Product News and Recalls

Report: Antidepressants may be linked to suicidal feelings

A report from station KAIT out of Arkansas explores the question of whether antidepressants cause suicidal thoughts in children.

According to the report, the assertion that there’s a link between antidepressant use and suicidal thoughts in children is controversial. But it said some studies have suggested such a link exists.

A number of studies have indicated that antidepressants categorized as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, widely hailed as wonder drugs in the 1990s, ...

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Investment advisor faults medical device makers

In a Motley Fool article for MSNBC, Sara Wright recommends against investing in manufacturers of dangerous medical devices that made it onto the market through a regulatory loophole.

“I cannot see clear to investing my money in companies that do not take the safety and efficacy of their products more seriously,” she writes.

Among the companies she spotlights are Johnson & Johnson, owner of a subsidiary that made read more.... --> continue reading...

FDA reviewer recommends against Pfizer drug

A U.S. Food and Drug Administration medical reviewer recommended the agency not approve tafamidis, a drug developed by a Pfizer Inc. subsidiary to treat a rare genetic disorder that affects the nervous system. The reviewer said there was “inadequate” evidence the drug works, according to the Wall Street Journal.

This is the second recent setback for Pfizer. Last week, the New England Journal of Medicine published a study that found the pharmaceutical giant’s popular antibiotic azithromycin, sold under the brand name continue reading...

Full-page ad calls for closing loophole

Consumers Union, the policy and advocacy arm of Consumer Reports, has placed a full-page print ad in Washington, D.C.-based publication Politico, calling on Congress to close a loophole that allows dangerous devices to make it on the market without clinical testing.

The ad is running as the U.S. Senate prepares to vote on a bill this week to reauthorize the statute governing medical device oversight.

It specifically makes reference to two medical ...

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Mother attributes daughter’s death to Yaz

News Channel 5 out of Cleveland reported on the death of 25-year-old Shantinique Burns, which her mother attributes to her use of the birth control pill Yaz.

Doctors say Shantinique suffered an aneurysm while driving. The report quotes her mother as saying the young woman had no health problems, and that Yaz was the only medication she was using.

“This is a side effect,” her mother said. “It is her cause of ...

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Pradaxa more dangerous than alternative

A study recently presented to the 2012 Thombosis and Hemostasis Summit of North America compared Pradaxa to Coumadin and found that Pradaxa has a higher risk of bleeding and other complications.

Manufacturer Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma markets Pradaxa as a preferable alternative to warfarin, because Pradaxa, despite these risks, doesn’t require frequent blood tests.

The two blood thinners are known by their chemical names warfarin, sold under brand name Coumadin, and dabigatran, ...

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