Product News and Recalls

MedPrep Consulting recalls drugs over contamination scare

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has announced a national recall of drugs from a New Jersey compounding pharmacy called Med Prep Consulting Inc., citing concerns of possible mold contamination.

According to a story in USA Today, the recalled items include dozens of antibiotics, pain relievers and drugs employed in labor and surgery.

A Massachusetts compounding pharmacy called the New England Compounding Center was behind another contamination scare that broke out ...

continue reading...

Document contradicts DePuy president’s claims

Andrew Ekdahl, president of Johnson & Johnson’s DePuy Orthopaedics division, has testified that the company recalled its ASR hip implants because they weren’t meeting “clinical expectations,” and not because the company believed they had an underlying design defect.

But lawyers in a Chicago trial over injuries allegedly caused by the devices have produced a document that appears to contradict Ekdahl’s statement.

A Bloomberg story references a document from the Health Hazard/Risk Evaluation ...

continue reading...

FDA examines link between diabetes drugs, cancer

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is examining unpublished findings by a group of academic researchers, which suggest a potential link between newer diabetes drugs and pancreatic cancer.

Among the drugs being investigated are Merck’s Januvia and Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Byetta, Bloomberg reports.

Researchers called for an investigation after publishing an analysis of insurance records in the medical journal JAMA Internal Medicine. That analysis concluded that diabetics hospitalized with pancreatitis were twice as ...

continue reading...

Dr. Wolfe calls for recall of Januvia/Byetta

A press release from Dr. Sidney Wolfe, director of the Health Research Group for the organization Public Citizen, praises a study published in the journal Diabetes that links a class of diabetes drugs including Byetta and Januvia with pancreatic cancer risk.

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of Florida, conducted the study. They found increased precancerous changes such as dysplasia in the pancreases of diabetic patients ...

continue reading...

FDA unveils new rules for metal hip implants

Consumer Reports describes new U.S. Food and Drug Administration rules for “metal-on-metal” hip implants, which feature both a ball and a socket coated in a combination of cobalt and chromium.

The new regulations will give manufacturers 90 days in which to file applications including the results of clinical trials and other “valid scientific evidence” showing that the devices are safe and effective. Manufacturers who fail to produce this evidence will be ...

continue reading...

Study says USA’s diabetes costs are $245B

A recent study has put America’s health care and work-related costs related to diabetes at $245 billion in 2012, according to a story in USA Today. That represents a 41 percent increase from 2007, when the cost was $174 billion.

Diabetes, a disease in which blood glucose levels are above normal, is the country’s seventh leading cause of death, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The study, commissioned ...

continue reading...
Page 247 of 386 «...220230240245246247248249...»