Product News and Recalls

Long-term health questions for Lipitor

A story in Men’s Journal explores the question of how people who use statins such as Lipitor should react to a recent study indicating that the cholesterol-lowering drugs may counteract the benefits of exercise.

The study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology looked at a group of overweight, sedentary adults at risk of high cholesterol or high blood pressure. After a 12-week exercise program, a group of participants ...

continue reading...

Benicar maker dealing with challenges

The Wall Street Journal reports that Daiichi Sankyo Co., Japan’s third-largest pharmaceutical manufacturer, is hoping sales of new drugs will help the company offset lost revenue from patent expirations.

Although Daiichi Sankyo returned to profit in the fiscal fourth quarter and posted a six-fold jump in annual net profit, the story says, those gains were mainly due to the absence of a $3.9 billion one-time loss from settlement costs between its ...

continue reading...

More states pursuing legal action against drug companies

The Wall Street Journal reports on increasingly aggressive efforts by attorneys general in several U.S. states to pursue legal actions against drug companies for deceptive marketing.

Using consumer protection laws as a basis, state officials have gone after some major pharmaceutical companies, including GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi SA, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.

The story notes that potential payouts are high. Last year, for example, Johnson & Johnson agreed to ...

continue reading...

Statins may cancel out exercise benefits

A new study suggests that cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins, such as Pfizer’s Lipitor, may negate some of the fitness benefits of exercise.

A story in the New York Times says the study’s findings may present a tricky quandary where preventive health care is concerned. While statins are routinely prescribed for those with high cholesterol and other risk factors for heart disease, exercise is also generally recommended for warding off heart disease ...

continue reading...

FDA taking another look at diabetes drug

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is taking a second look at the diabetes drug Avandia, with an agency report already suggesting that the drug’s attendant risk of heart problems may not be as serious as reported.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that Avandia, originally approved in 1999, was once a blockbuster for GlaxoSmithKline. But a 2007 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine said the drug caused heart problems. ...

continue reading...

Flame retardants may pose hazards

A story in the Washington Post says chemical flame retardants added to consumer products to meet federal and state flammability standards may pose health and environmental hazards, while failing to actually reduce the products’ flammability.

Flame retardants make use of chemical reactions to counteract or inhibit the flammability of treated products, including textiles, foam in couches and baby products, building insulation, carpets, drapes, personal computers, TV sets, car dashboards, ...

continue reading...
Page 227 of 386 «...200210220225226227228229...»