Latest
Drugs & Side Effects
& Related Newswire
4/26/2006 10:12:00 AM | Health chiefs' grapefruit alert to drug patients 
=(0) Reminder to those taking certain medications, particularly cholesterol-lowering statin drugs, to avoid grapefruit products. Grapefruit and grapefruit juice interact with the body to slow down metabolism of the medication, with the result that the drug stays in the body longer and has increased risk of side-effects. Those taking certain al...
Read More
4/25/2006 8:46:00 PM | Cholesterol Drug =(0) Now that some of the cholesterol-lowering statin drugs are beginning to appear in generic form, with Pravochol already approved, a move is on to provide them over-the-counter, that is, without prescription. It would make the drugs cheaper and more accessible but the worry is that people would take them without sufficient monitoring and would t...
Read More
4/25/2006 7:07:00 PM | Conflicts of interest in FDA committees =(0) This article examines a study recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association which examined the incidence and impact of conflict of interest occurrences on FDA committees. The agency issued new guidlines for disclosure in 2002 and these do seem to be followed; however the rate of recusal from voting decisions is low and there...
Read More
4/24/2006 5:38:00 PM | Merck's Vioxx Liability Appears 'Manageable' =(0) Merck can handle the financial hit from the Vioxx lawsuits because of large cash reserves, according to UBS Investment Research. This investment analyst rates Merck stock "neutral" for now, pending further outcomes. It is expected that the Vioxx lawsuits will take many years to resolve and that Merck can weather the storm....
Read More
4/23/2006 1:15:00 PM | Latest Issue Of Alzheimer's & Dementia Explores New Ideas For ... =(0) This article examines some new research into Alzheimer's disease, including an intriguing study into the effects of a diabetes drug, Avandia, on Alzheimer's.
Avandia makes cells more sensitive to insulin, which is how it works for Type II diabetes; since diabetes is one of the risk factors for Alzheimer's, doctors think that changes in the way...
Read More
4/22/2006 6:36:00 PM | Viagra – Miracle Drug for Heart Disease – Sidenafil Citrate =(0) Viagra use may have more benefits than the obvious one. The drug, which works by expanding blood vessels, lowers blood pressure and has a direct effect on the heart, researchers at Johns Hopkins University have found. Viagra's effect is to lower the impact of stress on heart function and might even be able to reverse heart damage caused b...
Read More
4/22/2006 3:09:00 AM | After half dozen Vioxx trials, there is still no clear trend =(0) Six down, more than 11,000 to go. And counting. That is the tally for Merck in Vioxx lawsuits. (Not to mention, appeals for the cases Merck has already lost.) This article reviews the lawyers' approaches from both sides, and estimates that Merck's eventual liability may reach $50 billion. Merck still insists it will fight each case s...
Read More
4/21/2006 6:16:00 PM | Texas jury awards $32 million in Vioxx case =(0) Merck has lost the first round in another Vioxx lawsuit. Even though the plaintiff, Leonel Garza, had suffered from heart disease since 1978, a jury ruled that his death in 2001 was caused by the Vioxx which he took for less than a month shortly before he died. The award, $32 million, will be reduced by Texas law to at most $750,000, pending Merck'...
Read More
4/20/2006 12:54:00 AM | Lilly Faces New Lawsuits Claiming Excess Marketing of Zyprexa =(0) Drug maker Eli Lilly & Co. faces a raft of new lawsuits concerning its psychiatric drug, Zyprexa. The drug, approved in 1996, was since found to be a causative factor in diabetes and other illnesses. The company settled some lawsuits for a total of $700 million last year but thousands of new suits have emerged despite the appearance of w...
Read More
4/19/2006 2:42:00 PM | Merck in court over osteoporosis drug =(0) The drug maker Merck has yet another lawsuit to contend with, this time over its osteoporosis medication Fosamax. A class of patients in Florida alleges that they developed osteonecrosis of the jaw, a rare but painful and debilitating condition, as a result of Fosamax treatment and that Merck was negligent in disclosing the risk. Merck cl...
Read More
4/15/2006 7:21:00 AM | Therapeutic prospects beyond COX -2 inhibitors - =(0) A new animal study suggests that the very mechanism by which Cox-2 inhibitor drugs (such as vioxx, celebrex) reduce inflammation and pain, causes the adverse cardiovascular side effects. It has to do with a substance, prostacyclin, which the drugs suppress; however this substance is protective to the heart. One way to counteract this effe...
Read More
4/14/2006 3:59:00 PM | Study: Cox-2 Inhibitors Reduce Risk Of Cancer =(0) A new study indicates that cox-2 inhibitors, the same medications recently vilified for causing heart attacks in arthritis patients, may protect against breast cancer and perhaps other cancers. However vioxx is already off the market and warnings against these medications are well-publicized. Research will be geared towards finding dosag...
Read More
4/12/2006 7:41:00 AM | Elderly Vioxx Plaintiff Awarded Another $9 Million =(0) On the one hand, the plaintiff in this Vioxx case had so many other illnesses, it looked like it would be difficult to prove that Vioxx actually affected him; on the other, it was easy to prove that had he known the risks, he would not have chosen to take Vioxx in the first place. The upshot was, the jury awarded the plaintiff, John McDarby, $9 mil...
Read More
4/12/2006 5:53:00 AM | UK Woman Wins Court Fight for Cancer Drug Herceptin =(0) A British woman has won her court case on appeal, and will be provided with her diagnosed breast cancer medication, Herceptin, by the government. The dispute centered around the funding policy, which was to only provide the drug in late stage cancer; this patient had already undergone therapy and was prescribed the drug to prevent recurrences....
Read More
4/6/2006 2:03:00 AM | Depression drugs pose fetal risks =(0) Researchers in Canada have found a link between the use of antidepressants such as Paxil in pregnancy, and increased risk of premature or low birth weight babies. However, it is not established if this is a cause-and-effect association; for example, the depression itself may be the cause rather than the medication. Since withdrawing treat...
Read More
4/4/2006 1:23:00 AM | Jury to Start Deliberation in Two Vioxx Injury Cases =(0) The fourth Vioxx personal injury lawsuit has been handed to a jury for deliberation. With one loss and two wins in prior cases, Merck's stock is holding steady as they defend themselves against claims that they hid bad side effects and an increase in heart attack risks from patients prescribed the medication for arthritis and other painful conditio...
Read More
4/2/2006 5:14:00 AM | Prozac: Generic version is target of lawsuit =(0) Par Pharmaceutical, a company who makes a generic version of the anti-depressant drug, Prozac, is being sued by the widow of a man who committed suicide while on the drug. The patient allegedly suffered from side effects caused by the drug that made him hear voices and increased his suicidal thoughts and tendencies. This marks one of the first inci...
Read More
4/1/2006 10:35:00 AM | Certification of Nationwide Vioxx Class-Action against Merck =(0) Merck, the maker of Vioxx, has stated it will not settle any lawsuits related to the drug, but now that a nationwide class action Vioxx lawsuit has been certified, they may reconsider. The lawsuit, brought by health plans that paid for Vioxx prescriptions for patients, will apparantly be easier to prove than the 9,000 plus personal injury lawsuits ...
Read More
3/28/2006 8:14:00 PM | GSK settles Paxil case with states =(0) Pharmaceutical provider GlaxoSmithKline, maker of the commonly prescribed anti-depressant Paxil, reached a 13 million-dollar settlement with several state governments that purchased the drug within a six-year time period. According to the governments, state-funded programs were forced to pay inflated prices for the anti-depressant, because the comp...
Read More
3/28/2006 9:01:00 AM | Families launch Ritalin lawsuit =(0) Pharmaceutical company Novartis, maker of the drug Ritalin, is now facing a class action lawsuit. According to the five families who are launching the suit, children as young as seven years old suffered cardiac episodes and hallucinations after taking the commonly prescribed drug. The five children, aged 7 to 14, all experienced serious side effe...
Read More
Drugs & Side Effects News 1 | Drugs & Side Effects News 2 | Drugs & Side Effects News 3 | Drugs & Side Effects News 4 | Drugs & Side Effects News 5 | Drugs & Side Effects News 6