past three weeks now. Avandia was the subject of a meta-analysis which is an overview of the results of many smaller studies. In the study, it was found that those taking Avandia had a 43% greater chance of death or heart attack than those not taking the drug. The data was being reviewed and the reputations of Glaxo and the FDA was...

• Bard Composix Kugel

  Robert Binstock | June 15, 2007 11:31 AM | 0 CommentsGalveston Bay, TX

  On January 10, 2007, Davol, Inc. sent letters to health care professionals and distributors telling them to stop using the recalled product, specific lots of Bard Composix Kugel Large Oval and Large Circle Mesh Patches, and return unused units to the company.The "memory recoil ring" that opens the Bard Composix Kugel Mesh Patch can break under the stress of placement of the large sized products...

• Vioxx Judge Reverses His Decision

  Allison Snoddy | June 06, 2007 2:51 PM | 0 CommentsGalveston Bay, TX

  On June 5th 2007, a judge who threw out a $51 million damage award against Merck & Co. last year over its Vioxx painkiller reversed himself. He reversed his decision and awarded $1.6 million ($600,000 in compensatory and 1 million punitive) to a former FBI agent who blamed his heart attack on the drug. Judge Eldon Fallon said that Gerald Barnett could accept the $1.6 million or have a new...

• Dangers of the Internet Pharmacy

  Dian Rosier | March 30, 2007 3:31 PM | 0 CommentsGalveston Bay, TX

  Think you have found an excellent source to obtain your prescriptions drugs such as Ambien, Zanax, Lexapro and Ativan? Think again! Many Americans who ordered these drugs were shocked when the FDA has issued an alert regarding buying these specific drugs over the internet because they have found some of these pills contain the anti-psychotic drug, haloperidol, commonly know as Haldol.Used...