Bayer, maker of the Yasmin line of birth control pills, has agreed to pay $15 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that it illegally marketed aspirin mixed with supplements, Bloomberg reports.
Consumers sued a unit of the company, Bayer Healthcare LLC, in 2008 over its Bayer Women’s Low Dose Aspirin + Calcium and Bayer Aspirin with Heart Advantage, containing the supplement phytosterols.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned the company the ...
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The Wall Street Journal reports that Johnson & Johnson and federal prosecutors have reached a settlement over allegations that the company illegally marketed its antipsychotic drug Risperdal and other medications.
That settlement will reportedly be about $2.2 billion, and include about $400 million in criminal fines.
But the settlement won’t be the end of Johnson & Johnson’s legal troubles. It’s still facing thousands of lawsuits from plaintiffs alleging that the company’sread more.... --> continue reading...
A story in Mother Jones magazine details some of the tactics that pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline used to illegally market some of its medications.
Those tactics included a company-sponsored yacht trip, and payments made to celebrity physician Dr. Drew Pinsky in exchange for marketing off-label uses of anti-depressant Wellbutrin. GlaxoSmithKline also sponsored events at resorts in Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and California, at which physicians were offered recreational activities including deep-sea fishing, kayaking, ...
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A study recently published in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine found a correlation between exposure to organic solvents at work and several types of birth defects affecting the heart.
In an article on the findings, U.S. News and World Report quotes researcher Suzanne Gilboa, an epidemiologist with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as saying that exposure to these solvents could increase the risk of having a baby ...
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The New York Times reports that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration conducted a wide-ranging surveillance operation against its own scientists.
The agency used “spy software” designed to help employers monitor workers, and captured screen images from the government laptops of scientists as they were being used at work or at home.
Though federal agencies have broad discretion to monitor their employees’ computer use, the F.D.A. program may have crossed legal lines ...
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A pulmonary embolism occurs when a blood clot breaks off and travels to the lungs. According to the Mayo Clinic, prompt treatment is essential to prevent serious complications or death.
Treatment usually involves medications. Anticoagulants prevent new clots from forming. They include heparin, which is usually delivered with a needle and works quickly; or warfarin, which comes in pill form and takes a few days to begin working.
Certain medications, called thrombolytics, ...
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