Legal Issues

Medical professionals concerned over Benicar reports

Reports linking the blood pressure medication Benicar to intestinal problems were a hot topic of conversation at this year’s Digestive Disease Week meeting — considered the largest and most prestigious meeting in the world for the gastrointestinal professionals.

A report in Gastroenterology and Endoscopy News says Benicar has been linked to severe symptoms similar to those of sprue, or celiac disease.

That’s not the only concern that health care professionals have raised ...

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Byetta manufacturer demands court order before sharing safety information

In the course of an investigation about the class of diabetes drugs that includes Byetta and Januvia, the medical journal BMJ uncovered evidence suggesting that manufacturers tried to repress evidence linking the drugs to serious health problems.

A growing body of evidence has linked incretin therapies such as Byetta and Januvia to both pancreatitis (a potentially deadly inflammation of the pancreas) and pancreatic cancer. Byetta has also been linked to thyroid ...

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Pfizer selling Irish manufacturing factory

A story in the Irish Independent says Pfizer intends to sell one of its Irish plants, in large part because of declining revenues from its anti-cholesterol drug Lipitor.

Sales of Lipitor, a former blockbuster for the company, have been plummeting recently because its patent expired, opening it up to competition from generics. The drug has also been the subject of some recent health concerns.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has added ...

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Diabetes group wants drug-makers to release info

According to a story in MedPage Today, the American Diabetes Association is calling for makers of diabetes drugs such as Byetta and Januvia, classified as “incretin therapies,” to release all of the data on their drugs for a review.

The ADA’s demands come as a growing body of evidence links drugs such as Byetta and Januvia to a potentially deadly inflammation of the pancreas called pancreatitis, and to pancreatic cancer. Byetta ...

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EU Doctors urge caution when prescribing Lipitor

Some European medical professionals are urging their colleagues to use caution in prescribing the class of cholesterol-lowering drugs known as statins, following reports linking the medications to a higher risk of diabetes.

In a study published in the British Medical Journal, Canadian researchers said powerful statins such as Lipitor may increase the risk of Type 2 diabetes by 22 percent compared with weaker drugs. The researchers analyzed a sample of 1.5 ...

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Medical device regulations criticized

A story in Canadian news magazine MacLean’s deals with the haphazard nature of medical device regulation, characterizing the problem as a “scandal in the making.”

According to the article, flawed oversight of medical devices – essentially any medical product that doesn’t work through a chemical process – is an international problem that exists in the United States and Europe, as well as Canada.

The article specifically mentions two medical devices that serve ...

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