An NPR report on an Arkansas jury’s billion-dollar decision against Johnson & Johnson mentions that the company is most famous for its baby shampoo and wryly notes: “So much for no more tears.”
The federal court decision was in response to allegations that the company used misleading marketing for its antipsychotic drug Risperdal. The jury found that the company failed to properly disclose the drug’s possible side effects, like weight gain, ...
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Richard Vosser, a JPMorgan Chase & Co. analyst, predicts that the Bayer corporation may have to pay more than $2.65 billion to resolve all the cases over its Yasmin line of birth control pills, Bloomberg reports.
Vosser made his prediction after the German drug-maker settled 651 cases over allegations that the contraceptives caused blood clots, some of which were fatal. In its Stockholders Newsletter, the company said it paid $142 million ...
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In a piece for Bakersfield.com, hospital volunteer Bob Jones writes about his harrowing experience with deep-vein thrombosis. Jones’ DVT — a condition that occurs when a blood clot forms in one of the larger, deeper veins – developed into pulmonary embolism when clots traveled to his lungs and nearly killed him.
Jones said his symptoms began with sudden shortness of breath, pain and tightness in his chest, and excessive fatigue and ...
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In an entry for her blog “Child in Mind,” pediatrician Dr. Claudia Gold addresses the issue of pregnant women stopping antidepressants use because they’re concerned about birth defects.
Gold cites examples from the book Dosed: The Medication Generation Grows Up by Kaitlin Bell Barnett.
According to Gold, women who were started on the class of antidepressants called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs, have a difficult choice if and when they decide ...
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In a motion filed as part of a fraud case against Johnson & Johnson, the federal government alleges that new company CEO Alex Gorsky “was actively involved in matters at issue in this case,” Forbes reports.
Government prosecutors charge that Johnson & Johnson paid kickbacks to Omnicare, the nation’s largest nursing home pharmacy, to get Omnicare to pick up the antipsychotic medication Risperdal and other Johnson & Johnson drugs.
The federal government ...
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In a report for WABC out of New York, Dr. Jay Aldersberg writes of a major study involving doctors on five continents, which will examine the precise nature of clinical depression.
Researchers will look for blood and genetic markers for depression, and will even map and measure patients’ brains.
According to Aldersberg, the goal of the study is to eliminate a lot of the “guesswork” that’s currently a big part of depression ...
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