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Stroke
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7/5/2006 9:30:00 PM | Witness says studies showed Vioxx users at risk of heart ailments 
=(0) More compelling testimony for the plaintiffs in the California Vioxx trial: Dr. Lemuel Moye of the University of Texas said his analysis of early Vioxx trials concluded that the risks of heart attack and stroke outweighed the benefits. Further, some trials excluded patients who were at a higher risk of heart attack, thus skewing the resu...
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6/27/2006 10:11:00 PM | Journal Corrects Vioxx Article to Reflect Short-Term Heart Risk =(0) The New England Journal of Medicine has issued a correction with regard to a study on the heart risks of Vioxx. The study, released in 2005 and funded by Merck, the drug company that made Vioxx, concluded that the risks of heart attack began only after 18 months of Vioxx treatment. A followup study, however, adds more data which suggests...
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6/27/2006 6:32:00 PM | Plaintiff Lawyers Like Vioxx Correction =(0) Lawyers who lost Vioxx cases to Merck (three such cases, so far) are encouraged by the news that the New England Journal of Medicine has issued a correction with regard to a Vioxx study it published last year. The correction removed references to the crucial 18 month time period that Merck claims is a safe period before heart side effects kick in.&...
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6/27/2006 4:44:00 AM | Doctor: Many women in denial about heart risk =(0) A doctor, interviewed for this article, believes that women do not take their risk of heart disease seriously; however it is the number one killer of women over age 25. He recommends analyzing your risk factors and changing what is possible - such as stopping smoking, losing weight, exercising more, eating properly. Screening blood tests are a...
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6/26/2006 3:58:00 PM | Merck says Vioxx risk unchanged by data correction =(0) From the "if I say it, that makes it so" file, the drugmaker Merck continues to insist that studies originally reported in the New England Journal of Medicine are still valid despite a correction issued by that publication. The Journal retracted the part of the article that concluded that Vioxx heart risk only begins after 18 months of use, af...
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6/23/2006 4:09:00 PM | Merck: FDA whistleblower's video testimony goes beyond limits =(0) Lawyers for drug company Merck are trying to suppress some testimony from an upcoming Vioxx trial. An FDA researcher, Dr. David Graham, made a video deposition in which he alleged that for two years, Merck resisted FDA requests to change the labelling on Vioxx to reflect what was becoming known about the risk of heart attacks and strokes with the d...
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6/21/2006 6:14:00 PM | Mutant Gene May Help Cause Abnormal Heartbeat =(0) Doctors have found that some cases of atrial fibrillation may be due to a genetic defect. Atrial fibrillation is a fairly common type of irregular heartbeat which affects the upper heart chambers. It is not immediately deadly but does raise the risk of stroke due to blood clots. The gene, found only in heart cells, makes a certain protei...
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6/21/2006 4:09:00 PM | Finding new ways to deal with high blood pressure =(0) An intriguing new approach to controlling high blood pressure is being tested in the US. It's a device, surgically implanted in the chest, that somehow tricks the brain into thinking blood pressure is higher than it actually is, which then signals body processes that operate to reduce blood pressure. The device is intended to work alone o...
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6/21/2006 3:03:00 PM | Heart Risk Tied To Losing Job =(0) A data analysis by Yale University researchers shows that people who were fired or laid off from their jobs after age 50 had double the risk of heart attack and stroke as those who remained at work, even when other risk factors are taken into account. Doctors are urged to consider this part of a patient's history, as are employers when plannin...
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6/21/2006 9:52:00 AM | Statins found to reduce cataract risk =(0) A study to investigate whether cholesterol-lowering drugs had adverse effects on the eyes, has found the opposite: statin drugs seem to reduce the incidence of cataracts, a very common eye condition in the elderly. These drugs, such as Lipitor, lower cholesterol and are used to prevent heart attack and stroke, however they were previously foun...
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6/20/2006 11:30:00 AM | Lower is better for diabetics' bad cholesterol =(0) A study out of the UK suggests that higher doses of cholesterol-lowering drugs such as Lipitor may provide benefits to patients who already have heart disease and diabetes. That is, lowering LDL ("bad") cholesterol even further than the levels now recommended would protect these patients from stroke or heart attack even more. Lowering the aver...
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6/19/2006 7:12:00 PM | Study Spots Potential Stroke Drugs =(0) A drug type currently used to treat heart disease may also be useful for early treatment of stroke victims, according to Duke University researchers. Cardiac glycosides increase calcium levels in cells, which guards against cell death. Stroke and heart disease can alter cell calcium concentration. While the research has not yet even been ...
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6/18/2006 8:08:00 AM | Stroke risk spikes with diabetes diagnoses =(0) An analysis of data by Canadian researchers shows that health risks caused by type II diabetes occur earlier than previously thought. The risks of stroke, heart attack and kidney failure rise upon onset of the disease, not slowly in the long term. Researchers say this implies that damage to blood vessels happens quickly and that diabetic...
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6/18/2006 6:39:00 AM | Generic Zocor to challenge Lipitor =(0) June 23, 2006 is the day that the cholesterol-lowering drug Zocor may go generic in the US. Losing patent protection is bad financial news for the maker of the drug but in this case it might also be bad news for Zocor's competitors, as doctors might be inclined to switch patients from Lipitor (for example) to cheaper generic versions of Zocor....
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6/16/2006 4:00:00 PM | Lawyer: Merck Scrapped Study on Vioxx =(0) Evidence presented in the current Vioxx trial going on in New Jersey, suggests that Merck cancelled a study of the drug's heart safety the day after a labelling issue was settled with the FDA. A Merck official testified that the timing was a coincidence. Evidence was also presented concerning Merck's efforts to counterbalance doctors' con...
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6/13/2006 2:38:00 PM | Experimental Drugs Help Reduce Effects Of Stroke =(0) An experimental program in Washington DC is testing a new combination of clot-busting drugs for stroke victims. The drugs are useful up to 24 hours after the onset of a stroke, instead of the 3 hours for current medications - when they are even available. The program has treated 36 patients so far. One of their stories is described in the...
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6/13/2006 12:31:00 PM | High Blood Sugar Can Be Deadly After Heart Attack =(0) A study in the US shows that patients hospitalized for heart attacks or strokes are at greater risk of death if their blood sugar is elevated. The risk was higher in people who had not previously been diagnosed with diabetes, than in those who had. Patients with COPD or liver failure, however, do not run the same risk if their blood sugar...
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6/8/2006 2:52:00 PM | Timeline: The Rise and Fall of Vioxx =(0) This is an excellent summary of the events surrounding the approval and eventual withdrawal of Vioxx, from 1998 to the present (June 2006). It outlines how evidence of heart and stroke complications existed from the beginning, and how conflict of interest and witholding of data might have impacted decisions regarding clinical studies. It...
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6/8/2006 1:46:00 PM | Early Vioxx Study Continued Despite Clear Risks =(0) This is a transcript of a recent National Public Radio (NPR) show that reveals that even in 1999, there was evidence that Vioxx caused heart and stroke related problems. A large study compared people taking Vioxx to people taking naproxen (Aleve) and found the cardiac risk with Vioxx to be greater and to increase with time; however this study was n...
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6/6/2006 3:02:00 AM | Celebrex Trial Is Delayed =(0) There has been a postponement for the first lawsuit against Pfizer for medical conditions allegedly caused by its Cox-2 class of painkiller drugs. A judge requested the delay to allow more gathering of information about Celebrex, which is suspected of causing the Alabama plaintiff's stroke in 2005. Unlike Vioxx, Celebrex has not been withdrawn...
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