A group of women’s health advocates recently sent a letter to U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, M.D. The letter expressed the their concern about an FDA committee that voted to keep birth control pills containing the compound drospirenone — including Yaz, Yasmin, Ocella and Beyaz – on the market.
Signing the letter were the executive directors of the Jacobs Institute of Women’s Health, the National Research Center for Women ...
continue reading...Although metal-on-metal hip implants have high failure rates for both sexes, women in particular have suffered from receiving the faulty devices, according to a report in the Guardian.
U.K. joint replacement experts called for the metal-on-metal implants – where both the ball and socket are coated in metal – to be banned following the medical journal Lancet’s release of a report earlier this week finding “unequivocal evidence” of high early failure rates.
The research, based on the National Joint Registry of England ...
continue reading...From March 11 through 17, journalists, civic groups, nonprofits and other open government advocates are observing “Sunshine Week,” which is a national initiative to promote the importance of public access to government records and keeping government officials accountable.
The event’s name comes from the term “sunshine laws,” commonly used to describe the open records requirements that symbolically shine a light on government functions. Appropriately enough, Sunshine Week got its start in Florida in 2002. Editorial pages throughout the country have been ...
continue reading...The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of German corporation Bayer’s birth control pill Natazia for the treatment of heavy menstrual bleeding, according to RTTNews.
The report quotes Bayer’s Dr. Flemming Ornskov as saying: “As the first combined oral contraceptive treatment for heavy menstrual bleeding, Natazia represents a non-invasive treatment approach for this medical condition in addition to our intrauterine system Mirena. Both products underline Bayer’s ongoing commitment to advancing women’s health by providing them with multiple treatment ...
continue reading...The Court of Common Pleas in Philadelphia has delayed trial deadlines in the cases over Yaz/Yasmin/Beyaz birth control for another 60 days. This puts the deadlines in Philadelphia on par with the U.S. District Court, which issued an order extending deadlines on Feb. 29.
Judge Sandra Moss announced the latest extension on March 9, 2012, referencing the District Court order, which will allow the parties in the case more time to negotiate.
Lopez McHugh is representing multiple plaintiffs against Bayer Healthcare, ...
continue reading...German corporation Bayer has announced that its four most promising drugs, led by newly-launched anti-clotting pill Xarelto, may account for combined annual sales of as much as $6.5 billion, according to a Reuters report.
The report says Bayer’s healthcare division is aiming for sales of roughly $26.2 billion in 2014, up from $22.4 billion last year.
The company said prescription drug sales were set to rise to about $15 billion by 2014, up 16 percent from 2011, fueled largely by new product ...
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